JG Thirlwell will be performing his Steroid Maximus project as a twenty piece band with brass section and strings at Prospect Park for the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival on June 18. Steroid Maximus will be performing the Ectopia album and selections from the score of The Venture Bros. Rain or shine, and it’s free - mark your calendars for this once-in-a-lifetime show! JG will be joined by long-time colleague Steven Bernstein as musical director and on trumpet; the rest of the musicians will be announced shortly.  Dr Lonnie Smith will support.

Yet another Manorexia album will be released toward the end of 2010. As yet untitled, this studio album of all-new material will be released in stereo and 5:1 surround sound.

Two Foetus albums are tied for the honor of number one album of the decade by the venerable website Popshifter: Foetus Love and Foetus Damp.

Spectre Collie names the Venture Bros album as one of the two best albums of the year .

And in the Brainwashed reader polls, JG Thirlwell’s The Venture Bros soundtrack was voted #27 album of the year, while Foetus Limb was voted #21 in “from the vaults” album of the year:

“An incredible record from one of the most talented composers still standing. I hope this achievement will serve as an appropriate intro to any cinematic producer as I will gladly see any Hollywood blockbuster film that this genius scores.” – Jon Whitney on The Venture Bros:The Music of JG Thirlwell

“I strongly feel that this deserves a much higher place on the list. J.G. Thirlwell released two very solid records in 2009, and this one came with both great music and a great video documentary. Anyone that cares about Foetus, or even Nurse with Wound, Coil, Swans, or Einstürzende Neubauten would do well to re-visit this. Thirlwell isn’t just a genius, he has to be one of the hardest working guys in the business. That fact shines through on this compilation. Limb also shows just how forward thinking Thirlwell has always been.” – Lucas Schleicher on Foetus Limb

Thanks to all the writers and voters for their support!

On Bait you lucky people can score a heaping helping of Ectopic goodness – over an hour’s worth of  tracks by Foetus, Steroid Maximus and Manorexia( -all alter egos of JG Thirlwell), dating from 1981 up until 2006. It’s not a career overview -but it casts a broad net.  There is early experimental work, tracks by Foetus (features many sides of the Foetus monster, -from cinematic orchestral bombast, to breakneck bigband, to cathartic cacophony) a live track, two tracks each by Manorexia and Steroid Maximus and even a remix by Amon Tobin.

The unveiling of Bait is to celebrate the digital release of thirteen Ectopic Ents titles: Flow, Blow, Damp, Limb, Deaf, Ache, Rife, Male and Null/Void by Foetus, Radiolarian Ooze and Volvox Turbo by Manorexia and Quilombo and Gondwanaland by Steroid Maximus.  Outside of Other Music (and, of course, www.foetus.org) these titles will also be available digitally via Itunes, Other Music, Emusic, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, ILike, Zune and Medianet. In addition, in Europe they will be available via VidZone, 247, Finetunes, 7Digital, Halcyon, HMV (UK), Peoples Music Store, Word and Sound, Phonomonkey and Spotify.

Also, only until Oct 27, Other Music will be selling the Ectopic catalog for just $7.99 per title ! So act now and stock up quickly.

Having said that, Ectopic Ents loves physical media and will continue to print physical media. You will find eight CD titles in the CD shop, including the superdeluxe double disc release Limb (with 48 page book and slipcase). There will be three brand new albums in 2010 – the new Foetus studio album Hide, a brand new Manorexia studio album (in stereo and 5:1 surround sound) and finally,  the Manorexia chamber album which will be released on John Zorn’s label Tzadik.

Ectopic Ents presents Bait | Track listing:

1. Suspect (from Foetus FLOW )
2. Cirrhosis Of The Heart (Amon Tobin mix) (from Foetus BLOW)
3. I Hate You All (from Foetus DAMP)
4. Toxodon Mourning (from Manorexia VOLVOX TURBO)
5. I’ll Meet You In Poland Baby (from Foetus MALE)
6. Te Deum (from Foetus LIMB)
7. Verklemmt (Vid mix) (from Foetus NULL/VOID)
8. Life in the Greenhouse Effect (from Steroid Maximus QUILOMBO)
9. Gums Bleed (from Foetus ACHE)
10. Fluorescent Radiation (from Manorexia RADIOLARIAN OOZE)
11. I Will Love You Always (from Steroid Maximus GONDWANALAND)

Track listing is as follows:

The vinyl omits four tracks to provide great sound fidelity; it does however come with a URL/link to the download the 4 other tracks in mp3 format. Read reviews from Creative Loafing, North Bay Bohemian, Brainwashed, LA Weekly, Fazer, Popshifter.