One half of art-sound duo Matmos digs deep into his quasi-favorite album by the band Throbbing Gristle, pioneers in industrial music. Structured as a track-by-track investigation, it mixes colorful sonic description, personal reminiscence, revealing Q&A transcripts, and general cultural criticism. Definitely one of the best in the 33 1/3 series.

PS: Weirdly, when I saved my brief write-up, the average review by Good Reads readers was, a la John Cage, 4.33.

One of my favorite musicians writing about my all time favorite musicians. Though I can't not love it, Daniel mostly refrains from fan boy gushing, delivering a treatment that is both thought provoking and insightful. TG's work is dense. Daniel deftly untangles the knot that is one of their most contradictory documents. Never is his criticism pompous and convoluted. Nor is he afraid to confront TG's false premises head on and point out the group's occasional disingenuousness and conceptual failures. He offers thorough formal analysis of work that often dismissed as garbage. TG were musicians! Who knew? He also has deep understanding of the thematic intentions (and implications) of the "band's" art. This much hyped musical troupe deserves more critical approaches as fruitful as this. ( )