JG Thirlwell: Best Of 2010

Music

Here is some popular music I have been absorbing this year. Some on this list came out this year and some didn’t.

Tristan Perich, 1-Bit Symphony
Magma, Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré
Bondage Fruit, Bondage Fruit 2
Oneohtrix Point Never, Returnal/Rifts
Buke and Gass, Riposte
Swans, My Father Will Guide Me . . .
John Zorn, What Thou Wilt, Dictée, IAO, Mysterium (and many more, he’s prolific)
Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz
Happy Family, Happy Family/Toscco
Child Abuse, Cut and Run
Mike Patton, Mondo Cane
Tim Hecker, Harmony in Ultraviolet
Glenn Branca, The Ascension: The Sequel
Melvins, The Bride Screamed Murder
Phill Niblock, Touch Strings
Them Crooked Vultures, Them Crooked Vultures
Sleigh Bells, Treats

I also liked bits of the albums by Major Laser, Chrome Hoof, Liars, and Octopus Project. Though generally I have found 2010 to be a disappointing year for new music.

As I said last year on this very website, my main musical diet is classical, contemporary composition, soundtracks, and prog rock, and I spent most of the year writing new music of my own—I completed three albums that have been years in the making, as well as another season of The Venture Bros. among other things.

Concerts

I went to over 100 concerts in 2010. Here are some of the best . . .
(All shows in NYC except where noted.)

Jan 27: The Necks—Issue Project Room
Feb 13: Yes—Town Hall
Feb 24: Kronos Quartet play Jon Rose’s Fence piece—Artaud Theater, SF
Mar 5: Jon Rose—Experimental Intermedia
Mar 29: Adam Rudolph’s Go Organic Orchestra—Roulette
Apr 11: Morton Feldman String Quartet No. 2— The new Issue Project Room
Apr 21: NY Philharmonic play Stravinsky’s Firebird (Alan Gilbert conducting), Alice Tully Hall—Lincoln Center
Apr 30: Penderecki conducts Penderecki—Carnegie Hall
May 8: Eighth Blackbird—Washington Irving High School
May 17: The Choir of Trinity Church sing Greenstein, Burhans, Zorn, Wuorinen, and more—Trinity Church
May 19: PiL—Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 27: Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre opera, Alice Tully Hall—Lincoln Center
Jun 26: Omar Souleyman/Tinariwen—Central Park
Jul 19/20: Varese’s complete works—Lincoln Center
Aug 15: Master Musicians of Bukakke—Issue Project Room Courtyard
Aug 20: Tristan Perich—Roulette
Aug 24: Ted Hearne’s Katrina Ballads— Le Poisson Rouge
Sep 10: Ryoji Ikeda—Florence Gould Hall
Sep 20: Magma—Highline Ballroom
Sep 24: Yeah Yeah Yeahs —Mercury Lounge
Sep 25: Univers Zero— French Embassy, Washington DC
Oct 1: Buke and Gass—Santos Party House
Oct 8: Swans—Brooklyn Masonic Temple
Oct 10: Christoph Heenan— Triple Canopy
Oct 19: David First— Experimental Intermedia
Nov 15: Cheer Accident—Cake Shop
Nov 19: NY Philharmonic play Gerard Grisey/Marcus Lindberg (Alan Gilbert conducting)—Symphony Space
Dec 5: Keith Rowe—Experimental Intermedia

It was a really good year for classical performances in NYC and I’m excited about Alan Gilbert heading up the NY Philharmonic.

Movies I dug

Antichrist
Un prophète
The White Ribbon
Tetro
Taxidermia
Bronson
Import/Export
Ajami
Big Fan
Exit Through The Gift Shop

Some of my own performance highlights . . .

Steroid Maximus for Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park, 6/18/10—at last!

Kronos Quartet premiere JG Thirlwell’s Eremikophobia, Carnegie Hall, 3/12/10

JG w/Kenny Wollesen, Marcus Rojas, Elliot Sharp plays Christian Marclay at Whitney Museum, 9/16 and 9/17/10

Manorexia at Le Poisson Rouge, 4/4/10

JG Thirlwell released HIDE under the Foetus moniker in September 2010. For more, check out Foetus.org.