Swans: Classic or Dud?

But, it is funny that humorless music can be "hilarious" since "humorous" music can really piss me off- like Ween for instance. Sometimes they're annoying as hell.

(I didn't as I'm working late for this stupid presentation tomorrow therefore I am jealous: did gira scream the word 'mother' at any point during the gig?)

The difference is, Gira and Co. sound traumatized by this discovery, whereas Malice and Pusha T sound like they're doing a gleeful dance.

Being a masocist I especially love the brutal Cop/Holy Money
period - most people would find this stuff horrible, but given
a bit more listening one may be able to experience this amazing
feeling of ? - too hard to describe, but it compliments such
painful things like exercise, washing dishes etc.

Anyone heard the live disc 'Public Castration is a Good Idea'?
This out-heavies anything I've ever heard...

Gira's book THE CONSUMER also so, so recommended.

Utterly, timelessly CLASSIC.

I just mean all the terse little statements of complete hopelessness in the lyrics. I get about three lines in and completely lose my shit.

No, it means you're the right audience.

When I saw Angels of Light play Tonic, he drank a full pint of whiskey in a glass filled from behind the bar and didn't seem in the least bit drunk. After the show, he went and got a refill and mingled like he was at an art opening or something.

His writing is pretty disturbing.

Jarboe seems to have severe mental problems. Oh yeah, and so does Gira.

-- Ficky Stingers (bimble87...), Sunday 1:33 AM. (Bimble...) (later) (link)

best/scariest/best thing ever.
Weird that two completely different Swans C or D threads just got revived a few days apart. Here's the other:
Classic or Dud: Swans

OK...Happy Ned...Did this already...but isn't exactly what I was looking for anyway...

Screw this....

I'm gonna give up on the Swans...

Filth is one of my all-time favorite albums. I'd recommend that one, but it may not be the best convince-me-otherwise album.

Its Aja!

Yeah, hi....

I find it funny that my thread was locked so soon...

Anyway, I was bored and wanted to see what was up in these parts...I really should be getting to sleep though...

I think it's funny that you say "screw this" because Swans have a song called A Screw don't they? Heheh.

Also there is some really fantastic Swans stuff on You Tube. But in all honesty, Swans are not a band I would likely try to argue with someone into liking the way I would, say, Led Zeppelin or even the Fall. I find it perfectly understandable that some folks will never get Swans.

I think it's funny that you say "screw this" because Swans have a song called A Screw don't they? Heheh.

-- Bimble, Monday, May 28, 2007 7:04 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

They do? Gosh...is it any good? Or is it really slow and weird...

Well there are two different versions I found.

This one is a more beefed up version of the album version with horns and a heavy industrial beat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqiEmNaG5QY

This one is a live performance, and more bare-bones, truer to their early material and I prefer it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHES9YAGGkU

Of course this is before they became a lot more listenable, pretty and mellow.

Ok................

Interesting. I'll leave it at that.

I got into the first couple of albums for a while, saw them live, then gradually decided that life was just too short for Gira's schtick. Haven't listened to them for ten years.

I have a promo copy of 'Cop' which was issued to Radio Forth, our local top forty station, a thought that makes me laugh every time I flick past it on the stack.

Aja, you can say you hate it, I don't care! It's ugly music. Soukesian, I think that's part of their appeal that they make you laugh in the end.

Here's something called "Love of Life" from later on when they'd mellowed out more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girFIccfmBU

Fuckin goths

I took about a 15 year break from them, but lately have been filling in what happened after 1990, and I'm impressed at how consistent they've been, and it's all hitting me with a renewed force. Yeah, they're as funny ha-ha as they are funny strange, but I find that I can't doubt what Gira was reaching for. And when they hit, wow, beat and message and emotion come together equally. And the beauty really does start poking through the ugliness.

Having said that I'm planning to buy some of their shit pretty soon. BUT. They are goths.

Goths perhaps, but of a different stripe. I don't think black clothes are really necessary with them or their fans.

