Church of Industrial Music: Foetus - Gash

I don't actually remember where I first heard about Foetus, but I do remember picking this album up at a record store on State Street in Madison, WI. I also clearly remember hearing it for the first time, and being once again floored. Some of you are likely familiar with the main man behind this project, J.G. Thirlwell, as he is now probably better known as the composer of the scores for The Venture Bros. and Archer.

This album opens with what I consider to be one of the hardest-hitting tracks anywhere, "Mortgage". I could try to describe it, but I wouldn't do it justice. The next track "Mighty Whity", is a bit more rock-flavored, but brings in some almost swing music-style horns. This is followed by "Friend or Foe", which features harmonica, of all things, yet still manages to be one of the most "industrial" tracks ever made. Then (much later on) there's "Slung", which is a horn-laden tour-de-force clocking in at over eleven minutes, which is pretty much straight-up swing, but also totally awesome. I think that list kind of describes Foetus as a whole, in a way... a lot of Foetus stuff is something like industrial jazz, and it works way better than you might think. If you're familiar with Mr. Thirlwell only from his scoring work, you sort of know the jazz/swing thing I'm talking about, but some of the other stuff might surprise you a bit.

Hear tracks from this and other releases at the Foetus website: http://foetus.org/content/audio-video

This was one of the albums that I think really broadened my musical horizons, if you'll allow me to get a bit pretentious. Not to put any other stuff down, but this was pretty far-out in a direction I wasn't really familiar with. I would still say there's nothing quite like Foetus, and this remains one of my favorite albums from this project. Now that time has passed, and I've heard much more of Thirlwell's output, I think this album makes a pretty good introduction. You've got the rockier stuff, the jazzier stuff, and a mellower one ("They Are Not So True"). Also, some fine examples of the sound design, music writing, and lyrics that make Foetus so great.

I've gone through a few stretches where I listened to Foetus obsessively, and I'll likely do so again. Even when I'm not on a jag like that, I listen to a lot of Thirlwell's stuff, and this album is one of the most played. Absolutely fantastic stuff.