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 Since the last thread has been archived and we're getting new material this year, I wanted to restart the Swans thread. EDIT 4/3/2021 NEW ALBUM ON THE WAY, TIME FOR A NEW OP HERE WE GO Who are Swans and why do they deserve their own thread? Well, this bio I've copied from RYM is a pretty good start quote:Brutally heavy, wildly confrontational and blessed with a general ugliness sufficiently profuse to grant their name a delicious irony, Swans have remained a brooding, hugely influential presence in alternative rock for the last 25 years. The mammoth noise of Gira's band helped to define the sound of the 'no wave' movement, with the Swans' torturous, hypnotic blasts famously proving loud enough to induce vomiting in audience members during live shows. Progression from the primitive, visceral sound of early recordings such as Filth and Cop has seen Swans diversify into other genres, notably neofolk, shoegaze and gothic rock - in each incarnation, the band has succeeded in maintaining the powerful air of menace that has proved so iconic, whilst still treading some interesting new ground. An essential act for all those interested in the darker side of art. Swans has covered so much sonic ground that they don't really fit into any of the general genre threads here. Between their 15 studio albums spanning nearly 40 years they have some distinct phases but they're always changing it up when the well starts to run dry. Swans came out of Glenn Branca's wing of the no-wave scene in the early 80s. Front man Michael Gira's first musical project was Circus Mort, which isn't quite early Swans but the DNA is there. After Circus Mort fell apart, Michael started a new project called Swans and recorded a self-titled EP with a more menacing and noisy edge than what Circus Mort had done. When it came time to record their debut album Filth, they took the no-wave sound and turned the noise and sludge up to 10. After a couple more releases they took a slight left turn into industrial and gothic rock territory with vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe joining the band, bringing a delicate and vulnerable element to compliment Michael Gira's intensity. They slowly introduced neofolk and alternative rock elements in the next few releases, each time pushing the boundaries a little further and further with experimentation. By this point Michael knew Swans' time was coming to an end. He went into the studio with a pallet of tapes from projects he'd worked on over the past 15 years so he could put the whole thing to rest once and for all. Live recordings, a soundtrack for a film that was never released, random tape loops and drones, and a handful of strange recordings from Jarboe's father's days as a federal agent. From these pieces he frankenstein'd together the seminal post-rock masterpiece Soundtracks for the Blind in 1996, the final album they'd release before breaking up the first time. During the hiatus Michael focused primarily on his record label, Young God Records, and released several solo projects and reissues. In 1999 he formed a new group and started releasing material as The Angels of Light, a folk rock group with a more subdued sound focusing much more on songwriting. With each subsequent release the sound got more intense and menacing and after 5 folk albums Michael knew the sound was slowly morphing back into Swans. He got (some of) the crew back together and released the first new Swans album in 14 years in 2010. After touring on this album the sound slowly mutated into their own signature brand of hellish and droning post-rock. The next album, 2012's The Seer, is the result of this evolution. Featuring songs blowing past the 20 and 30 minute marks dripping with atmosphere and brutality, about which Michael said, "The Seer took 30 years to make. It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined." They released three albums in this style between 2012 and 2016 (The Trilogy as a lot of people call them) and broke up again in 2017 after touring on the last album. The band re-formed again in 2019 with a new cast of artists and released their most recent album to date, Leaving Meaning. This latest incarnation of Swans features Ben Frost, The Necks, and Anna von Hausswolff and the best way I can describe it is that it sounds like Swans, Ben Frost, The Necks, and Anna von Hausswolff. Michael Gira just announced a new album but all we know so far are track titles, no info on who's involved. I'm interested, where should I start? Well that's a little more complicated than with most bands because the only common thread in the entire Swans discog is Michael Gira himself. If you want their unique brand of post-rock that gets the critics raving, To Be Kind. If you like it continue chronologically and then when you're caught up start working backwards. If you want more traditionally structured songs with some gothic rock/post punk elements, The Great Annihilator. If you want it prettier work back from there, if you want it heavier, go to Children of God next and then work backwards from there. If you want misery and sludge, start from the beginning. And don't skip the Young God EP after Cop. If the only thing you hate more than capitalism is yourself, listen to the earlier live albums - Public Castration Is A Good Idea and Kill The Child. Just give me a playlist to try it all out Aight, this is a pretty good cross section I threw together. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ASM2jendLpPE5BMvKmKxB?si=ae56807945a24c8d There's a documentary about this band, right? Where Does A Body End came out last year and it's really good even if you're not into the music. There's also a book called Sacrifice and Transcendence that came out in 2018 that goes more in-depth with tons of interviews with former band members. drat there's a lot of side projects associated with this band Yeah. Swans has been a revolving door of talent since the very beginning so the musical universe associated with the band is enormous. I mean, just look at the members and related artists sections on their RYM page. Angels of Light is the biggest one with 5 studio albums and a split with Akron/Family that ran 1999 to 2007. Most of the band that formed Angels of Light went on to become a part of the 2010 reunion era band. Michael Gira's solo album Drainland from 1995 is excellent and a lot of that material ended up becoming integrated into Swans. There's also Skin and The World of Skin, a super gothy/darkwave kind of side project with Michael Gira and frontlady Jarboe. Jarboe went on to have her own career with her particular brand of experimental music after the band broke up in the 90s, her latest Illusory is really good so check that out or her album with Neurosis if you like her singing. Also The Body Lovers and The Body Haters, a dark ambient side project Michael Gira put out between ending Swans and starting Angels of Light. What ever came of the rape allegations I heard about back in 2016? No one knows for sure, I guess google it and decide for yourself. Why is Swans' fanbase so stupid? A youtube reviewer that /mu/ users love gave a very rare perfect score to To Be Kind in 2014 so it got a lot of attention with 4channers internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Apr 4, 2021 |
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Mar 23, 2019 03:09
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The documentary is done and will be available for purchase later this year. The trailer: https://vimeo.com/324870530 finally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ml7SzcCdEE
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Apr 9, 2019 03:22
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That documentary is going to be awesome, I hope it comes to my area. Also if anyone is itching for fresh Swans style material, I found this Japanese band called Qujaku that sounds very similar to Swans latest trilogy.
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Apr 12, 2019 15:17
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internet celebrity posted:That documentary is going to be awesome, I hope it comes to my area. I want more bands that sound like 'public castration is a good idea', do you have any of those?
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Apr 14, 2019 09:22
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I admit I'm not well versed on no-wave but No New York is the album that gave the genre its name so I'd start there.
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Apr 14, 2019 15:09
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I've heard No New York(who hasn't?) and none of the bands on there sound like the album I mentioned.
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Apr 15, 2019 00:56
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The new album has a (nebulous and tentative) release date! https://www.instagram.com/p/BzJOYpZlNJo/ That gives us between 13 and 17 weeks which would be a perfect amount of time if anyone's interested in listening through their discography week by week like the last Swans thread. One week per album with additional recommendations like live albums and side projects from around the same time period. Let me know if you think, if you're interested in listening along, if you have any concerns, if some of the supplementary albums should be moved around or whatever. internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Sep 16, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 00:01
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Yes I love them, I own copies of a lot of their stuff and I can't believe they are putting themselves through recording more of it, this is awesome
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Jun 28, 2019 04:49
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New album is called Leaving Meaning and it's out on October 25! https://younggodrecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/leaving-meaning Preview track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZVZo30M8Lc
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Sep 5, 2019 16:07
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Bella.
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Sep 6, 2019 14:59
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is there another musician who has put out such consistently high quality material for as long as gira has? can't think of any others anyway, really looking forward to the new album and lineup after growing a little tired of their most recent style with the glowing man. just dove into anna von hausswolff after seeing her on the credits, dead magic is incredible
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Sep 6, 2019 17:49
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Yeah, this stuff feels like it belongs somewhere between the White Light era material and The Glowing Man which is exactly what I was hoping for, I'm super hyped for this. The Von Hausswolffs bring that Jarboe style mystique back to the sound so I can't wait to see what their other contributions are. The credits also list the entirety of The Necks as collaborators.
