I mean Slipknot are a million times louder and millions of kids listen to them.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
yeah but Slipknot doesn't have Michael Gira so it doesn't really affect me like that
― frogbs, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
they strike me as a spectacularly obvious cabaret act these days what with gira's preacher costume / guilt shame redemption damnation schtick. sandra bernhard does flannery o'connor.the records sound good but they feel insubstantial.they're touring rock band on the circuit - you can pay to see them play a drinking hole near you.admittedly, nobody does slave-ship johnny cash better, but some guys in a van playing singer songwriter songs or pretty much all music in general leaves me cold now.consume it. enjoy it.
― iglu ferrignu, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
not sure abt that, early Swans were reputedly the loudest band ever. in a contest between early Swans and Slipknot to determine who was the most "tame", early Swans would lose.
xxp
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
this is the absurdest of all absurd comparisons in the history of time
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:09 (twelve years ago) link
I'm just asking why Slipknot aren't considered extreme. But you're right, I'm sorry about my lack of clarity.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
it's like saying james brown sounds so tame compared to today's funkmasters like the red hot chili peppers
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
What I mean to say is, the proverbial mom of yesterday would say, "turn that extreme underground industrial music off". When a lot of it is rhythmic and less abrasive to my classically trained ears. Whereas the same type of mom twenty years on says, "oh look at my cute punk rock kid." Some of today's music is really loud, but sell a lot of product and it's okay.
I do think the Red Hot Chili Peppers are less tame in the presentation and in the actual texture in the music. It's not a qualitative comparison. I mean, my grandmother likes James Brown. She would find the Chili Peppers "too noisy".
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:18 (twelve years ago) link
if a kid was listening to a slipknot record a proverbial mom of today would say "turn down that emo mall metal, kid", if they were listening to public castration is a good idea she would say "please don't kill yourself, do I need to call someone"
also what do you have against moms moms can be cool too
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
I kinda see what you mean though. I know a bunch of people who are into bands like Slipknot or other metal and I've tried to turn them onto Swans. One of them really liked it - the rest without fail would say something like "this is really, really horrible"
― frogbs, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:25 (twelve years ago) link
yeah so they don't like it b/c it's too extreme, not b/c it's too tame
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:27 (twelve years ago) link
yeah let's compare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fVE8kSM43I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSRjYYUE-_c
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:29 (twelve years ago) link
Of course not, this is art band, so it's probably not their thing.
Sorry to invoke so much attention. I'll leave the thread to wrongly enjoy something.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:30 (twelve years ago) link
yeah but when you describe them as "industrial frowncore" their ears perk up
― frogbs, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:37 (twelve years ago) link
you don't have to leave, it's just there were a lot of bands who seemed weird and scary and oppressive back in the day, swans are one of the few whose recordings haven't aged a bit, that purity of vision still smashes all comers imo
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:39 (twelve years ago) link
Maybe they haven't aged because they weren't that "scary". Some people found angry hardcore "scary". Some people found Satan references in heavy metal "scary". So maybe not scary at all...just more thoughtful of how their work might sound in twenty years! Which is pretty listenable, actually.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:48 (twelve years ago) link
yeeeah, i don't think early Swans "sounds so tame by today's standards" at all. it's still kind of the gold standard for heavy, punishing stuff imo.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
yeah see that's not what I'm getting, why you find early Swans more listenable than Slipknot
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:52 (twelve years ago) link
Punishing? It's awesome!
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:54 (twelve years ago) link
The early stuff sounds so tame by today's standards.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Colored on TV! (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, March 21, 2012 8:51 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah, i don't get this at all. shit was horrible, near-unlistenable dirge groan back then and still is today. slipknot are a funtimes metal band.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
sometimes I see ppl discover swans and they subsequently ask "what else is like this" and the answer is, nothing really. you can point to stuff like godflesh or neurosis, but those folks capture the music but not the magic, nobody took sour brutality to the same primal places. what swans did transcended the intellectual or theatrical pretenses bound up in a term like "art band", delivering instead something very direct, visceral, and punishing. which is why they did ultimately have an effect on the hardcore and metal scenes, but all those bands are easily recognizable as hardcore or metal bands, whereas swans invented a type of music that didn't exist before and hasn't since.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 17:20 (twelve years ago) link
Saw them in 1985 supporting the Fall at Heaven. Possibly the most extreme gig I've ever seen. They deserve some respect for going that far.I have heard few of their albums. Those that I have heard have been among the most negative, miserable, pointless pieces of music that I have ever encountered. No doubt Gira would in some way approve of this reaction. I couldn't care less. Dud.
― Dr. C, Saturday, March 17, 2001 1:00 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Funny I was at this gig in 1984 I think. Have it associated in my head with the Black Flag Marquee gig & the first Bad Seeds show at the Electric Ballroom. It's always stuck in my mind. Gira pulling himself up and down with a noose hanging slightly in front of the stage. Not sure how many people actually stayed for the full set particularly as the bar was elsewhere from what I recall.
Loved their material pretty much ever since.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
How's their live show nowadays? I am considering seeing them in Milwaukee but I'm not really sure what to expect or if it's even something I can enjoy. I feel like it's going to be the aural equivilent of banging my head against the wall but I kinda want to do it anyway.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 14:55 (eleven years ago) link
you seemed to get on okay w/the internet equivalent of banging your head against a wall so
― blossom smulch (schlump), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
lol
current live show is amazing + transcendent, intense + pummeling, not nihilistic like the old days, more like the loudest tent revival meeting you ever saw.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 17:17 (eleven years ago) link
my friend saw them in SF when they came through last year and he was on mushrooms and says that it was the most amazing, powerful experience he's ever had.
