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Thee Majesty, "Vitruvian Pan"
Just weeks after Psychic TV's dismal new album and mere months since Throbbing Gristle's disobedient reunion record comes the delinquent sophomore full-length from this spoken word project of the ubiquitous frontperson behind all three musical entities, making 2007 one of his/her most prolific periods in many years.
On 1999's Time's Up, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge spun witty metaphysical yarns over ethereally supernatural atmospheres built by the underestimated Bryin Dall. With the 2004 bankruptcy of World Serpent Distribution, it became yet another fine post-TG transmission all-but-forgotten in its sizeable archives, to say nothing of Dall, whose WSD back catalog of Loretta's Doll and Order Of The Suffering Clown affiliated acts remains improperly out-of-print. Yet from there the project took an illogical path, unapologetically slapping Thee Majesty's name over those of reissued Psychic TV and Splinter Test recordings for Voiceprint, a label which has also re-released several of Gen's "disconcerts" on CD. The rationale behind these acts of discographic revisionism is at least partly symbolic, a heartily bellowed fuck-you to Martin Atkins and his Invisible Records, who allegedly has swindled Gen out of royalties owed on a trilogy of double disc Psychic TV acid house period collections. 2005's Mary Never Wanted Jesus, a limited edition "Odds & Sods" compilation of alternate mixes strictly for the devout, was near-impossible to find beyond the mail-order section of Gen's website or on the merchandise table at the occasional Thee Majesty live performance. Now, roughly eight years since the debut, the duo follows up and follows through with this exciting new album for the worthy Blossoming Noise label.
Vitruvian Pan is everything that Hell is Invisible...Heaven is Her/e should have been, a tenacious countercultural document that tests boundaries, questions dogmatic truths, and embraces taboos. Largely spoken and occasionally shouted, the enchanting lyrical monologues and hypnotic tonal qualities of his/her voice hearken back not just to Time's Up, but to other high points in his/her recorded history. Weirdo outsider grooves dominate these recordings, some unsubtly echoing sounds heard in on the streets and nightclubs of New York City, the place where Gen now rests his/her head. "Thee Nature Ov Control" and "Bee My Honey Bee" both grab hold of the boom-bap of hip-hop while mutating and mutilating it for the duo's purposes. The shuffling minimal techno of "Thee Land Ov Do Do" would be almost danceable if not for Gen's intentionally garbled, heavily effected speech. Fortunately the accompanying booklet, part of the attractive and apparently eco-friendly package, features all of the lyrics.
Essentially in exile, Gen-as-expatriate inevitably creeps into the lyrics, most noticeably on "Save Their Souls," with a slyly delivered declaration that he/she bears the distinction of "most evil man in Great Britain". Dall's eclecticism too shines through, from the sparse psychedelic dub of "Hey Baby!" to the dissonant possessed soundscapes of "Feel Strange." While many of my fellow Throbbing Gristle fans might deem this outrageous, I anticipate that I will listen to this album far more than Part Two - The Endless Not in the months and even years to come. Where the latter arouses and provokes, Vitruvian Pan tries another tack by approaching the listener in a far more accessible manner.
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