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Sep 6, 2019 17:58
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Best live band to ever exist
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Sep 7, 2019 03:49
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internet celebrity posted:New album is called Leaving Meaning and it's out on October 25! I'm a huge fan of Gira's country/folk music and a huge fan of Anna Von Hausswolff so this is tickling my tisms just right.
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Sep 7, 2019 14:47
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After the 2nd of the trilogy came out I went to see them live because I was obsessed with The Seer at the time. I haven't seen many concerts so I'll forever be happy I went to experience Michael Gira as he looks into your soul and pukes love in your eyes.
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Sep 11, 2019 01:58
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I’m really looking to seeing this new stuff live. Glad I went and had my hearing destroyed during the last iteration of Swans, but I want to see Gira in a less brutal setting.
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Sep 11, 2019 04:23
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Swans are awesome, thanks for reading
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Sep 11, 2019 08:19
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I am here for the next era of the best iteration of gira (white light-angels of light)
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Sep 13, 2019 13:24
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:is there another musician who has put out such consistently high quality material for as long as gira has? can't think of any others Scott Walker and Leonard Cohen did, Nick Cave, Einstürzende Neubauten...
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Sep 13, 2019 21:35
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WaryWarren posted:Scott Walker and Leonard Cohen did, Nick Cave, Einstürzende Neubauten... i'll give you nick cave, but idk if i'd say the others are "consistent" (walker) or "consistenly high quality" but i haven't listened to much EN or post-songs of... cohen stuff tom waits might also qualify with cave
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Sep 13, 2019 22:52
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I might suck at money but now I own this one of a kind 4LP box set of Soundtracks for the Blind hand painted by Jarboe and signed to me personally.  Not sure I love that I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull and Helpless Child are switched but I understand why they had to do it. As cool as it is owning this album on vinyl it doesn't really lend itself well to this medium.
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Sep 16, 2019 20:14
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Got to some of the older material after way too long; this band is consistently rewarding to get into. Soundtracks for the Blind being released in 1996 blew my mind, it sounds way of ahead of its time-- wish I'd known about it when it was released over 20 drat years ago. White Light is just magical. Each album is different, you can usually tell from the first track the tone of each album. Really enjoyable stuff. I also keep thinking fondly of when I saw these guys live. I've only been to 4 different concerts, but I've come to see my Swans concert as the best, easily. The crowd was super respectful and mature, and the whole thing felt completely comfortable. Gira obviously does whatever he can to go above-and-beyond, and during the concert he takes time to establish a connection with each person in the audience. Without any pretense; truly a meaningful experience.
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Sep 26, 2019 16:38
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New single just dropped, The Hanging Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M_K5565jSw
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Oct 10, 2019 16:25
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internet celebrity posted:New single just dropped, The Hanging Man
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Oct 11, 2019 03:59
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album streaming early here: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/10/23/exclusive-stream-the-new-swans-album-leaving-meaning/
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Oct 23, 2019 19:55
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:album streaming early here: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/10/23/exclusive-stream-the-new-swans-album-leaving-meaning/ Giving it a play now. It’s actually a good deal shorter than their last few records which is a nice change of pace. Edit: Just finished disc 1. This is definitely a different iteration of Swans, the repetition from the previous iteration is there but it’s less outright punishing. Some of the songs even have a pleasant vibe to them. Edit 2: I enjoy this. It definitely meanders at points but it delivers some of the softer side of Swans that I enjoyed in the White Light/Love of Life era. My favorite tracks after one listen are Sunfucker and What Is This The backing vocals are really nice throughout. Blast Fantasto fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Oct 23, 2019 |
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Oct 23, 2019 20:57
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I just found out that The Glowing Man track is 29 minutes at the bar. Whoops! I had the whole bar calling it Satan music. :EYEROLL:
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Oct 24, 2019 02:35
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooT3w3A-2AQ
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Oct 24, 2019 11:59
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Blast Fantasto posted:My favorite tracks after one listen are Sunfucker and What Is This same after one listen, what is this is so sublime and beautiful
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Oct 24, 2019 14:38
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Just got the album... looking forward to listening to it while drinking a whisky dram tonight. The songs that have been released were pretty good. I was a bit skeptical since I didn't like the two last releases as much for some reason, but I'll have to revisit them as well.
