|
Mutation posted:We need to talk more about the loving horse in Bring the Sun. There's a loving horse in Bring the Sun! I literally smelt horse when I heard that horse.
|
# ? May 21, 2014 00:42 |
|
|
# ? May 15, 2024 03:41 |
|
Got a Michael Gira tattoo today. Now my swans obsession is permanent.
|
# ? May 21, 2014 01:17 |
|
Quantum of Phallus posted:They recorded that horse specifically for the track, there's a good recent interview on p4K with Gira.
|
# ? May 21, 2014 01:27 |
|
Beyond sane knolls posted:Listening to Swans' discography in reverse sounds like the ultimate recipe for a several-week long depression to me. Like a recommendation I'd make as a sick joke on someone. Listening in reverse would ease one into the brutal early stuff, gently caress that, if this is your first intro to the band, jump right into Cop/Greed/Holy Money or the Young God EP and tell us what you think.
|
# ? May 21, 2014 01:27 |
|
kirkjames posted:Got a Michael Gira tattoo today. Now my swans obsession is permanent. That turned out really well, congrats!
|
# ? May 21, 2014 04:26 |
|
Been spinning To Be Kind a lot the past couple weeks and I'm pretty sure Screen Shot is my favourite thing they've ever done. Gira is a production god. My favourite record of theirs was always The Great Annihilator but I'm not so sure about that anymore.kirkjames posted:Got a Michael Gira tattoo today. Now my swans obsession is permanent.
|
# ? May 21, 2014 04:38 |
|
Been meaning to dive into this band for a long time but never did, came upon this thread (a bit late to the party) and have recently been working my way through Filth, Cop and Greed. It's an enjoyable slog but I'm also definitely looking forward to reaching the new albums that you folks sound so keen on. Also I saw Built to Spill at Music Hall of Williamsburg the other night and learned that I had missed Swans the night before. Dangit!
|
# ? May 22, 2014 15:40 |
|
Bigup DJ posted:I literally smelt horse when I heard that horse.
|
# ? May 22, 2014 16:43 |
|
Listening to Soundtracks For The Blind for the first time in years and, my word, I'd forgotten how strange it is, even (or perhaps especially) coming from Swans. I'm still not entirely sure whether I really enjoy it or not but it's definitely got a really weird, dark atmosphere that's absolutely like nothing else I've ever heard.
|
# ? May 23, 2014 00:24 |
|
I still haven't started my reverse Swans journey yet, but I will. I have The Seer, I just need to prepare myself to listen to it. If that's even possible...
|
# ? May 23, 2014 00:27 |
|
Hidden Mother posted:Listening to Soundtracks For The Blind for the first time in years and, my word, I'd forgotten how strange it is, even (or perhaps especially) coming from Swans. I'm still not entirely sure whether I really enjoy it or not but it's definitely got a really weird, dark atmosphere that's absolutely like nothing else I've ever heard. As far as I'm aware a stranger album has never been made. I'm welcome to contenders though. Rageaholic Monkey posted:I still haven't started my reverse Swans journey yet, but I will. I have The Seer, I just need to prepare myself to listen to it. If that's even possible... Michael Gira would probably suggest climbing in a sweat lodge and punching yourself in the face repeatedly first.
|
# ? May 23, 2014 00:33 |
|
Found the Burning World at Amoeba in SF for $12 so I'm pretty excited to finally give it a listen after going through most of the readily available albums.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 06:13 |
|
Skittle Wood posted:Found the Burning World at Amoeba in SF for $12 so I'm pretty excited to finally give it a listen after going through most of the readily available albums. Its similar in tone to the first two Angels of Light records. It's kinda melodramatic folk music. Worth it for the final song, which is a classic. edit: Also digital reverb. Everything has poo poo tons of digital reverb on it. God Of Paradise fucked around with this message at 10:56 on May 24, 2014 |
# ? May 24, 2014 06:59 |
|
Skittle Wood posted:Found the Burning World at Amoeba in SF for $12 so I'm pretty excited to finally give it a listen after going through most of the readily available albums. Gira himself said he hates that album.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 12:07 |
|
Cymbal Monkey posted:Gira himself said he hates that album. They sound like the loving Crash Test Dummies on that album.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 12:12 |
|
Burning World is the only Swans album I've never listened to more than once.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 12:28 |
|
She's A Universal Emptiness is a good song
|
# ? May 24, 2014 13:22 |
|
Gira just sounds bored for the entire album.Michael Gira posted:I abhor that record. Bill Laswell is a very good producer, but we didn't mesh well. I was intimidated and sang in this cramped, monotone way. It didn't sell, and we got dropped.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 13:46 |
|
Speaking of Gira saying things, does anyone have that interview where he talks about the goat killing/blood orgy thing?
