Psychic TV
Encyclopedia : P : PS : PSY : Psychic TV
The band began publishing a monthly series of 23 live albums in 1986 but stopped without explanantion after only 17. The tenth, a picture disk most commonly referred to as 'Album 10', could only be obtained by submitting tokens contained in each of the previous nine releases. The band subsequently earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Contributions to Psychic TV have include artists such as Coil, Current 93, Hafler Trio, The Cult, White Stains, Soft Cell, XKP, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Matthew Best, [Daniel Simon Black], Bill Breeze, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Derek Jarman, Fred Giannelli, John "Zoskia" Gosling, Timothy Leary, Rose McDowall, Stephen Kent, Vagina Dentata Organ, Andrew Weatherall, Z'ev, [Zef Noi$e], and many others.
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (aka T.O.P.Y.), was formed as an organisation at the same time as the band. T.O.P.Y. was intended to be the philosophical wing of Psychic TV, but also presented an image of being a cult-like fanclub for the group. P-Orridge left it in 1991.
Psychic TV released early albums of acid house music, such as Jack The Tab (1988). After breaking up in 1999, Psychic TV formed into a new band known as PTV3 in 2003. In 2003 Genesis P-Orrdige changed his identity to Genesis/Djin Breyer P-Orridge along with life partner and PTV3 member Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge (a.k.a. Mother Jack/Miss Jackie). This change in identity allowed Genesis to become what is known as a real life "Pandrogine". Other projects by P-Orridge include sample project Splinter Test and spoken word, Troubadorian project Thee Majesty with Larry Thrasher (Thrasher Qawwal / Thessolonians) and Bryin Dall (Loretta's Doll).
History of the band
Since Genesis P-Orridge primarily wrote the lyrics instead of the music, he would assemble different groups of musicians together to create the music. This accounts for the changing musical nature of PTV. Thus the history of Psychic TV can be broken up into the periods of the main songwriter that was working with him at the time.
1981-1987: Alexander Fergusson period
Psychic TV was formed with the core membership of GP-O, and Alex Fergusson in 1981. Alexander Fergusson was a member of the punk outfit Alternative TV, which may have been the inspiration for the name Psychic TV. Peter Christopherson got involved in 1982 (also a music video director) claimed that the 'TV' component of the name was intended to focus on the visual elements of the outfit.P-Orridge once claiming that "Psychic TV is a video group who does music unlike a music group which makes music videos". Similarities, however, can be seen in the artwork for Alternative TV and early Psychic TV releases, with a recurring pastiche on the 'as seen on TV' marketing style.
In the earliest live performances, Psychic TV maintained much of the noisy atmosphere as GP-O's previous band, Throbbing Gristle, although now with an increased use of exotic acoustic drums and other instruments. Psychic TV were signed to WEA Records and subsequently CBS based on the infamy of Throbbing Gristle.
Their first albums Force The Hand Of Chance and Dreams Less Sweet featured high production values, catchy pop songs written by Fergusson (with barbershop quartet vocals arranged by Andrew Pearson),sound experiments primarily created by Peter Christopherson and Geoff Rushton (also known as John Balance). Marc Almond was also involved.
The live shows continued to be improvised noise until Peter Christopherson left the group and Fergusson implemented musicians capable of improvisational pop music Godstar Roman P. This led to a series of 23 live show recordings being released, which dominated most of Psychic TV's output until 1988. Towards the end of this period Fergusson/P-Orridge completed their third proper studio album Allegory and Self: Thee Starlit Mire. It was at this point Gen P-Orridge became interested in acid house and techno. Alex Fergusson left and was replaced with techno artist Fred Gianelli.
1988-1992: Fred Giannelli period
During this period Fred Giannelli and other techno artists released music not only as Psychic TV, but also a variety of 'fake' names. The idea behind this was to release 'compilations' of these imaginary artists, creating a sense that a healthy acid house scene existed in the UK. The key studio albums of this period were Jack The Tab, Tekno Acid Beat and Towards the Infinite Beat, as almost all of the live shows in this period were based around the songs on these albums.1992-93: Exile
GP-O claimed initially that he was deported, although later admitted that he left England in "self imposed exile" after a video he had created was falsely presented as evidence of Satanic Ritual Abuse in an editon of Channel 4 TV's Dispatches. The programme was later discredited, though not before GP-O's house was raided by the police and the allegations had been repeated in the tabloid press.During this same period GP-O underwent a divorce which traumatized him immensely. Most of the output during this period was re-releases of earlier albums, especially by industrial music record labels who released the albums as a "paying of respects" to the founder of industrial music.
1994-1999: Larry Thrasher period
GP-O began working with Larry Thrasher, and created a few spoken word ambient music albums. "Thee Fractured Garden" was a seminal example, as it featured some texts from GP-O's writing for the Oliver Stone produced television mini-series Wild Palms. It also recycled material (most of which had been released as open-source material in the Electric Newspaper series) to create the last major studio album of Psychic TV, Trip/Reset. This period was also highlighted by a large number of rereleases of old material. Towards the end of the 1990s, GP-O announced that he primarily wanted to move into spoken word and created the offshoot group Thee Majesty with Larry Thrasher. PTV had a "final show" in 1999 at The Royal Festival Hall in London.2003-: PTV3
Psychic TV returned to the stage in 2003, with a concert in New York under the guise of PTV3 and was accompanied by (with the exception of G-PO) an all new line-up. In September 2004 an extensive tour of Europe (covering 16 countries) and North America was launched. 2005 saw the band return to the studio, recording their first album in over 10 years (GP-O also spent 2005 working with Throbbing Gristle on what will be their first album in over 25 years). Additionally a few more dates were performed in Europe throughout the year. In January 2006, the new PTV album was announced by GP-O on his website. HELL IS INVISIBLE...HEAVEN IS HER/E, the album was recorded in New York and features Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) guesting on some tracks. G-PO describes it as "Dark Side of the Moon for the 21st century". Release is expected mid-Spring (Northern Hemisphere) 2006 and will be followed by a tour that may last up to 18 months.[link]See also
External links
- [Genesis P-orridge.com]
- [Psychic TV History]
- [Family Ov Psychick Individuals Cybertribe - fansite]
- [Psychic TV live performance history]
- [Master Musicians of Joujouka]
- [Alex Fergusson]
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