Released

J.G. Thirlwell had already released two full-length albums and several 12” singles when this 1984 album arrived like a mail bomb. The lyrics were a hysterical collage of pop-culture references, surreal braggadocio, and priapic nihilism delivered in an out-of-breath shout; the music was a riot of tape loops, pounding drums, and borrowed styles from surf rock to manic and deliberately ersatz big-band swing. The most unsettling track, “I’ll Meet You In Poland Baby,” layers a Hitler speech within a constantly shifting mosaic of synths and sirens, as Thirlwell takes Elvis Costello’s concept of “emotional fascism” and runs with it. On “Satan Place” he fuses the Beach Boys, the surf instrumental “Wipeout,” the Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird,” and ? and the Mysterians-esque garage-rock organ, swamping the listener’s synapses like a tidal wave striking a building.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
The Idiot cover

The Idiot

Iggy Pop
Fever Bed cover

Fever Bed

Mat Maneri
Duets cover

Duets

Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell
Treasure Island cover

Treasure Island

Keith Jarrett
In Paris, Aries 1973 cover

In Paris, Aries 1973

Black Artists Group
Three Crowns cover

Three Crowns

Maciej Obara
Conversations cover

Conversations

Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, Archie Shepp