[Skuj]

Maybe the next Swans release can be all new stuff recorded live on this tour.

Swans Are Alive.

[Blood_Promise]

Well, I wouldn't mind a live album in the vein of Swans Are Dead, Swans live are much better anyway. Don't think they've captured the ferocity of their sound on these post-reunion studio records. Last time I listened to To Be Kind it sounded quite flat.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Blood_Promise

Well, I wouldn't mind a live album in the vein of Swans Are Dead, Swans live are much better anyway. Don't think they've captured the ferocity of their sound on these post-reunion studio records. Last time I listened to To Be Kind it sounded quite flat.

That's part of the problem with being an unbelievably inventive live music act. Again, I can't help but think of Sonic Youth. On record, I definitely had my preferred tracks, and even a few that I occasionally skipped, like "My Friend Goo" and "Rats." But live those songs seemed to hit whatever target they missed during the recording process. "Rats" actually became a favorite of mine after hearing it played live a few times. "My Friend Goo" remained a fairly skippable track on an otherwise perfect album, but live it took on an energy of its own.

I Really don't know if I agree that their recent studio albums haven't compared well to the live versions. There's definitely an seamless quality to their shows that makes the songs sound perfect regardless of where they're placed, but I think The Seer in particular actually has some moments that sound quite a bit better (or at least as good in some hard to explain way) on record than on stage. "Avatar" has such a moody opening, that I prefer listening to it in the car during a snowfall than I would in a club during a sweat-fall (yuck).

To Be Kind is different, I guess. It comes from a somewhat more kinetic place than Seer or My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, both of which feel to me like a band easing into a new version of itself, and because of this, possibly feeling a bit more comfortable in studio than out in the open.

But I'm reeeeeally bored, so keep that in mind when you read this nonsense.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Skuj

Maybe the next Swans release can be all new stuff recorded live on this tour.

Swans Are Alive.

Why fuck with a system that has worked so well? If they went "all new," it would probably be in their best interest to *not* include some of those new songs on the next record, in the spirit of not showing too much of their hand. The current arrangement makes the live albums as sought after as the studio albums *because* of the live versions the mix of works in progress & then-established favorites. People buy the live records to hear the band annihilate their new songs, and to get an idea of what might come next.

You wouldn't want the live album to just be a bunch of demo jams of songs that are going to sound better later would you? Then what reason would you have to listen to it after the release of that album?

Y'dig?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

These past two Swans records I think nailed it. Checking youtube and listening to the live dvd I almost like the records better. The production is superb, balanced, textured. The stage show has more volume but these records are fine. Comparable to how Sonic Nurse accurately captured the feel of that epic Nurse tour

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

These past two Swans records I think nailed it. Checking youtube and listening to the live dvd I almost like the records better. The production is superb, balanced, textured. The stage show has more volume but these records are fine. Comparable to how Sonic Nurse accurately captured the feel of that epic Nurse tour

Yeah, but I heard the album "Nurse" before I saw the live "Nurse." I don't think I'd have ever learned to truly appreciate that album had I not decided to see them that year.

Because I heard the material on the LP before I heard it live, I felt like the album was a bit "iffy" for a sec. Once I saw them play it live (a few times before the end of the summer) I developed a proper level of admiration for the songs. After that, the album became another one of my proper all time favorite SY releases.

Thank god I didn't take that year off. If I had there's no telling how I'd rank Sonic Nurse... But it would certainly be below WM. Now I consider it an obvious part of an obvious multi-movement Sonic Renaissance that found the band in top form much like they were between Bad Moon and DDN.

Back to Swans though, I think I agree that the've nailed the last 2 albums... I merely think I'd extend that statement to include My Father..., which is not as good as the Seer, but ever so slightly better than To Be Kind. Don't shoot me. That album could have easily sucked. Many probably expected it to. But it really doesn't. It could have been a disaster, but instead it was a strange and beautiful epic conjoined twin to the band's previous releases.

But maybe I'll feel differently aboht To Be Kind after I see it played live. It's been known to happen.

[Bytor Peltor]

The live DVD that came with, 'To Be Kind' sounds much better to me compared to the double CD set, 'We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun.'

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by Severian

Why fuck with a system that has worked so well? If they went "all new," it would probably be in their best interest to *not* include some of those new songs on the next record, in the spirit of not showing too much of their hand. The current arrangement makes the live albums as sought after as the studio albums *because* of the live versions the mix of works in progress & then-established favorites. People buy the live records to hear the band annihilate their new songs, and to get an idea of what might come next.

You wouldn't want the live album to just be a bunch of demo jams of songs that are going to sound better later would you? Then what reason would you have to listen to it after the release of that album?

Y'dig?

