March 17, 2012: In Remembrance Of Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson - Programmed by Jonathan Dean

IN REMEMBRANCE OF PETER "SLEAZY" CHRISTOPHERSON - PROGRAMMED BY JONATHAN DEAN

Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson (1955-2010) was a founding member of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil. He was also an influential visual artist, photographer, video director and designer. Sleazy spent more than three decades at the vanguard of underground music and culture, pioneering the provocative, transgressive movement known as industrial music, before reinventing himself and his art numerous times throughout the 1980s, 90s and 00s. A common thread through all of Sleazy's work - music, design, photography - was the use of cutting-edge technology. Sleazy was one of the first musicians to use a computer on stage, incorporating an Apple II into Throbbing Gristle performances at a time when "computer music" was the exclusive realm of academics. In the ensuing decades, Sleazy pioneered unique combinations of digital and analogue equipment to produce the rich textures, sidereal sequencing and unorthodox sampling techniques that became the trademark of his adventurous work in Coil, Threshold HouseBoys Choir and SoiSong.

Sleazy had an endlessly eclectic and inclusive aesthetic that incorporated influences as far-reaching and various as medieval liturgical music, Arvo Part, Martin Denny, Isaan pop music and Chicago Acid House. If his constantly shifting approach to sound-making can be said to have any consistent thread, it would be his willingness to follow technological lines-of-flight: time-stretching, mutating and shaping sound via digital means, creating unique textures which reflected his interest in ethnic music, drone, psychedelia and the dark undercurrents of pop music. For this tribute, tracks have been chosen from across Sleazy's recorded output that reflect this singular approach. Tracks are presented in a continuous mix, in roughly chronological order, from the very earliest work by Throbbing Gristle in 1977, to Sleazy's late work as Threshold HouseBoys Choir. The tracks chosen are those which highlight Sleazy's own unique aesthetic, and his use of technology. Wherever possible, alternate mixes, rare, and unreleased tracks have been included, as well as snippets of interviews with Sleazy commenting on his work. 

Jonathan Dean is a writer, musician, visual artist, academic and radio DJ. He has written extensively about underground music and culture for online publications such as Brainwashed.com and Tiny Mix Tapes since 2002. Jonathan is currently pursuing a master's degree in art history at Tulane University in New Orleans. You can hear him play records on WTUL every Friday night. You can find out more about his art projects and upcoming performances at

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