Swans: Classic or Dud?

Ok. Now I remember.

Yes, pints would be appropriate I guess. But I want to watch too...Can I have a Roy Rodgers?

*chuckling trying to imagine Alex in black lipstick*

HAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alex in black lipstick and with EYELINER!

guys I feel like this is an appropriate time to mention that "fap" has never meant anything to me other than the sound of masturbation

Well I've always felt the appeal of the term is that it does also call to mind that meaning. It's a double entendre, and I'm sure many jokes have already been made about it here.

yeah

it was really weird and off-putting for me at first, though, like moving to some foreign land where everyone referred to cars as "cunts" and thought nothing of it

WAHT IS THE HEN FLAP AND WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP ASKING FOR IT???

Wait..."Hen Fap" I've heard that before. What does it mean?

It's the name of the server ILX runs on. Nothing more. Now go about yr bidness, citizen.

Hahah! I see! The things you learn!

LOL @ Ned's story. Once I requested "Raping A Slave" on my hometown college station because it took me forever to find that EP, and after the DJ played it he said "Well, my girlfriend has called me to demand that I never play that song again".

I have so much to say on the topic that it's tempting to say nothing.

as a college dj I did a 3 hour swans show. at one point some guy called up and said "I'm going to come up there and kill you" and then started laughing hysterically. so I got on the mic and dedicated "coward" to him. he didn't call back (or show up, obv).

around '99 gira was selling the master tapes to the labor e.p. on his website. wonder if that's why it hasn't been remastered.

I am still missing one Swans live album in particular -- Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room. So if anyone has a full burn of it around...

hold on

The hotmail address ILX tried doesn't work, I tried the k**i.*rg one I remembered, is that one ok?

Yup.

the new angels of light is fucking awesome by the way

I love SWANS.

Alex in NYC OTM.

I refuse to be forced to choose between any of their sounds/periods (early! cathartic! melodic! apocalyptic!) though. They all rule in their own way.

Cheers, Alex! I was just thinking of Swans today while walking around outside on my lunch break, funnily enough. I started singing that lyric "Nothing inside you is real" from "You're Not Real, Girl". It was the only thing that kindof shook me out of a bad mood, today.

A few months ago at work, I was immersed in "Holy Money" when my coworker appeared at the door of my cube, grinning. I removed my headphones, and she said, "Didn't you hear the fire alarm? Didn't you leave the building?"

Immolated in a sterile grey cubical, while the coworkers wander off... Would have been a Giraesque way to go.

COP!

The sex in your soul will damn you to hell

Feel Good Now version of "Sex God Sex" is epic.

Feel Good Now version of "Sex God Sex" is epic.

Just to be clear again, Swans were not Goths. Ever.

Classic. Personally their one of the most important bands in regards to what I’m interested in. Children of God and Filth should be in everyones collections.

I'll say it again...

I LOVE SWANS

Just to be clear again, Swans were not Goths. Ever.

While this is technically true, I never knew an 80s goth who didn't have much love for Swans, and Jarboe brought the goth flavor to the stage throughout The Great Annihilator tour. They certainly transcend the genre, but the overlap is pretty undeniable.

Swans are less goth than Killing Joke, but like Killing Joke, they're still only a few steps away from goth proper.

the first two world of skin albums were totally goth. in a good way. i think i talked about the goth/swans thing on some thread. maybe this one. swans/gira still one of the few acts where i love/loved EVERYTHING they/he did. can't say that about too many people. jarboe on her own can be hit or miss (depending on who she is collaborating with), but she's put out some amazing post-swans stuff too.

Scott, have you heard the Blackmouth disc that's her and two of the guys from Trust/Obey? V. good, been a while since I've listened -- might dig it out here tonight!

nope, never heard it. she has lots of stuff i haven't heard. i still want to get her mystery of faith swans/skin comp too. and i'm curious about her men album. had blixa on it and alan from low doing a song with her. i really liked her anhedoniac album. crazy stuff. the early stuff i wasn't that big on. the 13 masks album and the beautiful people ltd. album. kinda patchy.

i liked the neurosis/jarboe album too. i thought that was really cool.

my love is for the Sacrificial Cake album that Alternative Tentacles put out. Anhedonic is cool too, only listened to it once so far. I saw her in a church on this tour:

MOBILIZATION TOUR 2006 (Blixa Bargeld, Jarboe, Savage Republic)

She had a piano player and another guitarist, played some Swans songs even!

also she has great early cassette noise stuff like on the first Dry Lungs comp.

I think it's hilarious the way Alex always feels the need to play Goth Police around here. It's even more hilarious because honestly I don't care if EVERY band is goth, Swans included! But you know, to each his own.

