Foetus is a solo musical project of Australian musician
JG Thirlwell
James George Thirlwell (born 29 January 1960), also known as Clint Ruin, Frank Want, and Foetus, among other names, is an Australian musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for juxtaposing a variety of different musical styles.
...
.
The project has had many similar names, each including the word 'Foetus'. The "members" of the project are aliases of Thirlwell; they include Frank Want, Phillip Toss, and Clint Ruin. Thirlwell occasionally collaborates with other artists, but does not consider them to be members of Foetus.
In 1981, after the breakup of
PragVEC, Thirlwell started his own solo music project under the name of 'Foetus Under Glass'. After the album ''
Thaw'', Thirlwell stopped changing the name; thereafter it remained simply 'Foetus'.
In November 1983, Foetus undertook a tour with
Marc Almond
Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
,
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, ...
and
Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...
in the quickly dissolved 'partnership' known as
The Immaculate Consumptive.
He has also appeared on albums recorded by
The The
() are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...
,
Einsturzende Neubauten,
Nurse With Wound and Anne Hogan.
In October 1985, Thirlwell made the album ''
Nail
Nail or Nails may refer to:
In biology
* Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail
* Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...
'', which became the most popular Foetus album of all time.
''
Gash'' was issued in 1995, which led to acknowledgment from music journalists of Foetus's role in the development of
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initial ...
.
Discography
Conceptual themes
All full-length Foetus album titles are four-letter, one-
syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological ...
words, often with multiple connotations.
The artwork of Foetus releases shows a deliberate progression of colour: the earliest releases are black-and-white, with the addition of red on the ''
Deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
'' album, and further addition of yellow on ''
Nail
Nail or Nails may refer to:
In biology
* Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail
* Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...
''. Full-colour art was introduced on ''
Gash''.
Beginning with ''
Flow
Flow may refer to:
Science and technology
* Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid
* Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology
* Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set
* Flow (psyc ...
'', the artwork of primary albums reverted to black/white/red, although other releases continue in full colour.
Notes
References
External links
Official home page*
Freq-out.orgOfficial Myspace pagefor ''Llik your idols'', a documentary about the Cinema of Transgression, featuring Foetus
JG Thirlwell interview at AAJJG Thirlwell / Foetus interview at MTJTS.com, midway down the page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foetus
JG Thirlwell
Musical groups established in 1981
Australian post-punk groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Some Bizzare Records artists
Birdman Records artists