|
# ? May 24, 2014 16:06 |
|
Mutation posted:Speaking of Gira saying things, does anyone have that interview where he talks about the goat killing/blood orgy thing? This surprises me only a little bit.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 16:42 |
|
There are some good songs on The Burning World. The first song is pretty good, and Jane Mary Cry One Tear I always liked. Also, there's a Steve Winwood cover.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 17:13 |
|
Mutation posted:Speaking of Gira saying things, does anyone have that interview where he talks about the goat killing/blood orgy thing? No, but I remember reading about some house party thing he went to where he wound up meeting some chick for the first time and then loving her in front of an audience, very Eyes Wide Shut.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 17:24 |
|
Cymbal Monkey posted:This is an excellent post and I agree with all of it. My recommendation is actually to work through their discography backwards, and slowly. Really digest every album, listen four or five times at least, which I know is a ten hour time synch for three albums, but it's worth it, there's so much there that you'll miss your first time through. Swans, in my experience, get more challanging as you move backwards, broadly (The Great Annihilator being the biggest exception I can think of, being almost acceptable to put on in polite company). I love Swans but I've never managed to get into Holy Money and before. I disagree. I think it's best to begin at the beginning and listen to how the band progressed from the start, because what comes in the late-middle and since the revival is both a reaction against and an embracing of elements of the early stuff. It may be tough to understand now if you're just getting into them, or if you're in the younger crowd, but Swans are so influential that you really have to hear the early poo poo to hear how much is built on top of it. Like as much as I love Godflesh, their early work blatantly rips off old Swans. Is it challenging stuff? Sure, but in many ways I think the first four albums, as monolithic as they are, are more more rewarding and influential than the last two, which are a real mixed bag in my opinion. (The Seer was a study in pointless overindulgence.)
|
# ? May 24, 2014 17:32 |
|
Mutation posted:Speaking of Gira saying things, does anyone have that interview where he talks about the goat killing/blood orgy thing? quote:SECONDS: Tell me about what happened during the Nitsch performance you were part of? Here's the full thing.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 17:36 |
|
loving Michael Gira. Argali posted:more rewarding and influential than the last two, which are a real mixed bag in my opinion. (The Seer was a study in pointless overindulgence.) Cymbal Monkey fucked around with this message at 17:40 on May 24, 2014 |
# ? May 24, 2014 17:36 |
|
Reading Pitchfork's To Be Kind review, I came across this bit in it:quote:(This summer, Swans are even playing the odd free festival date in outdoor public squares, which could conceivably earn them a few new fans in the grandparents-and-strollers demographic.)
|
# ? May 24, 2014 17:43 |
|
If I ever have a child, I'm going to name it gently caress.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 17:45 |
|
They are playing a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto for NXNE at 7:40PM on Friday June 20th. This square is located in the heart of downtown, directly across from the biggest shopping centre in the city.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 18:59 |
|
This was the exact passage I read when I was first getting into Swans that made me realize that indulging in their music was going to send me deep down the rabbit hole.
|
# ? May 24, 2014 19:41 |
|
I have a flight from London to Seattle next Wednesday, gonna listen from White Light through to To Be Kind in one, unbroken go.
|
# ? May 25, 2014 00:28 |
|
That interview clip is amazing. Anyone else got any good ones of Gira telling weird stories?