Gosh...is it any good? Or is it really slow and weird...]

or? OR? OR?!?!

have been filling in what happened after 1990

Some of their best and most rewarding work, IMO. I wish somebody would reissue "Die Tur Ist Zu" because I still haven't heard it. Also check out those Gira and Jarboe solo records that Alternative Tentacles did.

part of their appeal that they make you laugh in the end

Yeah, I don't see this happening at all.

I believe this was the second ever thread I contributed to, back in the day (when the earth was young and the seas were hot and the skies were filled with pteradactyles).

SWANS were untouchably brilliant and will always remain so. But GOTHS they are not. Not in the slightest. And I know two ex-Swans who would happily bludgeon anyone who dared refer to them as such.

i always thought swans were funny. and they are one of my favorite bands. in my top four anyway. when i first got internet in 1999 i joined a swans list and i confessed that i always thought that the song failure was really funny. i expected to get yelled at. but nobody yelled. and jarboe agreed that lots of swans had very dry humor too it, but that a lot of people didn't see it. or didn't want to see it. and if you ever went to a swans show you would see these deadly serious fans. they were the ones who loked like the memebers of controlled bleeding. they weren't in it for the funny.

Were Live Skull goths?

x-post

LOTS of goths love swans though. that's why the two get connected. and goths LOVE world of skin and angels of light and jarboe too.

no, live skull were not goths.

https://younggodrecords.com/collections/special-items/products/swans-face-masks !

wow theyre so poorly designed

idk I like the teeth one

do we have a "neat quarantine masks" thread yet

There is clearly no level to which Gira will not stoop nowadays. That said, I'd happily wear a Public Castration Is A Good Idea mask.

lots of bands are selling masks tbf

some of them not fronted by rapists

^^^

sure, just didn't see the big deal on this count

dud

new album in 2023 - fundraiser (acoustic versions) & preorder:

https://younggodrecords.com/products/is-there-really-a-mind

New *studio* album in 2023:

SWANS have announced details of their sixteenth studio album, The Beggar, due for release on Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 23 June 2023. The Beggar will be released on double vinyl in a brown chipboard sleeve with a download card for accessing an additional 44 minutes of music (also included on the album's CD version), as a double CD in a brown chipboard digi-pack, as well as digitally.

Listen to the first track from the album, ‘Paradise is Mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgtGHp2kfPQ

The Beggar tracklisting
1. The Parasite
2. Paradise is Mine
3. Los Angeles: City of Death
4. Michael is Done
5. Unforming
6. The Beggar
7. No More of This
8. Ebbing
9. Why Can't I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want?
10. The Beggar Lover (Three)
11. The Memorious

3. Los Angeles: City of Death
4. Michael is Done

nice

Is Ben Frost still in this band, or is he just a touring member?

From the press release:

Primary contributors to The Beggar:

Michael Gira – Vocals, words, acoustic guitar, production. Gira started Swans in NYC in 1982 and has been the primary songwriter, singer and producer throughout the years. During the Swans hiatus (1999 – 2010), he released several albums by and toured with a group called Angels of Light. Gira recently published a book of his short stories, journals, and words for music, called The Knot. He lives in New Mexico.

Kristof Hahn – Lap steel, various guitars, vocals. Kristof first joined Swans in 1989 and was a principal contributor to Angels of Light, and a core Swans member 2010 – 2017. Kristof’s other musical ventures have included the Rock ‘n’ Roll Noir band Les Hommes Sauvages and Kool Kings (with Alex Chilton). When not making music Kristof translates books. He lives in Berlin, Germany.

Larry Mullins - Drums, vibes, orchestral percussion, Mellotron, various keyboards, backing vocals. Larry is a trained symphonic percussionist. He played through the ‘90s with Iggy Pop and later with The Stooges. He played with Swans in the late ‘90s and was a main contributor to Angels of Light. His current main job is playing drums with The Bad Seeds. Larry lives in Berlin, Germany.

Dana Schechter – Bass guitar, lap steel, keyboards, vocals, piano. Dana played bass in and was a core member of Angels of Light. She subsequently released music and toured as Bee and Flower. Her current band is the power-duo, Insect Ark. Dana is an animator and designer in the film industry and currently lives in Berlin, Germany.

