Jim Thirlwell's work has never been for the squeamish add the narratives
of Lydia Lunch and the musical muscle of folks from bands like Unsane,
Firewater, Boss Hog and Lounge Lizards and you're in for some demanding
times. For York, this eclectic ensemble took a libretto and elaborated
upon it with improvisation during its performance. This is one of Thirlwell's
most demanding works to date. It's a symphony Thirlwell composed about
the notorious Farragut Housing Project that is located underneath the Brooklyn
Bridge, across from which Thirlwell has lived for 10 years. The lyrics
and narratives are based on what he and Lunch experienced while living
at the edge of this warzone. Since the characters are real people, these
pieces vividly portray, with near documentary precision, the moral lepers,
baseheads and thieves that frequently populate Thirlwell's work. Recorded
live with only vague guidelines as musical cues, Thirlwell's crew does
an excellent job of capturing the broken-down setting. Coming full circle,
this live recording of York was performed in a concrete space with
50 foot ceilings that just happened to be at the base of the Brooklyn side
of its namesake bridge. A homage of sorts that the Brooklyn Chamber of
Commerce would like to ignore, York is a tidy package inspired,
created and performed all within a square mile of Brooklyn.