|
# ? May 25, 2014 00:30 |
|
I think it's funny that the guy who is too crazy for the satanic blood orgy is married to Bette Middler. No poo poo. One of the "Kipper Kids." Never understood the appeal of their act. Here's the blood orgy aficionado on the red carpet, or something.
|
# ? May 25, 2014 07:47 |
|
Uncle Boogeyman posted:interview excerpt. Here's my favorite part of Moynihan's interview. I really liked his book on black metal as a kid in the 90's. SECONDS: Why hasn 't Swans received the recognition it deserves? GIRA: Well, there's a boundless stream of recriminations, self and otherwise, that could flow from that question, but let's just leave it with this oppressively truthful axiom: you get what you deserve.
|
# ? May 25, 2014 07:57 |
|
Alright, I finally listened to The Seer. It's not as weird or as much of a mindfuck as it probably would've been if I'd started listening to Swans with this album, but I guess To Be Kind got me acclimated enough to the Swans weirdness to the point where this kind of sounds like more of the same. Don't get me wrong, though, I still really dig it. The title track is huge and menacing. That harmonica part gave it a nice push into agonizing/desolate territory. And then the vocals right after that part sounds like the wailing of a mental patient. I felt like I was walking down Death Row in a prison in the middle of the desert while listening to it. And then 93 Ave. B Blues was like a nightmare in sound form. Song for a Warrior was like a breath of fresh air after the onslaught that was Disc 1. Then Avatar, especially the ending, was repetitive and furious and lovely. A Piece of the Sky started out sounding like the score to some deeply unsettling film but then it became a pretty normal piece of music as it went on. Well, normal for Swans at least. And then The Apostate…at the beginning, it sounded like it was building up to be this droney, ear-splittingly loud metal piece, and yep, that’s exactly what it built up to. At one point it sounded like Michael Gira recorded the sounds of himself playing ping pong and used that as the percussion for part of this track. And then later on the song sounds jazzy? This is all over the place but I like it haha I listened to this album while I was very tired, which was probably a terrible idea. On one hand, I feel completely drained now, so I'm probably gonna fall asleep right away. On the other hand, I'll probably have nightmares from listening to this loving thing right before bed. Next up on the list: My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky.
|
# ? May 26, 2014 09:50 |
|
Has anyone else heard The Body Lovers record? It's a post-Swans Gira project that still features Jarboe and Norman Westberg amongst others. It's probably the closest thing to Soundtracks For The Blind I've heard and from what I gather was made in a similar way, from cutting and pasting different recordings. Definitely worth a listen, I'm very surprised more people don't mention it actually.
|
# ? May 26, 2014 10:16 |
|
I burst out laughing at "Really wonderful!" God, I love Gira.
|
# ? May 26, 2014 10:26 |
|
The Seer was my first exposure to Swans and I honestly didn't find it that crazy. I just thought it was kind of cool. The Great Annihilator and parts of Children of God gave me way more of the oppressive/insane vibe, and then To Be Kind just crushed me.
|
# ? May 27, 2014 01:31 |
|
On my way home from seeing swans in brixton. Rad as gently caress and so intense. Worst loving crowd though. If any of you were squeezing past over and over to get booze in the middle of songs, eat a dick.
|
# ? May 27, 2014 23:49 |
|
sharktamer posted:On my way home from seeing swans in brixton. Rad as gently caress and so intense. When I saw them in Oklahoma City in 2012, there was this dude who looked to be in his 40s but dressed like a teenager who kept bobbing around the crowd and bumping into people trying to get them to slamdance. Eventually Gira addressed him from the stage and made him promise to cut it out or he would be ejected.
|
# ? May 28, 2014 00:31 |
|
|
# ? May 15, 2024 03:41 |
|
sharktamer posted:On my way home from seeing swans in brixton. Rad as gently caress and so intense. I was there too. loving insane, but you're right, people were pushing through all the loving time!
|
# ? May 28, 2014 01:00 |