Ben Wolcott

To Live and Shave in L.A. (TLASILA)
Origin	Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Experimental / Noise Rock
Years active	1993–2007
Website	http://www.toliveandshaveinla.com
Members	Tom Smith Frank Falestra Ben Wolcott Weasel Walter Thurston Moore Nondor Nevai Mark Morgan Don Fleming Chris Grier Andrew W.K. Graham Moore Andrew Barranca Liz Armstrong Balazs Pandi Joke Lanz Mark Shellhaas Patrick Spurlock
Past members	The Lady Tigra Oscar Perez

To Live and Shave in L.A. (TLASILA) is an experimental music collective founded in 1993 by avant-garde composer/producer Tom Smith (formerly of Washington, DC groups Peach of Immortality and Pussy Galore) and Miami Beach musician/producer Frank "Rat Bastard" Falestra. They were soon joined by oscillator player Ben Wolcott; this lineup created the majority of the releases in TLASILA's extensive discography.

The group's debut album, 30-minuten männercreme, was released in 1994. Bananafish Magazine described the recording as "a wind tunnel of 30-weight vitriol." The "wildly inaccessible" ensemble has featured Don Fleming, Andrew W.K., Weasel Walter, Thurston Moore, and at least a dozen other musicians and sound artists.

The group's primary aesthetic assertion posits that "genre is obsolete". Although often categorized as purveyors of noise music, TLASILA have been noted to pursue an unorthodox approach, "construct(ing) songs around an overwhelming plethora of sonic detail, challenging the listener to engage with a surfeit of information," deliberately blurring "the line between harsh metal-on-metal noise and abstract musique concrète" Smith's lyrics "distance" the group "from any potential peers," "scanning like (they) came from some previously unearthed hermetic treatise." Its final album, The Cortège, was released Fan Death Records in 2011.

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Wikipedia