Swans: Classic or Dud?

Thor is one of the sweetest people I've ever known. I dislike lists of what people should or shouldn't do though his how to be in a band one was funny because if you spend a lot of your life in a tour van a lot of it resonated. the strength of that piece was that it spoke from an experience many share but that's unusual for many. I don't think it's presumptuous for a guy who's been in a bunch of bands & is well liked by almost everybody he's worked with to write a "how to be in a band" list, but I think it's presumptuous for pretty much anybody to write a "here's how to live your life list" well there we have it I've shared my opinion about Thor's list have a nice day everybody

i'm glad to know we share the same opinion about thor and his list! he seems like a decent person, it's just the "how to live" list-making itself that i dislike but I'd feel the same way if my beloved or bff made a similar list. just kinda disappointed.

CARRY ON with the music-making, Swans

listening to Filth first time ever, and yeah these guys have pretty much always been good. Yet another addition to the "I can't believe this happened in 1983" canon, and in a weird way, can see how this would have influenced extreme metal bands. Not in the speed department, but in the generally inhuman, grinding beats and guitars.

oh dear lord Public Castration Is A Good Thing

yes, that one

"oxygen" is killer

you guys

https://youtu.be/AKb88rSal6M

http://youtu.be/AKb88rSal6M

nnng. one day i'll do this correctly.

put an "s" after the http

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKb88rSal6M

thought i had it that time. why am i still here.

I think you actually need to remove the s after http.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKb88rSal6M

:)

is there another thread to talk about the new album?

i picked it up at their show in DC the other day. it was the second time i've seen them, and it was predictably great, albeit slightly less ferocious than the last time around (the seer tour).

yes, please join us here:

SWANS - To Be Kind 2CD (May 13, 2014) ft. St. Vincent, Cold Specks, Little Annie, Bill Rieflin and others

Meantime I looked back thirty years...

http://thequietus.com/articles/15465-swans-cop-anniversary-review

Ned I hate to tell you this but "Half Life" is the opener, not "Why Hide" ;)

it sounds like you are describing the right track fwiw

SWANS QUESTION

i just saw them a couple days ago and the last song they played had a penultimate part that sounded almost exactly like "Mother Sky" only without the lead guitar or fancy drum overdubs -- just the condensed essence (the doot doot dootdootdoot part was prominent)

they played a couple of faster songs this set and i really liked it -- the trombone one and the mother skyish song in particular
i overheard thor tell someone that they were playing all new stuff so i was just wondering if anyone else had heard the same thing?

update: I have discovered that the song is called Black Hole Man

mother of the world or piece of the sky?

no
i know both of those songs and it was neither of those

i know mother of the world backwards and forwards! it was on my workout mix for a year.

oh... the Can song. duh...

Mother Sky is also on my workout mix, that's why I'm so sensitive to hearing parts of it, hence the above question.

checking out a massive live tape from last week -- kicking myself for not going to see them the last time they were here.

That's how I felt about missing the Chicago show! I'm convinced that Chris Pravdica is their secret weapon.

Update: I conferred with someone who saw the Chicago show about the Mother Sky sounding song (he is someone who would know what I was talking about too, and wouldn't hesitate to tell me if i were mistaken) and he agreed, and added that he heard it in the bassline. So Swans enthusiasts can look forward to hearing more of that. I know I am at least.

"Black Hole Man" was the encore at the recent SF show I went to. It was amazing.

won't you come and wash away the rain

here's a recording of the whole set apparently? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNIIw455Wgw&spfreload=10

wow thanks

The 3CD deluxe reissue of Filth, which also includes the debut 12" EP, Body to Body, Job to Job and a bunch of bonus live tracks, all newly remastered, is available for preorder now (street date is 5/26).

oh wow! never thought that would happen, tbh

Thanks! Don't they send out mails about this kind of thing anymore?

THis new set comes with the audio for the London debut which was when i first saw them. Might just get another copy of this since it also has the first e.p. which I was just thinking I'd never heard last night. Have heard the soundbites up at the suite now.
I think the stripey back cover of the 3cd set is the front cover of that e.p. isn't it?

yes

Apparently (and I ordered before I knew this) if you pre-order it from the YG site, Gira signs it.

He seems to do that with most of the stuff you get from the YG site doesn't he? I've certainly had a number of things bought from there come with his autograph.
Could just be recent releases but certainly seems to be something he does regularly

a la his mate jim foetus, a similar online groove.

(have heard that jim does the whole foetus online thing himself these days, and it would not surprise me if michael followed the same path)

Just got it today - I can't say I hear a whole lot of difference between this version of Filth/Body To Body and the ones that were released on YG in 2000, which sounded more than adequate already. The Swans EP sounds way better than any version I'd heard before + the CBGB's and London recordings sound rather mediocre to say the least :-/

https://www.facebook.com/SwansOfficial/photos/a.487755361977.266239.13879391977/10153948860591978/?type=1 : remaster/reissue of White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity in the works
+
https://www.facebook.com/SwansOfficial/photos/a.487755361977.266239.13879391977/10153779357881978/?type=1 : new album to be recorded starting in September

Now that I'm mentioning WLFTMOI: check out the longer version of Why Are We Alive on Various Failures, it's way better than the original

... even though the first 3'50" are identical :-)

great news, love that album

https://www.facebook.com/SwansOfficial/photos/a.487755361977.266239.13879391977/10154034056451978/

Imminent end of Swans again.

I spoke to Norman about a year ago and I strongly inferred he felt like he was getting too old to still be doing it. You then get to the "is it the Swans with just Gira" argument I guess.

good decision, not Swans w/o Westberg imo

Gira said in a 2011 interview that "[Swans] is what I’m going to be doing for the next five years", so I think he's had this thing mapped out for a good long while.