Underrated Discs #2: Foetus in Excelsis Corruptus Deluxe - Male

If J.G. Thirlwell is committed to one thing, it's always coming up with a bizarre new name for his long-running and ever changing solo project, Foetus. On this disc, the solo element falls away in favour of a proper live band (and not just your average group of touring musician mooks, motherfucking Swans along with violinist Hahn Rowe and trombonist David Ouimet), adding extra punch to new and old tracks from the Foetus catalogue, as well as a few selections from Wiseblood, Thirlwell's collab with Swans' drummer Roli Mossiman.

Male is a strange album, acts such as Foetus have a tendency to either fall apart or reduce the scale of their music in order to make for a proper live show, but Thirlwell and his band instead of compromising select songs better suited to a live performance by a relatively simple lineup (that means big-band freakouts like "J.Q. Murder" and "I Became...Anenome" are out). Blasting off right out the gate with the stomping "Free James Brown (So He Can Run Me Down)", the album rocks much harder than most Foetus records and it's a damn good thing it does. With such a small band, more ambitious and jazzy pieces would fall flat (much like how Swans themselves often had a hard time translating the melodies of their studio pieces in live shows).

 Despite the presence of Swans and the harder edged sound to the music, the humour long associated with the Foetus project has not faded. "Free James Brown" has a wonderful sing-sony chorus and some rather witty jabs at the circumstances of Brown's then-recent arrest, and before the show is out Thirlwell finds room to play covers of Elton John's "Rocket Man" (reworded into "Puppet Dude", a strange tribute to Jim Henson), Scottish glam rocker Alex Harvey's "Faith Healer" and a slamming rendition of (arguably, the most bizarre selection) Seattle grungers TAD's "Behemoth". 

Musically, there are shades of Swans' live sound, though a bit more in pacing than tone. Songs are almost universally long, slow and drum-heavy, with simple guitar riffs smashing and droning over Algis Kiyzs' infamously loud bass. The trombone and violin add a distinct charm and fullness to the sound, making it sound more like a Foetus effort than an outside band doing covers of Foetus tracks that just happen to have J.G. providing the vocals. On that note, J.G. sounds much more diverse than usual, not masking his voice with any studio tricks and showing a delightful hint of Tom Waitsian tone, it is also very easy to see how Trent Reznor counts Thirlwell as an influence in the singing here, as just about every track has a chorus that could pass for Nine Inch Nails to a casual listener.

It's pretty far from the most immediately accessible effort Thirlwell has put forth, but it's a fantastic and well-recorded live document from an era already ripe with brilliant live discs from brilliant bands. If you're into Foetus, Swans or the extreme ends of early 90s rock, the album is definitely worth a look. Really, the album is worth getting for "Free James Brown" and "Stumbo" alone. If you wanna be a real gent, pop on over to Mr. Thirlwell's recently redesigned website and download the album for a fee that's nothing on the exorbitant price you'll pay for a physical copy.