Throbbing Gristle Share "Convincing People (Live At The Volksbühne Berlin, New Year's Eve 2005)" || 'TG Berlin' Box Set Out 12/6 On Mute

THROBBING GRISTLE SHARE “CONVINCING PEOPLE (LIVE AT THE VOLKSBÜHNE BERLIN, NEW YEAR’S EVE 2005)” TG BERLIN BOX SET DUE OUT 12/6 ON MUTE   CHRONICLING UNRELEASED WORK FROM BERLIN, RECORDED AROUND A SERIES OF LIVE EVENTS AT THE VOLKSBÜHNE

Photo Credit: Paul Heartfield

Today Throbbing Gristle have shared an unreleased live version of “Convincing People (Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005)” ahead of the release of their lavish box set, TG BERLIN, that is due out on December 6, 2024. The track, originally from 1979’s 20 Jazz Funk Greats, comes complete with a live document of the performance, which was part of a very special series of live events at the Volksbühne over New Year’s Eve 2005 and New Year’s Day 2006. Listen to “Convincing People” (Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005)" HERE. The Throbbing Gristle-curated event chronicled in the box set 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. While the band were in Berlin, they also recorded two final songs alongside a 48-minute piece of new music. The box set, which is comprised 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 includes 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. Listen to “Scabs & Saws” HERE. Pre-order TG Berlin HERE. TG Berlin will also include the “rehearsal” for In The Shadow of the Sun, recorded on New Year’s Day at the iconic 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 vigor. From the opening beats and serrated electronics of one of their final tracks recorded together, “Scabs and 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. Throbbing Gristle formed in 1975 and for the next six years they fully delivered on punk’s failed promise to explore extreme culture as a way of sabotaging systems of control. During that time, they released crucial records such as The Second Annual Report Of Throbbing Gristle (1977), D.O.A The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle (1978), and 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979) and were infamously named “wreckers of civilisation” by the Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn in 1976. From 2004, they embarked on a series of live performances that included the Coachella and Primavera festivals, Tate Modern, and Heaven, and returned to the studio to produce several albums, including TG Now (2004), and Part Two: The Endless Not (2007), as well as a 3-day “studio installation” at the ICA before disbanding in 2010. Their impact on music, culture and the arts has been immeasurable and is still felt today across music, film, theater and fine art. TG Berlin album art

TG Berlin Box Set Track listing: CD1 - TG Berlin Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005 1. Trumpet Herald  2. Convincing People 3. Splitting Sky  4. Slug Bait  5. Rabbit Snare 6. Almost A Kiss  7. Greasy Poo  8. Endless Not  9. Vow of Silence 10. PA Destroyer 11. Hamburger Lady    CD2 - In the Shadow of the Sun Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Day, 2006 1. 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 1. In the Shadow of the Sun Rehearsal - 49:12    CD4 - TG Berlin Studio Session (2005 - 2006) 1. TG Berlin - 48:22 2. Scabs & Saws 11:02 3. 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 1. Trumpet Herald 2. Convincing People 3. Splitting Sky 4. Slug Bait 5. Rabbit Snare 6. Almost a Kiss 7. Greasy Poo 8. The Endless Not 9. Vow of Silence 10. PA Destroyer CONNECT WITH THROBBING GRISTLE: WEB | TWITTER  CONNECT WITH MUTE:  WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | TIK TOK | INSTAGRAM

CONOR OBERST & CRAIG WEDREN Share "Justice To A Scream" From 'ALOK', Jodie Foster-Produced Short Doc

CONOR OBERST & CRAIG WEDREN SHARE “JUSTICE TO A SCREAM”  LISTEN & WATCH LYRIC VIDEO END TITLE TRACK FROM DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM ALOK  DIRECTED BY ALEX HEDISON & EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY JODIE FOSTER