― for reasons of sass (the table is the table), Thursday, 26 July 2012 05:04 (eleven years ago) link
I saw them for the first time last night, p incredible. The first hour was the kind of brutal unrelenting assault I was expecting and great for it, but I suppose for the second hour my body gave up all resistance and I was 100% ~inside~ the sound, I felt like I could've gone on for hours more. My special blessings go to the maniacs not wearing earplugs (Gira included, I suppose his ears are like precisely but violently cut diamonds by now) and the shirtless guy next to me going crazy with his buddies.
(Mouth to Mouth was a really fun evening overall, if tough on the legs and back. Grouper and Xiu Xiu both beautiful and intense in their v different ways, Mercury Rev more enjoyable than I thought they'd be, if a bit corny and reliant on the same few tricks over and over. Didn't really get Ben Frost, sounded like little more than cheesy if massive EBM to me, but crowd reaction and twitter search suggest that I'm missing something there.)
― a similar stunt failed to work with a cow (Merdeyeux), Friday, 5 April 2013 13:11 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, i don't get this at all. shit was horrible, near-unlistenable dirge groan back then and still is today.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Wednesday, March 21, 2012 10:08 AM (1 year ago)
been listening to we rose from Your bed with the sun in our head for a few days now, several hours a day. it's great. more groove-oriented than any swans i remember hearing before, immersive where i've previously found them repellent. after 20-some years trying, the door.
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Thursday, 1 August 2013 16:32 (ten years ago) link
try this next
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cNnebTY_VE
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Thursday, 1 August 2013 18:01 (ten years ago) link
lol, i've still got public castration is a good idea on vinyl from way back when. should dig it out.
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Thursday, 1 August 2013 18:31 (ten years ago) link
their finest hour imo tho you may want to ease yrself into the bathtub w/ filth first
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Thursday, 1 August 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
holy money and children of god burned up in a fire years back. wasn't a fan, but enjoyed thinking about how much someone would pay me for them (song ideas for michael). now i wish i still had them around for actual listening to. are swans on spotify? wow, yeah, a bunch of stuff, anyway. surprises me somehow. gira doesn't seem to have much patience for freeloaders.
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Thursday, 1 August 2013 19:09 (ten years ago) link
wow, that no wave swans debut is kind of great. speaking of groove n all. never heard it before.
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Thursday, 1 August 2013 19:10 (ten years ago) link
one of my favorite things they did. lotta playback value since you won't feel like killing yrself after listening. unfortunately the original mixdown masters were lost and the subsequent 1990 remaster was terrible.
as a general statement their 80s stuff is best heard on vinyl, and the CD remasters pale in comparison, but that 1st EP is unlistenable on CD.
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Thursday, 1 August 2013 19:37 (ten years ago) link
ed what about the 1990 vinyl reissue? still from the same botched masters?
― sleeve, Thursday, 1 August 2013 23:38 (ten years ago) link
what's vinyl
― markers, Thursday, 1 August 2013 23:39 (ten years ago) link
filth was reissued on CD and vinyl in '90, the CD had the labor EP tacked onto the end. afaik there was no vinyl reissue of the EP by itself?
the '90 vinyl reissue of filth is not that great compared to the 80s pressings, it has the same master as the CD.
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Friday, 2 August 2013 02:16 (ten years ago) link
GETTING TAKEN TO THE BASEMENT GETTING FUCKED TO EASE SOME TENSION
didn't know bob pezzola also played with these guys round the same time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B7_MeYhnWU
― cock chirea, Friday, 2 August 2013 02:31 (ten years ago) link
ok according to discogs there *was* a '90 vinyl reish of the labor EP on young god. I never heard it but considering the '90 young god reish of filth on vinyl had a less than optimal mix/master, I assume the EP is the same.
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Friday, 2 August 2013 03:52 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oeZmWUl8dM lol
― Merdeyeux, Friday, 2 August 2013 12:19 (ten years ago) link
― markers, Thursday, August 1, 2013 4:39 PM (Yesterday)
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRjf2qEFjgOQxiP9RRncu3hgQTJ0B_jhGF4Kq4T_RA9B0R0YQ8PXg
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Friday, 2 August 2013 12:54 (ten years ago) link
poor markers
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Friday, 2 August 2013 03:52
Yeah this is what I was referring to, I trust yr judgment if u have heard the Filth reish.
― sleeve, Friday, 2 August 2013 14:27 (ten years ago) link
i used to have the Speak EP reissue on vinyl.. and it sounded ok to me at the time... but that EP has a much more brittle, tinny sound that the first LP - which sounds like it was recorded in a swamp..
now i wish i never sold it, and the Circus Mort 12" I had as well :-(
― Stop the tape I got spittle all over my moustache. (Talcum Mucker), Friday, 2 August 2013 19:04 (ten years ago) link
I interviewed Michael Gira a couple of days ago ahead of Swans' Irish shows next week.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Sunday, 4 August 2013 15:51 (ten years ago) link
with those shows in mind, how loud are Swans live circa 2013?
― Master of Treacle, Sunday, 4 August 2013 23:33 (ten years ago) link
They get loud - last time I saw 'em was 2010 or 2011, and I was glad for earplugs.
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Monday, 5 August 2013 08:26 (ten years ago) link
Good interview!
― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 5 August 2013 11:10 (ten years ago) link
Saw them within a month of seeing MBV earlier this year, and the two were comparably loud, but Swans were more physical. If that makes sense.
― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 5 August 2013 11:14 (ten years ago) link
Definitely glad of earplugs at both.
Man this looks like it could be interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl-gLgjV4SI&feature=youtu.be
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 11:37 (ten years ago) link