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Oct 25, 2019 15:03
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I hate shipping notifications that are really just "label created" notifications, ugh. Album is fantastic though, I'm really glad they're not rehashing too many of the same ideas from the past three albums. It'll be interesting to see how this material evolves as they tour with it though, Gira and Co are very much the type of artists to let material take on its own life and morph into something new as they play it live. Most of the material on The Seer grew out of the tour for My Father and those albums sound almost nothing alike so I kind of expect Leaving Meaning to be another transitional album. It's hard to pick a favorite track but I think I'd have to go with Annaline because it's such a fresh sound for Gira and it's loving gorgeous, it's like the sonic expression of a countryside sunrise. I don't think there's another track in his entire catalog that is nearly as blissful.
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Oct 26, 2019 00:00
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isn't Michael Gira a rapist tho
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Oct 27, 2019 15:56
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Venomous posted:isn't Michael Gira a rapist tho Maybe? It's a weird thing where the consent situation was a bit murky at best from what I've seen discussed. When you look at all of dude's output such a possibility isn't really that surprising.
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Oct 27, 2019 17:23
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No reason to bring it up, but it was a singular encounter, you won't find anything else about the subject.
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Oct 27, 2019 17:31
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It was a circumstance where pretty much every outside party came to his defense and called Grimm a liar, which included the ex-wife she said would back her up, her former bandmates, and her former agent. Even under the best-case scenario I think was Gira did was inadvisable, but with this amount of pushback, there is a point where her word alone isn't enough.
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Oct 27, 2019 18:08
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Anyone else pick up the vinyl? Mine finally arrived and first impression is that it sounds excellent - dead silent, great sound stage, no pressing errors, and I think I prefer the slightly different track listing. Hums was moved to the beginning of the second LP and Some New Things was left off entirely. Also a few of the tracks have a slightly shorter run time. The Hanging Man was cut from 10:48 to 9:59, Leaving Meaning was cut from 11:21 to 10:48, Sunfucker was cut from 10:44 to 10:16, and The Nub was cut from 12:01 to 10:33. After listening to the web version for the past week I really don't feel a huge difference with the slightly shorter tracks. The packaging is also excellent, heavy chipboard with the title and Young God Records embossed. I do wish Michael put a little more effort into his signature though, it's literally just a squiggle of sharpie on the back.
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Oct 31, 2019 00:10
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Eat The Rich posted:I just found out that The Glowing Man track is 29 minutes at the bar. Whoops! I had the whole bar calling it Satan music. :EYEROLL: what bar is this? the only one i've ever been in that played SWANS was in istanbul, where the owner got excited when i walked in with my teeth shirt and told me how the band drank there after one of their shows. he then played god drat the sun, blind and failure. 
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Oct 31, 2019 15:20
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What's your guys' favorite Swans lyric? Toussaint has some great ones, I'm particularly fond of "rrrRRRrrrrRRrrr" or [some kind of man-dog yelping]
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Nov 11, 2019 00:33
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Pontificating rear end posted:What's your guys' favorite Swans lyric? Toussaint has some great ones, I'm particularly fond of "rrrRRRrrrrRRrrr" or [some kind of man-dog yelping] "Come into me now, come on in, come in lord, come in now, PRAISE THE LORD! PRAISE GOD!"
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Nov 13, 2019 17:22
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Pontificating rear end posted:What's your guys' favorite Swans lyric? Toussaint has some great ones, I'm particularly fond of "rrrRRRrrrrRRrrr" or [some kind of man-dog yelping] Gonna go with 'Sexual Transcendence is reserved for the wealthy' myself. 
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Nov 14, 2019 07:30
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