listening to it now, with SFA's 'Mountain People' the perfect alphabetical introduction.
― Space Gourmand (Haberdager), Sunday, 17 September 2006 19:35 (seventeen years ago) link
Just got "Soundtracks for the Blind" the other day, but haven't really had the proper setting to listen to it.
I do remember being very off-put by a lot of the "Various Failures" compilation when I first got it, since I'd only ever heard the early stuff ("Public Castration is a Good Idea" is probably the most brutal album I've ever heard), but I've gotten a lot more comfortable with their later period in the last couple years. I especially dislike the cover of "Black Eyed Dog". The way Jarboe sings it just bugs me.
― vartman (novaheat), Friday, 29 September 2006 03:30 (seventeen years ago) link
boooooooooooo! ya should have seen her do it live. scare the pants off ya.
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 29 September 2006 03:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Friday, 29 September 2006 03:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 29 September 2006 04:18 (seventeen years ago) link
I think I've decided my fav Swans album is:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BkqYXCVGL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
― ilxor, Friday, 6 March 2009 16:39 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm going to give that one another listen really soon because I think out of all the Swans studio albums, it's the one I'm least familiar with.
― Sleep Tundra (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Friday, 6 March 2009 18:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh, I adore that record. I fell in love with Swans with "Holy Money," purchased on cassette from a Seattle pawn shop around 1987? 88?, tipped off by something I'd read in SPIN. (Hard to believe, looking back.) "Children of God" followed, plus the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" 12"s.... "The Burning World" soundtracked the summer after my senior year in high school. And then "Love of Life" and "White Light from the Mouth of Infinity" just blew my mind wide open. When I think of those records, all I can think is MASS (as in volume, as in weight, and communion, all at once).
― pshrbrn, Friday, 6 March 2009 18:57 (fifteen years ago) link
http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/sorry, I can't stop pastinghttp://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/05/08/swans-thinking-reunion-tour-album/
― StanM, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Hmmm.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:06 (fourteen years ago) link
I know, I've had enough with these reunions, but this is SWANS
― StanM, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:08 (fourteen years ago) link
dude just said he was thinking about swans as he got into his car after a show
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 29 May 2009 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I do this all the time
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 29 May 2009 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
gira: "at some point in the future, there is a chance that swans would maybe play some shows, possibly. can I get in my car now?"
internet: SWANS REFORMED TOUR IMMINENT
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 29 May 2009 20:21 (fourteen years ago) link
that said, if it's a gira-jarboe-westberg-kizys-parsons reunion I will print this thread out and eat it
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 29 May 2009 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Someone told me he doesn't get along with Jarboe now, is that true?
― "But didn't MBV come from a nasty goth background?" (Bimble), Friday, 29 May 2009 20:26 (fourteen years ago) link
That's about how it works, yeah. (xxpost) :-)
― StanM, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:36 (fourteen years ago) link
"I was just thinking gee I bet I could get a better guarantee if I credited this to Swans"
― da croupier, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:52 (fourteen years ago) link
a friend saw his solo show in boston a couple weeks ago, said it was mindblowing
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 29 May 2009 21:03 (fourteen years ago) link
swans are dead! they can't play again.
― scott seward, Friday, 29 May 2009 21:05 (fourteen years ago) link
they should really leave it be. and i say this as someone who considers them one of their top ten fave bands.
― scott seward, Friday, 29 May 2009 21:06 (fourteen years ago) link
original article here: http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7536&Itemid=1
I love Swans, but not sure I want to see a naked, sweating, 55-yr-old Gira...
― Duke, Friday, 29 May 2009 21:23 (fourteen years ago) link
they were so amazing on that swans are dead tour though... okay, i'd go see them. hahahaha!
― scott seward, Friday, 29 May 2009 21:34 (fourteen years ago) link
A reunion seems somewhat strenuously unlikely.
― Alex in NYC, Friday, 29 May 2009 22:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe Gira just wants to resurrect the name to play all those songs and house his new Swans-sounding material, and get whoever he wants to join in? Not necessarily with Jarboe (she wasn't in the band from the start, who knows, maybe he's not going to ask her permission), a choice of five or six drummers, guitarists, bass players, or maybe even new people?
― StanM, Friday, 29 May 2009 22:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, how many incarnations have there been? Which one would be THE reunion?
― StanM, Friday, 29 May 2009 23:00 (fourteen years ago) link
not willing to talk out of school any further than this, but it doesn't seem unlikely to me.
― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Friday, 29 May 2009 23:00 (fourteen years ago) link
You just want to see Edward III print out this thread and eat it too, don't you? :-)
― StanM, Friday, 29 May 2009 23:06 (fourteen years ago) link
I saw 'em @ the Fab Mab in '86.
The 2 drummers had way oversized kits and cymbals (16" hit hats as I recall), the bass ran through TWO giant folded horn cabs, Jarbo had one. Gira was really pissed the venue hadn't supplied the requested 10,000 watt PA (for a venue about the size of CBs).
I SWEAR that everyone in the audience looked like they were being subject to massive G-forces and seemed to be physically exhausted and beaten up after the show. I was really happy to have been @ the side of the stage.
BRILLIANT.
― factcheckr, Saturday, 30 May 2009 00:00 (fourteen years ago) link
If there is any reformation I'd like to see it's this one. I would kill to see Swans live.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Saturday, 30 May 2009 00:05 (fourteen years ago) link
OOoooooooh. Somebody knows something.
― Alex in NYC, Saturday, 30 May 2009 01:31 (fourteen years ago) link
See this seems so close to the point of what Swans were actually about
― Iniesta, I Can Boogie (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 30 May 2009 01:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Suggest Ban Permalink
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), den 30 maj 2009 02:05 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― sonderangerbot, Saturday, 30 May 2009 01:49 (fourteen years ago) link
16" hihat not weirdly overszd actually, just a bit fuller when fuller is a good thing.
― sonderangerbot, Saturday, 30 May 2009 01:52 (fourteen years ago) link
StanM upthread has it. There won't be any Swans "reunion", because Swans is just Michael Gira plus whoever he wants to play with him. It's highly unlikely he would bring back any of the former members, even Jarboe (they don't get on anymore).
― anagram, Wednesday, 3 June 2009 08:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Hmmmmmmmmm @ the last sentence here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Signorelli
― StanM, Monday, 8 June 2009 10:33 (fourteen years ago) link
unexpected noise moments: algis kizys listed in credits as "driver" for this show
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom_in_the_Home
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 8 June 2009 12:48 (fourteen years ago) link
i would like them to reform since I missed the last time they played in the bay area because I got confused and had my weeks off and have regretted this ever since.
― akm, Monday, 8 June 2009 14:18 (fourteen years ago) link
No more updates re: possibilities then? Not even about the once-rumored archived live recordings?
Come on Swans! Public Is A Good Idea!
― StanM, Wednesday, 10 June 2009 08:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Gira mentions the possibility of playing again as Swans in a new newsletter here:
http://younggodrecords.com/News/Detail/?C=2218
― anagram, Thursday, 11 June 2009 08:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Okay so I just had that rare musical blowaway moment -- 'Helpless Child' on Soundtracks For The Blind!
Oh my God.
― David Katz (davek_00), Sunday, 3 January 2010 00:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Something's underway. The official Swans Myspace page just got changed from saying "Swans are dead" to "Swans are not dead". And there's a new song posted, credited to M Gira/Swans (just a demo, though).
― anagram, Saturday, 9 January 2010 05:45 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.myspace.com/swansaredead
OMG! Thanks for the quick heads up!
Not Insane is one of his solo things: http://younggodrecords.com/Releases/Detail.asp?C=2217 , but it also says Swans, so ?
― StanM, Saturday, 9 January 2010 07:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Gira has always switched between playing songs solo and as Swans. If Swans aren't dead then I'm not really bothered until we find out who Swans are now.
― Shart Habit to Break (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Not at all. Swans existed from 82 to 97 and in that time he only put out one solo album and never played live solo. Since then he has played Swans songs from time to time at solo gigs but has never gone under the Swans name.
As for who Swans are now, it will almost certainly not include any of the key members from past line-ups. It will probably be people who he has played with as Angels of Light and/or new people. Jarboe is not involved. And even though I can't wait for these shows I don't really care who the other musicians are, since Swans is essentially Gira + whoever.
― anagram, Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Dude, I am giving up snark for Christmas so I will be straight with you, sometimes you come across a bit condescending, which is not a great look, especially combined with rong.
― Shart Habit to Break (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:52 (fourteen years ago) link
OK but I'd be interested to know what is "rong" about my post.
― anagram, Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:58 (fourteen years ago) link
My original post might've been a bit ambiguous but I was trying to say that Gira sometimes used Swans as a vehicle for songs he'd then play solo, so it doesn't feel surprising that he would have a reformed "Swans" playing an old solo song. And if Swans is essentially Gira + backing randomers then really what is the point of a Swans at all?
― Shart Habit to Break (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:02 (fourteen years ago) link