Um, actually, the live with new stuff inbetween studio records are pretty good, aren't they? I'm thinking REM New Adventures In HiFi. Not just demo jams but fuckin finished realizations....LIVE. Having said that, I can't believe someone thought Seer/TBK sounded flat on recent listens. "Flat" is the last thing these muthafuckers will ever be in my world. My life purpose has become anticipating what Swans will do after Seer/TBK. The current tour seems to be a long one, so maybe 2017 before the next grand pronouncement? Part of me demands another 2hr studio tweaked monster, but Gira likes to keep us on our toes, I think. I was at a Sep 5th Swans show. If they can record a shitload of new stuff and pull an REM I could be very happy indeed.

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by Severian

Back to Swans though, I think I agree that the've nailed the last 2 albums... I merely think I'd extend that statement to include My Father..., which is not as good as the Seer, but ever so slightly better than To Be Kind. Don't shoot me. That album could have easily sucked. Many probably expected it to. But it really doesn't. It could have been a disaster, but instead it was a strange and beautiful epic conjoined twin to the band's previous releases.

But maybe I'll feel differently aboht To Be Kind after I see it played live. It's been known to happen.

I cannot imagine My Father without the 46min second CD Look At Me Go. I never found a satisfactory explanation for that 2nd CD, but I surmise that Gira was not happy with the initial release and he tried (very successfully imho) to enhance it. CD1 alone is very tentative / warmup to what would follow.

[stu666]

Swans in session on Marc Riley, tonight!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tpmrt

[Severian]

Originally Posted by stu666

Swans in session on Marc Riley, tonight!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tpmrt

Dänke!

(Danke?)

[whorefrost]

Really getting into To Be Kind, also been revisiting the Seer and getting even more into that as well. I've never heard My Father Will Guide Me... so keen to check that out now as well. Definitely plan to see them live next year, last time I saw them in Edinburgh was fairly incredible.

[themawt71]

i just saw them in brooklyn a couple of nights ago. it was very very good.
i think in another life gira could be a benevolent cult leader. tho maybe that's what he is in this life?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by themawt71

i just saw them in brooklyn a couple of nights ago. it was very very good.
i think in another life gira could be a benevolent cult leader. tho maybe that's what he is in this life?

Almost absurdly well-put. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I think it's definitely possible that he was an evil southern preacher... Or perhaps an early Mormon sect leader in the late 1800's... Some kind of resurrectionist or evangelical... Maybe the type who draped himself in animal skins at the solstice.. Who knows? But I can definitely see some kind of creepy captain of religion or industry. Like a Daniel Plainview or what have you. HOWEVER-- if reincarnation is in fact a thing-- I tend to believe that one vascilates back and forth between benevolence and malevolence, live by life.

So if any of that completely speculative guesswork has any merit whatsoever, then it would follow that Gira's either evil as fuck now, or that he was evil as fuck in his former life. He may be a cult leader, but he's certainly not a malevolent force in this life.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by themawt71

i just saw them in brooklyn a couple of nights ago. it was very very good.
i think in another life gira could be a benevolent cult leader. tho maybe that's what he is in this life?

Btw: What was the Setlist like? Any opening act of note?

[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by Severian

Btw: What was the Setlist like? Any opening act of note?

From setlist.com

Frankie M
A Little God In My Hands
The Cloud of Unknowing
Just a Little Boy (For Chester Burnett)
I Forget
Bring the Sun / Black Hole Man


A few I don't recognise tbh.

[Skuj]

Frankie M was the opener in September show I was at, and it fuckin blew my world. Fuck me I can't wait for the next album. We are living in a time and place where Swans can do no wrong. I think.

[Blood_Promise]

The new Swans stuff as far as I remember from the gig is pretty funky.

[themawt71]

Originally Posted by Severian

Btw: What was the Setlist like? Any opening act of note?

liturgy opened. they were pretty good. the singer didnt do the screaming/howling thing with reverb but sang normalish and it was the weakest part of their set. the guitars and bass sounded good and their drummer greg fox is so good.

gira said at least one was a new one maybe more...and yeah there was an element of funk to some of the songs. not in a bad way either...

for what it's worth one of the members of pussy riot was standing next to me hanging with the guitar player from the yeah yeah yeahs

[eternal]

Anybody seen Swans this year?

After seeing them at a short outdoor festival set, I saw them on Friday in Toronto. Good show but I was a little underwhelmed to be honest (It's easy to hype up Swans too much I suppose). The set seemed to be waaay too drone-y (even for Swans!) which is incredibly hard for me to say.

My biggest beef though was the removal of "The Apostate" from the setlist and replacing it with some boring drone song they are coming up with. The apostate is absolutely killer live so I was a little heartbroken about missing that incredible lap steel sound that Christoph does throughout and that 2nd half dance break. Also by taking out "the Apostate", Christoph seemed to have little to do during the show and was often found just toking on his little portable vaporizer thing. The show just didn't have as much groove as we've come to expect from reformed Swans.

That being said, groove was certainly present in the closer "black hole man" which was the highlight of the set. But waiting almost 3 hours to get to a groove was definitely testing my patience a bit. Not bad at all, but just not what I've come to expect from Gira & co. in recent years.