Breyer P-Orridge: the quality of quantity!

Who ever said that quantity is not a quality? The past months' veritable floodgate of Breyer P-Orridge-related material deserves a closer look. Or are you perhaps already aware of all of these things?

The publishing of First Third's monumental memory lane volume Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, containing hundreds of images of Genesis in formal transition over the decades, is an impressive feat. Not only is the project as such highly interesting and revealing (transition and morphing being one of Genesis' main tools of the artistic trade). It's also such a beauty of a book, with standards of production worthy of a Steidl, Rizzoli or Taschen. The underground in an overground package, so to speak. Mind boggling stuff!

Dais Records in New York recently released an LP with COUM Transmissions. This isn't all music per se but recorded sounds from the COUM era. It's a nice release, and a must have for completists of course (read: Industrial Culture philatelists). Here's what Dais writes:

"The most recent installment of the rare & unheard archival recordings from the transgressive 70′s performance art group COUM Transmissions. Founded in late 1969 by Genesis P-Orridge, COUM Transmissions’s provocative performances mixed with visual art solidified the group as one of the most forward thinking breakthroughs within the 70′s conceptual art scene. Only in the past couple years has COUM’s recorded works seen the light of day. This release collects various selections spanning the years 1971 through 1975, including a rare live performance opening for Hawkwind, lost radio interview, obtuse poetry readings by early member Fizzey Peat, piano & violin compositions by Genesis P-Orridge and insightful field recordings. Limited to 1,000 vinyl copies."

Space Rock outfit PTV3 have also been diligent and at it recently, playing live and recording. Angry Love has released some inspired neo-Hawkwindean sounds that takes you to the bright side of the moons and back. Who'd ever thought that the P-Orridgean beatnik existentialism of yesteryear could house the seeds of Krautish riffing? No matter what, far out it is. And sounds.

Cold Spring have recently re-issued several Psychic TV concerts from the 1980s and 90s on CD. I've lost count of these, sorry. See for yourself at Cold Spring's website. Available there is also the highly recommended Psychic TV Themes box set of CDs. For a review of that, please see my blog post from July 2nd, 2012.

My own little digi-label endeavor with Thomas Tibert, Highbrow Lowlife, has also contributed to the avalanche. We have been active for four months now, and there are several GBPO-related releases in our budding catalog of aural adventures: The EP I Travel, some tracks on Cotton Ferox' debut album First Time Hurts and, most importantly, the full on collaboration between Genesis and Cotton Ferox in the album Wordship. Available now at Highbrow Lowlife's own web store. And available in many other places too, including streaming on Spotify and similar services.

A documentary film about Genesis in the An Art Apart-series is in the works. It's produced by yours truly together with the magnificent production team AMP, and so far we have shot material with Genesis in Stockholm, Gothenburg and New York. We aim to have this film ready by the end of 2014.

Another memory lane trip is the slim but interesting volume G.P.O. vs G.P-O., being a collection of reproduced documents from the infamous court case in 1976. This is a nice 2013 facsimile edition from Primary Information of the original 1976 Ecart volume. The case was the sensational one when Genesis was charged with sending "indecent" postcards/collages through the UK mail system (GPO=General Post Office). With a little help and support from William Burroughs and other friends, Genesis got away with a fine. And material for this compendium. Interesting to read as a document from an era of UK governmental oppression very hard to fathom today. 

For more "porridge with everything", please have a look at www.genesisbreyerporridge.com

All material on this blog is copyright © Carl Abrahamsson, unless otherwise stated.

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New York, New York!

Why is New York such an inspiring place for creative individuals? One could argue that there's a traditionally will driven atmosphere around, based on entrepreneurship and esteem of achievement. Also, that success is not looked down upon. Sure, these could be seen as American traits in general. But there's definitely something else buzzing in New York that makes the place very special compared to other grand hubs, and to America in general.

I believe one contributing factor is the concept of conducive anonymity. Meaning that people in New York are genuinely interested in what you do but only to the extent that it won't disturb their own creative goings on. In New York, time is tight and no one wants to waste it on overindulgence in other people's monomania. Genuine kudos for others, yes, but not to an extent that will hamper your own schedule. When a mutual display has been taken care of, inspirational or not, it's back to one's own business. This generates an intense and real-political attitude in which there's always a high priority on the work itself. In an overflowing, tempting and crowded environment as big as New York, you not only can but perhaps also must retract to conducive anonymity to be able to get anything done.

Another important factor is of course stratification. The general atmosphere is not one of equality, likemindedness and harmony. On the contrary, there is brutal competition going on all the time, between businesses and individuals alike. This not only creates an edgy presence of inventive thinking but also actually a great sense of genuine service. People care because they take care – of business.

On a recent trip to this delightful megapolis to continue shooting the An Art Apart-film together with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, and launch my novel Mother, Have A Safe Trip, I was again struck by New York's ability to enhance and further the process of creativity. It really is as if the city is an entity in itself, whose well being is dependent on a constant influx, a constant flow of nutritional ideas and projects. Very likely, this has to do with its traditional position as a gateway into the USA for people from many different cultures and energies. A hot stew indeed of transition and transformation: important processes in any creative life, whether individual or collective. The best analogy would again be food, I think. A repetitive and too homogeneous cuisine depletes nutrition, energy and life force. Simple as that. The remedy? Quaquaversal flux soup and a bite of the Big Apple. It always works.

Many thanks to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, the people at Catland and many private (conducively anonymous) individuals who made this trip so satisfying and remarkable!

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