Throbbing Gristle have released their final single and a unique box set as TG Berlin.
(Via Mute)
The new lavish Throbbing Gristle box set chronicling unreleased work recorded around a series of live events at the Berlin Volksbühne, TG BERLIN, is out today via Mute.
The Throbbing Gristle curated event saw the band perform a live set on New Year’s Eve and an improvised live soundtrack to a new 16mm print of Derek Jarman’s In The Shadow of the Sun (1981) on New Year’s Day, and, while the band were in Berlin, they recorded two final songs alongside a 48-minute piece of new music.
The box set – which comprises of 4 CDs, a Blu-ray, a 10” vinyl and a booklet featuring unseen photographs from the time by Paul Heartfield as well as new sleeve notes by the award winning Scottish visual artist Lucy McKenzie – collates both of these performances, alongside the TG Berlin Studio Session which is comprised of the final Throbbing Gristle single (two unreleased tracks, ‘Scabs & Saws’ and ‘Wotwududo’,) and an unreleased 48-minute piece titled ‘TG Berlin Studio Session 2005 – 2006’, recorded at Planet Roc studios during the time they were in the city.
TG Berlin will also include the “rehearsal” for In The Shadow of the Sun, recorded on New Year’s Day at the Volksbühne (“people’s theatre”). The performance of In The Shadow of the Sun was improvised, so the two documents offer a different perspective on the soundtrack to Jarman’s work.
The New Year’s Eve show previewed five songs from the band’s first album in 27 years, Part Two: The Endless Not, several years before its release, on a set list that included ‘Convincing People’, ‘Slug Bait’, and ‘Hamburger Lady’ (their first encore in 25/26 years, and what an encore!) – tracks that had lost none of their potency in the intervening years – plus the released track, ‘Splitting Sky’ and more. The performance is also included as a Blu-ray.
In 2004, Throbbing Gristle – Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (1950-2020) and Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson (1955-2010) – regrouped and the following six years became a period of renewed creativity for the band. Back in the studio after 20 years, they found group intuition when performing was intact, and their ability to break down barriers and forge connections with an audience was more powerful than ever.
This new box set, the latest release in an ongoing collaboration with Mute, is a compelling document of Throbbing Gristle performing and recording as a four-piece with a renewed vigour. From the opening beats and serrated electronics of one of their final tracks recorded together, ‘Scabs & Saws’, it’s clear that TG are not revisiting ground already tread, but bringing two decades of individual experience back into the studio to create a new exploration of sound. The vocals have a different depth, the groove is deeper, and the atmosphere has lost none of its potency.
TG BERLIN BOX SET
CD1 – TG Berlin
Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005
Trumpet Herald
Convincing People
Splitting Sky
Slug Bait
Rabbit Snare
Almost A Kiss
Greasy Poo
Endless Not
Vow of Silence
PA Destroyer
Hamburger Lady
CD2 – In the Shadow of the Sun
Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Day, 2006
In the Shadow of the Sun Live – 49:29
CD3 – In the Shadow of the Sun
Rehearsal at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Day 2006
In the Shadow of the Sun Rehearsal – 49:12
CD4 – TG Berlin Studio Session (2005 – 2006)
TG Berlin – 48:22
Scabs & Saws 11:02
Wotwududo 7:07
Recorded late December 2005 to early January 2006 at Planet Roc (Funkhaus), Berlin
10” vinyl – The Final Throbbing Gristle single
Side A
Scabs & Saws 11:02
Side B
Wotwududo 7:07
Blu-ray
Throbbing Gristle Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005
Trumpet Herald
Convincing People
Splitting Sky
Slug Bait
Rabbit Snare
Almost a Kiss
Greasy Poo
The Endless Not
Vow of Silence
PA Destroyer
Hamburger Lady
(Photos: Paul Heartfield)