 Today, the filmmakers of the award-winning short documentary ALOK share the film’s end title track, “Justice to a Scream.” Co-written and performed by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst (he/him) and Shudder to Think’s Craig Wedren (he/him), the track features lyrics that include lines from the film and poetry from the film’s subject, internationally acclaimed non-binary author, poet, comedian, and public speaker Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them). Along with “Justice To A Scream,” ALOK also features a score by Wedren (YELLOWJACKETS) and Simón Wilson. Hear the track and watch the lyric video featuring footage from the film and the tracks recording here: https://linktr.ee/JusticeToAScream.  “Conor Oberst was my idol growing up,” notes Vaid-Menon. “I've always regarded his lyricism as among the very best of contemporary poetry and it's such a full circle moment to collaborate with him on this song. Literally a dream come true. And what a bop!" “I am a longtime admirer of ALOK,” adds Oberst. “Their powerful writing, art and advocacy for transgender people and all people who suffer from the lunacy of ignorance and bigotry that permeates our society is inspirational. So when the opportunity to work on this song with Craig Wedren came along I was thrilled. I am also a big time, lifelong fan of Craig – from the amazing Shudder to Think records through his various projects and solo work. He possesses a truly one of a kind musical mind and a voice as unique and iconoclastic as he is. He has also been a great and treasured friend of mine for many years. This is all to say I loved working on this project with these two incredible pioneers.” LISTEN & SHARE "JUSTICE TO A SCREAM" Filmmaker Alex Hedison (she/they) delivers a compelling portrait of her friend, Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them). This thought-provoking short documentary explores the limitless expression of self, challenges societal norms, and inspires viewers to embrace personal freedom beyond the binaries that divide us. In addition to director/producer Hedison, producers are Natalie Shirinian (she/her), Elizabeth Baudouin (she/her) and Meggan Lennon (she/her), with Jodie Foster (she/her) and Ryan Harrington (he/him) as executive producer. The film also features Dylan Mulvaney (she/they), Chani Nicholas (she/her), and other cultural change makers.  ALOK first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and screened at numerous other festivals over the past months including Telluride, SCAD: Savannah Film Festival, was the Audience Award-winner at the NewFest36 Film Festival for Documentary/Nonfiction Short, as well as winner of Sarasota Film Festival short documentary.  “Alok’s multidimensional influence -- which spans academia, art, poetry, queer theory, and comedy -- inspired the making of this film - my first short documentary” said Hedison. “My aim with this film is to present a world of possibility that they demonstrate while asking the questions: How do we wake up? How do we mirror compassion for ourselves to compassion for those around us? How can we move beyond the binaries and embrace the simultaneity of everything existing and changing at once?”  “We always hoped this film would meet the moment in culture and political conversations, and given how polarized we seem right now, the timing could not be more crucial” added Foster. “This film is about ideas and thought starters to create transformation and to plant the seeds of change for a more inclusive world. In the end, this was a project of love for the entire film team – and we hope it inspires love in others.” As Alok says in the film: “The most controversial pronoun I have is ‘we’… And what the ‘we’ pronoun actually is insisting, is that I believe that we are all part of a shared, in common … humanity… but it's even beyond humanity, maybe even community. And I believe that the work that I want to do in the world is to look at every single thing that gets exiled from my concept of ‘we’ and find a way to incorporate it back again.” Look for screening of the film and more via https://www.alokfilm.com.

Greg Freeman ​Announces 'I Looked Out' LP Re-release, Shares "Long Distance Driver (Acoustic)” ft. Merce Lemon Single + Video | Re-release Out Today

Greg Freeman Announces 'I Looked Out' LP Re-release With 2 Bonus Tracks,  Shares "Long Distance Driver (Acoustic)”  ft. Merce Lemon Single + Video via Paste Magazine Plays Line Of Best Fit London Show on 1/15  @ Lexington w/ Greg Mendez 'I Looked Out' Re-release Out Today Via Canvasback/Transgressive, Vinyl Out 1/17  Look Out For New Music in 2025

