Manorexia

Roadburn Festival 2012

Roadburn Festival 2012

Holland’s annual Roadburn Festival begins today, featuring some of the most adventurous names in metal (and beyond) from across the globe over four days of festivities. This year’s ALARM favorites include: Ancestors, Michael Gira (of Swans), Killing Joke, Om, Sleep, Pelican, Manorexia (JG Thirlwell), Nachtmystium, Barn Owl, Jucifer, La Otracina, Justin K. Broadrick,  Saviours, Tombs, and The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation.

See the complete schedule here. Though the festival is sold out, it’s never too early to plan for 2013!

100 Unheralded Albums from 2010

Among the thousands of under-appreciated or under-publicized albums that were released in 2010, hundreds became our favorites and were presented in ALARM and on AlarmPress.com. Of those, we pared down to 100 outstanding releases, leaving no genre unexplored in our list of this year’s overlooked gems.

Morrow vs. Hajduch

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Foetus’ Hide

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Foetus: Hide

Foetus: Hide (Ectopic Ents, 10/1/10)

Morrow: Foetus is the best-known moniker of eclectic composer JG Thirlwell, whose multifarious recordings stretch across art rock, no wave, electronica, exotica, chamber music, big-band jazz, classical orchestrations, and much more.  He has fought the classification as being a forebear of industrial music, particularly for his early material, and his later projects — Steroid Maximus, Manorexia, and the material for The Venture Bros. TV show — have expanded his exotic instrumentals.

Underneath it all, his material as Foetus has tied the aesthetics together, with eccentric and melodramatic vocals helping to create his “poppiest” songs.  Hide is his first studio album as Foetus since 2005.

J.G. Thirlwell: Cinematic Mad Science

After releasing music under names such as Foetus, Manorexia, and Steroid Maximus, composer/producer J.G. Thirlwell only recently has released under his own name — while maintaining his distinctive genre-mashing concoctions.