Throbbing Gristle
D.o.A: The Third And Final Report

The Throbbing Gristle project has been a legend for years, and few like them, perhaps Nurse With Wound, have ventured into such surreal and extreme territories. In the mid-Seventies, the overly lengthy prog schema was answered, in the post-1975 era, with either a punk simplification or the mannerism of industrial. The electronic workmanship of the latter genre does not descend into egocentrism or lengthy diversions, but aims to make the structure of the piece "computerized," inhuman. Manipulation of tapes, dark voices, and fragmentation of sounds. One keeps in mind "Sister Ray," dissonances, noise, avant-garde, and also painting, like the Dada movement. A period of strong inspiration for everyone and in 1975, in London, the quartet led by Orridge on bass and vocals was formed. We also find Cosey Fanni Tutti on guitar, Christopherson as electronic director and programmer, and Chris Carter on synth.

With the first work, an absolute pinnacle, we are catapulted into an anarchic and impressive noise collage that lays the foundations for later industrial, like Cabaret Voltaire and Einsturzende Neubauten. A fragmented sound and a theatrical, cinematic setting, which more than making the mind reflect, tends to have the listener recognize themselves in the desperate vortex. An electronic magma that leaves no escape and that surpasses many metal bands in terms of sound impact. With these synths and tape tricks, the English combo provides a depiction of England's working class and the negativity of alienating work. The consumer production that turns both the worker and the purchaser into a number. There is thus both a social message and a good opportunity to let the oppressive human evil and the sonic shock border.

With the second album, we reach a form close to a song, loosening the whirlwinds of "Slug Bait" and "Maggot Death". The conversation collages are removed, except in the famous "Hamburger Lady," but the synth spasms are increased. Totally overflowing in the intro "I.B.M." which makes the beginning of Soft Machine's "Facelift" pale in comparison. Or in the vortexes of "Dead On Arrival" or in the post-Amon Duul psychedelia of "Hit By A Rock". In "AB/7A," even the colorful suspension of Four Tet is anticipated, and the tracks that conclude the work depend on the pure frontal assault of the synth. The apocalypse of the first work is not realized, but the sound is spread out over recognizable and digestible structures for the ear, without lowering the volume, however. In fact, the electronics weave the ambient on which Orridge's surreal voice and the guitar's flourishes intrude. A step forward was made by removing the roughness of the first album and setting an incipit for the following period. The third work is "20 Jazz Funk Great" and proposes greater composure, using the schemes cherished by Cabaret Voltaire.

After this ascensional phase, Orridge will persist even in the doubtful and fluctuating projects of Psychic TV, aware of having been seminal in unlocking the aseptic quality that music was experiencing in the midst of the sizzling Seventies.