Photo Cred: Justin Gordon LISTEN & SHARE: Greg Freeman - I Looked Out Vinyl Pre-Order LISTEN & SHARE: Greg Freeman - I Looked Out Spotify / Bandcamp PRAISE FOR GREG FREEMAN "Some musicians make you wonder if what they’re doing is some sort of ironic mischief. Not Greg Freeman. He really means every word, bashing away on his electric guitar as bandmates on bass, drums, saxophone, and pedal steel guitar add rich colors to his visions." -Rolling Stone "There’s a certain Vermonter who made a really tremendous singer-songwriter record in 2022, and his name is Greg fucking Freeman—he also happens to be one of the best guitarists alive. I Looked Out is dripping with feedback, distorted by the reliquary of Florida men, sobering, end-times-ridden folklore and a Holy War of the interpersonal woven into the God-fearing and mysterious." -Paste "'The Celtic thrum of noise that kicks off his album is a bit of a red herring (it’s full of hopelessly addicting indie-rock bops), and while a track like “Colorado” is missing shoegaze tenets like “glide guitar,” the voluminous crescendos (packed in tight with warm, tattered horn blasts) create a shoegaze-like effect, and “Souvenir Heart” indeed uses the unmistakable yowl of a distorted ‘gaze guitar." - Stereogum "I’m late on this one — it’s my favorite album of 2022 that I discovered in 2023... It’s obvious that Freeman has worshipped at the altar of the late, great Jason Molina, though he also brings his own influences (particularly ’90s indie rock in the form of Neutral Milk Hotel and Guided By Voices) to the table. What I’m saying is that this is yet another blown-out country-rock record that sometimes delves into pure noise. (I can’t get enough of this formula lately.)" - Uproxx Vermont's finest, Greg Freeman, has recently signed with Canvasback/Transgressive Records. To celebrate this exciting partnership, his critically acclaimed debut LP, I Looked Out, is being re-released today, complete with two bonus tracks. The vinyl version is scheduled for release on January 17, 2025. This reissue features a new rendition of "Long Distance Driver (Acoustic)," which includes a special collaboration with Merce Lemon. Greg describes the track and accompanying video as a heartfelt exploration of... [insert your description here]. Additionally, the final bonus track, exclusive to the vinyl release, is a captivating mashup titled "Sound Tests, Scraps, Lists," which weaves together sounds, songs, and snippets collected during the creation of this masterful debut. Greg on the track, "I wrote this song a few years ago, when the world was entering a scary and uncertain time, and hope seemed fleeting and very far in the distance.  The song is about wanting to find connection in such a world.  In a way, it feels like an old song to me at this point, but that place of uncertainty feels even more pronounced than when I wrote it.  The acoustic version is just more sparse.  There's a harmonica instead of a saxophone.  There's no drums either.  Merce does the high part and I do the low part.  I also play the concertina in the recording.  Our friend Nate Campisi recorded the song at Mr. Smalls studio in Pittsburgh (where we also recorded the video).  It used to be an old church." Greg Freeman’s album I Looked Out has been garnering praise from notable critics, with Steven Hyden of UPROXX calling it “my favorite album of 2022 that I discovered in 2023,” and Paste Magazine naming it among the 25 Best Debut Albums of the 2020s. The magazine went further, hailing it as “one of the best rock records of this generation.” His noisy art-rock Americana will be put on display for his London debut at The Line Of Best Fit Show with Greg Mendez on January 15th in London. Tickets for these dates are on sale now. Find more information and tickets HERE. Look Out For New Music in 2025. Greg Freeman - Long Distance Driver Acoustic (Feat. Merce Lemon) Live Tour Dates: 1/15 - London UK - LOBF Show w/ Greg Mendez Vinyl Tracklisting: Side A 1. Horns 2. Right Before the Last Waves Took Vestris 3. Long Distance Driver 4. Colorado 5. Come and Change My Body 6. Connect To Host  7. Tower Side B 8. I’ll See You In My Mind 9. Souvenir Heart 10. Palms 11. Sound Tests, Scraps, Lists Digital Tracklisting: 1. Horns 2. Right Before the Last Waves Took Vestris 3. Long Distance Driver 4. Colorado 5. Come and Change My Body 6. Connect To Host 7. Tower 8. I’ll See You In My Mind 9. Souvenir Heart 10. Palms 11. Long Distance Driver Acoustic (feat. Merce Lemon)  12. Sound Tests, Scraps, Lists

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve Announce U.S. Dates In February & March 2025

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve Announce U.S. Dates In February & March 2025  

Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve have announced a 15-date tour which opens in Easton, PA on February 19, 2025 and takes in the Count Basie Center For The Arts in Red Bank, NJ, the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY and two nights at the Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY.

The tour will visit Wilmington, DE, Beverly, MA, Portsmouth, NH, Montclair, NJ, Ithaca and Buffalo, NY, and Ann Arbor, MI, playing selections from a songbook that is fifty years long and twice as deep. 

“Costello is one of the world's greatest songwriters, up there with McCartney. You forget how many timeless songs he actually has until he plays them.” - Irish Independent 

The tour concludes with a three-night engagement at Park West in Chicago at which Costello and Nieve will be joined by Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle, Tony Garnier on double bass, Shaye Cohn on cornet and Sean McKeon on Uilleann pipes.