Christopher Pravdica - Bass guitar, sounds, keyboards, vocals. Chris played bass as a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. Chris has played with the bands, The Gunga Din, Flux Information Sciences, Xiu Xiu, Yonatan Gat’s Medicine Singers and has a project of his own called We Owe. Chris is a sound designer and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Phil Puleo – Drums, percussion, vocals, piano, exotic wind instruments. Phil played drums with Swans in the late ‘90s and was a core member in Swans 2010 – 2017 and contributed to Angels of Light. Phil’s early NYC musical venture was Cop Shoot Cop and has since played with Human Impact, among others. Phil is an extremely talented illustrator and lives in Chicago, IL.

Ben Frost - Guitar, synthesizers, sound manipulations. In his own work, Ben’s adventurous sound-craftings are sometimes harrowing and sometimes delicate and quite musical. His numerous albums and his powerful live shows have afforded him much recognition. He is also an accomplished composer and arranger of music for film and television. Ben lives in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Backing vocals are provided by Jennifer Gira, Lucy Kruger and Laura Carbone.

Initially thought Larry Mullins was Larry Mullen Jr and i was like “Strange pairing!”

No Thor on this one

Track listing with running times (from the Young God site):

The Beggar 2CD tracklisting

CD1:
The Parasite (8:27)
Paradise is Mine (9:23)
Los Angeles: City of Death (3:29)
Michael is Done (6:08)
Unforming (5:55)
The Beggar (10:15)
No More of This (6:55)
Ebbing (11:04)
Why Can't I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want? (7:38)

CD2:
The Beggar Lover (Three) (43:51)
The Memorious (8:38)

When I got the promo email I initially thought this was the album cover:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0397/1609/files/Swans_2023_TourPoster_Venue_v2copy_50ac29fc-beab-4c77-831c-a725de264052_480x480.jpg

Gira will be 70 next year. His hearing must be totally gone at this point.

I almost ordered it but then I remembered I paid for "New Album Fundraiser & Pre-Order" last time (got the "Is There Really A Mind" CD last year but this includes the 2023 album too, or it should)

I chatted him up after a show in Houston and asked if he ever wore earplugs. He gave me quite a dour look.

If he was my neighbor I would refer to him as “Chuckles.”

I chatted him up after a show in Houston and asked if he ever wore earplugs. He gave me quite a dour look.

If he was my neighbor I would refer to him as “Chuckles.”

lmao that Ben Frost didn’t allow himself to be caricatured, dude appears to be somewhat self obsessed

Why Can't I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want? (7:38)

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

yeah i dunno i'll probably check this out though xD

The Beggar Lover (Three) (43:51)

beats Richard Dawson by almost three full minutes!

I hadn’t realized it was out. Enjoying it.

It's pretty good

Haven't found much discussion of the remastering, I listened to White Light last night, it sounds great but very different, just now reading that aside from the obvious change (adding "Blind") that some of these songs are significantly different edits, I'm a bit dismayed but at least I still have my old Various Failures and White Light CDs. Maybe someday there'll be deluxe versions with all versions. I don't have a lot of experience listening to remasters of old favourites, hope it won't always cause this anxiety.

I didn't know about the edits.

I only have the remastered White Light from the Mouth of Infinity. I just have all the old CDs from the 90s that were bunched together

The live band from 1988 was one of the best things I'd ever heard, extremely heavy folk rock. Played by most of the band that recorded Children Of God but with a different drummer. It took me an age to get hold of recordings from that era. I missed getting the official botleg which I think documents it Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room . Not sure if that has been reissued. I think the sound they reached at the time does inform their more recent incarnation to some extent.

Remaster still sounds great, but different things are brought forward, I can't quite say what it is I'm missing from the older version

How do they compare to the original LPs?

Just dropping in her to say that I listened to Screen Shot and Oxygen again today annd they are two of the best songs ever produced (and I don’t really care for this band much). Carry on!

I've never heard the vinyl versions of any of them

me neither