Genesis P-Orridge has suffered a series of health issues recently, as you may have heard. The legendary avant-gardist at the front of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and a host of other projects developed a chronic form of leukemia that requires expensive treatment. Last month, she was admitted to hospital after experiencing difficulty breathing.
Genesis is featured prominently on the latest edition of Ostgut Ton’s Berghain series. No. 9 was compiled and mixed by Vatican Shadow (Dominick Fernow’s techno stage name). The double-EP collection is described as a “tribute to the ’90s techno mixtapes that first introduced him to dance music.”
Fernow’s a pretty heavy selector. Along with Genesis, we get previously unreleased tracks from Alberich, Ron Morelli, Volvox, JK Flesh, Merzbow, Los Angeles Death Cult, Virile Games and a collaboration between Fernow (under the name Prurient) and Ugandan Methods. One of the EPs has a club feel, the other is more purely experimental.
Vocal samples provided by Genesis serve as a link between the two. And in a welcome nod to the good old days of experimental vinyl, the tracks on side D all end with a locked groove.
But while we celebrate this impressive new collection, let’s also send our love to Genesis. Author Jason Louv posted this note on Facebook with a request for donations.
“Gen currently lives on little to no money. Despite her incalculable contributions to culture, esoteric transgression does not pay a pension or provide a safety net. She faces mounting medical bills and is plowed under by day to day expenses. Outside of occasional DJ or band gigs (which she is no longer healthy enough to do), she has no income. This means that she is currently living only on donations. And this, to the great shame of our society and its values, is the same position that similar esoteric titans like Robert Anton Wilson and Sasha Shulgin were reduced to at the end of their lives. As our ever-growing occulture (or, as I hope it continually becomes, Ultraculture) matures, it is my great hope that we can do better by our elders.”
The Moderns, vols. 1 and 2, by Kevin Press are available exclusively from Amazon.