I met a guy last week at my work who had a Neurosis/Jarboe shirt on. Ah, the benefits of no dress code.

While this is technically true, I never knew an 80s goth who didn't have much love for Swans

I knew a bona fide Goth that liked Chris DeBurgh --- does that make Mr."Lady In Red" a goth too, then?

you knew one bona fide goth who liked Chris DeBurgh

you & I both went to Swans shows and saw the places packed out to the walls with goths

in your heart you know I'm right!

"I knew a bona fide Goth that liked Chris DeBurgh --- does that make Mr."Lady In Red" a goth too, then?"

It was late at night on the open road, speeding like a man on the run
A lifetime spent preparing for the journey.
He is closer now and the search is on, reading from a map in the mind:
Yes there's that ragged hill and there's a boat on the river.

And when the rain came down, he heard a wild dog howl
There were voices in the night
(Don't do it!)
Voices out of sight
(Dont't do it!)
Too many men have failed before, whatever you do;

Don't pay the ferryman!
Don't even fix a price!
Don't pay the ferryman
Until he gets you to the other side.

In the rolling mist, then he gets on board, now there'll be no turning back
Beware that hooded old man at the rudder.
And then the lightning flashed and the thunder roared,
and people calling out his name,
And dancing bones that jabbered-and-a-moaned on the water.

And then the ferryman said "There is trouble ahead,
So you must pay me now."
(Don't do it!)
"You must pay me now."
(Don't do it!)
And still that voice came from beyond, whatever you do;

Don't pay the ferryman!
Don't even fix a price!
Don't pay the ferryman
Until he gets you to the other side.

http://swans.pair.com/GALLERY/87/1987jarboe2.html

what happened to mine image, BB code is totally non-goth

http://swans.pair.com/GALLERY/87/1987jarboe2.html

i joined jarboe's swans e-mail list in 1999 and most of the people on it were definitely more on the industrial side of things than the goth side. i have to say, they were almost all very brainy folks who listened to all kinds of music. but definitely HUGE love for the whole current 93/coil/NWW world on there. and also swans-like crescendo-rock like mogwai and godspeed and the like. and godflesh. what you would expect, i guess. probably lots of goth stuff too. i can't remember. beauty = darkness, etc. i have no problem with swans being goth-friendly or goth-identified. call them whatever you like. i prefer the term "freak folk" myself.

The second I hit "submit response," I *JUST KNEW* someone was going to cite "Don't Pay The Ferryman." CHRIS DEBURGH IS A GOTH, OKAY, I ADMIT IT!

I also knew a kid in college who was a total hardcore punk, but also loved Rush -- i.e. DOES THIS MAKE RUSH A HARDCORE PUNK BAND???

The answer: Fuck no.

Look, yes -- Swans' audiences were crawling with Goths, certainly. Does that make the band goth? Not necessarily. I'll admit that Jarboe added an element to the proceedings that leant uncomfortably towards that crowd, but Michael Gira is no goth -- never was, never will be.

At the end of the day, I suppose it really depends on one's definition of "Goth." As far as I'm concerned, wearing black and having a less than cheeful sensibility shouldn't *AUTOMATICALLY* render one a "goth."

Michael Gira is no goth

Well, of course I agree with this; as I say, I think they transcend the label, which carries all kinds of only-and-exclusively-about-itself connotations. But in the goth family tree, they're a near branch - nearer than the Gun Club, say, but a little further out than the Fields of the Nephilim. The old saying about knowing a man by the company he keeps applies. If we wanted to posit a Non-Silly Goth category that would help, but really all we'd be doing is repeating the old saw about 90% of everything being crap. I mean: emo sucks, right? But Rites of Spring didn't suck at all, even though they're emo as fuck.

Fair enough.

i think for almost anything that was at one time labelled "industrial" you've got a goth fanbase of some size. skinny puppy, neubaten, etc.

crescendo-rock

Ha ha! Is Southern Gothic goth? That one's always confused me.

I wonder if anyone remembers "Public Castration Is A Good Idea", another live (and double) album like "Feel Good Now". Strangely I don't remember anything about it at all, except that it had material from the first part of their career. I do remember that the sleeve was gray at its base with yellow and silver put in or something like that. Damn I wish I had that LP now!

I saw someone recently somewhere on the net who said they couldn't concentrate on Cop if they tried or some paraphrased thing like that, and I totally agreed. Cop is hard to bear, even though I love everything else they've done. Except I admit the first EP is a totally different thing and rather dull, as it happens.

yep - just listened to it about a month ago too

http://swans.pair.com/IMG_PRODUCTS/public.jpg

Fuck goddamnit yeah
HOW I MISS THE VINYL!
I MIGHT CRY!