Swans: Classic or Dud?

yeah see that's not what I'm getting, why you find early Swans more listenable than Slipknot

Punishing? It's awesome!

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.

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.

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.

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.

you seemed to get on okay w/the internet equivalent of banging your head against a wall so

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.

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.

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.)

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.

try this next

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cNnebTY_VE

lol, i've still got public castration is a good idea on vinyl from way back when. should dig it out.

their finest hour imo tho you may want to ease yrself into the bathtub w/ filth first

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.

wow, that no wave swans debut is kind of great. speaking of groove n all. never heard it before.

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.

ed what about the 1990 vinyl reissue? still from the same botched masters?

what's vinyl

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.

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

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oeZmWUl8dM lol

what's vinyl

― markers, Thursday, August 1, 2013 4:39 PM (Yesterday)

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRjf2qEFjgOQxiP9RRncu3hgQTJ0B_jhGF4Kq4T_RA9B0R0YQ8PXg

poor markers

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

Yeah this is what I was referring to, I trust yr judgment if u have heard the Filth reish.

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 :-(

I interviewed Michael Gira a couple of days ago ahead of Swans' Irish shows next week.

with those shows in mind, how loud are Swans live circa 2013?

They get loud - last time I saw 'em was 2010 or 2011, and I was glad for earplugs.

Good interview!

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.

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

So uh what's the deal with ANOTHER 2CD set? What does Michael Gira have against editing?

hey, no complaints here!

Swans songs-albs have been long for....fifteen years or more now? Gira has never made any secret of his love for Floydian jams like 'Set the Controls..', and 'new' Swans have been working towards that for a while.

But as sleeve sez, bring it on.

i still can't get over thor's stupid bossy "how to live" listicle
it's making swans difficult for me to like! how do i get over this?

Where is this list?

http://monofonuspress.com/how-to-live-like-a-king-for-very-little-by-thor-harris

mostly pretty sensible tbh. I'm gonna assume the jerkier bits were contributed by she who shall not be named.

And why the fuck should we not all be excited by another two hours of fucking SWANS? bring it.

i should just try to forget about it
it's not his recommendations themselves that bother me, but the writing of the list in the first place
just gonna try to unsee it

haha I thought you were talking about the "how to survive on tour" list, hadn't seen that one

I dont know why the list bothers you that much, I thought it was pretty good.

Had no idea Palmer knew any Swans people.

Other than speeding tickets and cirrhosis this seems... suspect:

16. PREVENTABLE EXPENSES - STD’S, ABORTIONS, DWI’S, LUNG CANCER, HEAD INJURIES, SPEEDING TICKETS, CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER.

Drummer named Thor has no sympathy for those who are not masters of their domain, film at eleven

Yeah, some of rule 16 was a bit odd. I think most people try to avoid head injury.

Is cirrhosis easy for everyone to avoid?

WRITE IN ALL CAPS, LIKE A BOSS

NEws of St Vincent and Swans teaming up - *falls down dead, goes to heaven*

the list is smug, misanthropic, quite up itself in a teenage-y way unbecoming a guy of his age tbh

Contributions from Amanda Palmer. God she gets everywhere doesn't she?