[Skuj]

Watching Gira in any 2010+ live show reveals what a fucking supreme leader and inspirator he is. NOT a fucking dictator by any means. It's a stroke of genius that he assembled this current band. They fucking work miracles together imho.

I absolutely positively will geat early Swans.....someday.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

This is how I felt about the Sonic Nurse tour. Bludgeoned to death by guitars.. Nothing like it. I would LOVE to see Swans tour The Seer or this new record, it would be like taking mushrooms, too many in fact.

Wow. Yeah- I agree. Of all the times I saw SY, I don't think they were ever as heavy as they were on the Nurse tour. They have always been more of a dynamically multipolar band, rather than a force of sheer volume. It's one of the reasons their records still sound fresh and new. But during the SN tour they sounded like a united front of calculated feedback and noise, cushioning the melodies and pretty much never letting up even on the slower, lighter tracks.

I remember my friends and I talking about how "Unmade Bed" was oddly one of the more ear bleeding songs in their set. It didn't sound like a break or a sonic reprieve like it does on the album. It sounded like what I imagine drowning "sounds" like. The vocals stayed just present enough to keep things in place, but below them it was like a monsoon was flooding from the speakers.

I thought maybe this was an isolated incident.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Severian again.

[EVOLghost]

finna go see these mofos sunday! I got an 8th of shrooms I might take a few caps from.

[chocolate_ladyland]

Seeing them tonight at NXNE. I have no idea if Gira will turn it down or not, as the gig is free, outside and literally smackdab in the middle of the downtown. My friend described it as "the final battle between art and architecture." Stoked

[Blood_Promise]

Originally Posted by Severian

I get irritated with the " Jarboe or it's not Swans" crowd because that's hugely unfair to Gira as a driving creative force.

Well, Jarboe was not only an amazing vocalist (and still is, saw her live a few months ago, she sounded better than ever), but she absolutely slayed on the synth/organ, contributing a lot to that soul crushing noise of the mid Swans.

Yeah, Gira is such a poor guy for not getting enough credit for his creative output. Yet I think when people bring up Jarboe, they don't have in mind to diminish Gira's role or anything. Just like Norman Westberg, so is Jarboe - an original band member (even though she came in later)

Moreover, I think you are absolutely unfair to Jarboe as a creative support for Gira. Not only her inclusion in the band brought in new elements, that would later define the whole Swans sound, but she personally influenced Gira in many ways, from exposing him to different music (like Nick Drake) to dealing with his pathetic drunken ass, when no one else would.

I think much of the intensity of the early Swans came from the fact that the band in itself was fucked up, broken, conflictual. Now Gira's creativeness runs wild, without anyone opposing it. The best results are from struggle (the same can be said about Neubauten, when FM left, there was nobody to challenge Blixa.).

[Chocolate milk]

i need to see swans doing this latest material.. i'm kind of glad none of my friends or even my girlfriend are into em, cus it gives me an excuse to go alone, since the way i love this music does not make me feel social.

not exactly up on the inner politics of this band (at least not before looking at this thread), but what i do know is that ever since "my father will guide me up a rope to the sky" every album they've made next has become my new favorite... in other words, i like the direction they are going... so if that's most attributable to michael gira then, well, i guess there that is

i must say, i do always like seeing an older feller who is still in the mood to pummel your thoughts into narcotic dust.. w.s. burroughs is still the reigning heavyweight "grandpa from hell" in my book, but apparently michael gira is a contender

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Chocolate milk

i
i must say, i do always like seeing an older feller who is still in the mood to pummel your thoughts into narcotic dust.. w.s. burroughs is still the reigning heavyweight "grandpa from hell" in my book, but apparently michael gira is a contender

I think its safe to say that in this analogy Gira is the grandson of Burroughs. However, we mustn't forget Uncle Hunter Thompson

[chocolate_ladyland]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

^^^Lucky you!

I'm eight days away from seeing this show.

A recap of your show would be appreciated!

For a short outdoor set at the busiest intersection in TO for a bullshit bureaucratic faux-artsy festival, I thought they did a good job. They began the set with a drone piece where Thor started by just railing on the gong, and eventually one by one the rest of the band joined him on stage. Then they segued into a new song called Frankie M which had a climax that reminded me a lot of the last track on Spiderland.

Gira only interacted with the audience twice, once to scream "TEAR DOWN THESE FUCKING BUILDINGS" and the other time to thank the audience at the end of the show. He also started twerking (I shit you not) and dancing eerily similar to how Thom Yorke danced in the Lotus Flower video during the groovy section of The Apostate. And yes, he was wearing a cowboy hat.

I really wanna catch them next time they come to Toronto on their own. Of course you can't ear rape your audience when you're playing an open festival in a city, but still a nice set.

Really surreal to see all these 12 year olds and out of place hipsters at the show, or just the fact that fucking Swans of all bands are relatively big now. The Finance Minister of Ontario was at the show and a bunch of Budweiser girls were rockin out by the beer tent... watching Swans! Think about that and think about the band in the 1980s.

Next up, Mac DeMarco.

[Bytor Peltor]

Just 48 hours until, Swans

 

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Gira has been busting that Thom Yorke dance since last year, in fact, its on the DVD that came with the Deluxe To Be Kind package...

If anything, it think How Gira Got His Groove Back is a prominent theme of this album, its why (a) the music seems a bit more conventionally musical and (b) the lyrics seem less important, indeed some songs don't really have lyrics but more like vocal sounds...

I think honestly that they put this music together and Gira was so smitten with the "groove" it had that he didn't even WANT too many lyrics, rather wanted to make a kind of onomatopoeia record

[Bytor Peltor]

Here is a Dallas Show recap from Thursday night.

A picture I took of, Thor Harris......he is one heck of a performer.

 

I have many other pictures to post and a recap of my own, but it will have to wait until tomorrow as I'm running late for a pool party and backyard crawfish boil......can't keep the crawfish waiting

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

 

Did Gira do the Thom Yorke dance??

[Savage Clone]

I have been a Swans fan for over 25 years and I truly believe that Gira is doing the best music of his life right now. A true inspiration for living and aging well. Him, Nick Cave,. Ka-spel and few others.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

 

You must spread the Deal With It meme shades around before giving them to Savage Clone again.

[Skuj]

She Loves Us (or as my son calls it, "the mow mow song") just fuckin blows me away. Gira appears to be doing some Indian raga over the....er....mow mow thing, before it descends into glorious fucking chaos for maybe 3min. Out of this glorious noise emerges the heart and soul of the track....what a fuckin performance! Gira builds and builds on top of that relentless 3-note thing, through "your name is fuck", higher and higher in intensity, swooping above the hallelujahs which appear later on, "no way home", until it descends into chaos again, then a choir of wailings, and finally a clean and tidy wrapup. His vocals are fucking incredible on this. Not just physically, but in the way he paces himself, and when he strikes hard. I can't stop listening to this motherfucker. (My son explains to any visiting and willing listeners that he shouts "fah", not "fuck".) It's the quickest 17min of TBK. Sometimes I feel pissed off that the 3min noise interlude didn't go on for 20min, in order to completely pulverise the listener before the emergence of "I am your...." But this track is a masterpiece.

[Bytor Peltor]

Swans Explain How To Rock In Your Sixties

 

[Bytor Peltor]

Under Pressure - Xiu Xiu featuring Michael Gira.

Great pics in this Xiu Xiu article from the Montreal show.

 

[Skuj]

I'm gonna see these guys on Sep 5th. First "show" I've cared to go to in decades.

[Blood_Promise]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjMGZEq41-g#t=65