“Transcendent Musical Moments” – The Scotsman

These dates follow on from the acclaimed Costello & Nieve tours of 2023/4 which traveled from the Palau de la Música, Barcelona to the Oslo Opera House and from the Béla Bartók Concert Hall Budapest to the Paris Philharmonie - augmented by trumpet, reeds, cell and percussion before visiting Japan and playing three sold-out shows in Tokyo and one night in Osaka, in April 2024.

Their 2024 dates in the UK and Ireland included a momentous show at the Liverpool Olympia recruiting seven horns - student, graduates and tutors from LIPA - the performing arts school founded by Paul McCartney. 

That night was described as:

“Soul music to warm the coldest of hearts” - Liverpool Acoustic

The 2024 tour concluded with two sold-out concerts at the London Palladium and a sold-out four-night stand at Vicar Street, Dublin. The second London show and the last two nights in Dublin also featured the Brodsky Quartet with whom Costello and Nieve have collaborated with over a thirty year period and with Uilleann piper, Sean McKeon also joining the last of these Vicar St. dates.

“Elvis Costello remains the most fascinating songwriter Britain has produced in the past 50 years” – The Spectator

On November 1, 2024, UMe released, 'King Of America & Other Realms' - a 6-CD collection tracing Elvis Costello's travels from his 1986 album recorded in Hollywood through his work in the American musical cities and towns of New Orleans, LA; Oxford and Clarksdale, MS; and Nashville and Memphis, TN and brought up to the present day with a haunting minor key arrangement of “Brilliant Mistake” recorded in Cape Fear, NC.

“Costello challenges us to confront the stories we inherit and the places we inhabit. Almost 40 years later, "King of America" remains Costello's map of disillusionment and aspiration, both timeless and acutely of its moment, a kingdom where invisible walls define the boundaries of our dreams” - Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Costello’s 35-page accompanying essay for the 'King Of America & Other Realms' box-set traces the forty year collaboration and friendship with songwriter and producer, T Bone Burnett, the latest installment which is “The True Story of The Coward Brothers” an Audible Original comedic drama, written by Elvis Costello and directed by Christopher Guest in which Burnett and Costello take the roles of the rock and roll charlatans and charmingly deluded siblings “Henry and Howard Coward” in a cast which includes Harry Shearer and Rhea Seehorn.

The 20-track accompanying album, 'The Coward Brothers' was released in November 2024 by New West Records and features the full-length renditions of the songs heard in the course of what the author refers to as “a wireless address”.

Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve have been cohorts and bandmates since 1977, appearing together on more than twenty-five recordings and performing on stages from the Grosse Freiheit 36 in Hamburg to the Royal Albert Hall in London, debuting songs such as “Accidents Will Happen” and “Shot With His Own Gun” with only piano accompaniment and playing their first two-man shows in 1995, then undertaking “The Lonely World Tour” together in 2003.

“Nieve is astonishing, like the ghost of George Gershwin being watched over by Philip Glass” - Irish Times

 

Steve Nieve is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Elvis Costello and the Attractions and the composer of “Welcome To The Voice,” an opera written with Muriel Teodori, which was produced at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris and later recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. He has played with Elvis Costello and The Imposters since 2002.

 

Tickets go onsale at ElvisCostello.com:

Artist Presale: Wednesday, November 20 at 10:00am local

General Onsale: Friday, November 22 at 10am local

“Costello and Nieve” Tour Dates: February/March 2025 Wednesday, February 19 - Easton, PA - State Theatre Center for the Arts Friday, February 21 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Center for the Arts Saturday, February 22 - Wilmington, DE - The Grand Opera House Monday, February 24 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre Tuesday, February 25 - Ithaca, NY - State Theatre Thursday, February 27 - Port Chester, NY - The Capitol Theatre Saturday, March 1 - Beverly, MA - The Cabot Sunday, March 2 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall Tuesday, March 4 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater Wednesday, March 5 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater Friday, March 7 - Buffalo, NY - UB Center for the Arts Saturday, March 8 - Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theatre Tuesday, March 11 - Chicago, IL - Park West Wednesday, March 12 - Chicago, IL Park West Friday, March 14 - Chicago, IL - Park West