Swans -- The Seer

We got details. Did I mention Jarboe guests on the album?

SWANS - The Seer (YG45) 2xDigipack CD, 3xLP, Digital

(This album is also available as a special edition that includes a Swans Live DVD (at http://younggodrecords.com and live concerts only; view a trailer here: https://vimeo.com/42875372)

RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2012

Track Listing: 1.) Lunacy 2.) Mother of the World 3.) The Wolf 4.) The Seer 5.) The Seer Returns 6.) 93 Ave. B Blues 7.) The Daughter Brings the Water 8.) Song for a Warrior 9.) Avatar 10.) A Piece of the Sky 11.) The Apostate ...Total Running Time: approx. 2 hrs.

Recorded at Studio P4 and Andere Baustelle in Berlin, by Kevin McMahon and at Marcata Studio, Gardiner, NY, by Kevin McMahon. Additional recording at Trout Recording, Brooklyn, NY, engineer: Bryce Goggin. Mixed by Kevin McMahon at Marcata. Produced by Michael Gira.

NOTE FROM MICHAEL GIRA:

"The Seer took 30 years to make. It's the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I've ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it's unfinished, like the songs themselves. It's one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade.

The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in rehearsals, live and in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they'll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while.

Despite what you might have heard or presumed, my quest is to spread light and joy through the world. My friends in Swans are all stellar men. Without them I'm a kitten, an infant. Our goal is the same: ecstasy! "

HOW THE SONGS CAME TO BE:

The songs The Seer, Ave. B Blues, Avatar, and The Apostate were developed organically as a group in rehearsals and on tour. They morphed constantly throughout the last series of Swans tours, and were captured and lovingly adorned in the studio. The remaining songs on the album were developed from the ground up in the studio with the participation and input of all the contributing musicians, guided by an invisible hand...

SWANS: Michael Gira - voice, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, casio, sounds; Norman Westberg - electric guitar, voice; Christoph Hahn - lap steel guitars; electric guitar, voice; Phil Puleo - drums, percussion, hammer dulcimer, voice; Thor Harris - drums, percussion, orchestral bells, hammer dulcimer, handmade violin thing, vibraphone, piano, clarinet, voice; Christopher Pravdica - bass guitar, voice, incredible handshake. Honorary Swan: Bill Rieflin - piano, organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, percussion, casio, synthesizer, bass guitar, voice, bird idea.... SPECIAL GUESTS: Karen O - lead vocal on Song for a Warrior (Karen appears courtesy Interscope Records); Al and Mimi of Low - co-vocals on Lunacy; Jarboe - backing vocals and voice collage on Piece of the Sky and backing vocals on The Seer Returns; Seth Olinsky, Miles Seaton, Dana Janssen (Akron/Family) - backing vocals on Piece of the Sky; Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella of Big Blood - accordion, vocals, dulcimer, guitar, piano and assorted other instruments on the Seer Returns; Sean Mackowiak (the grasshopper) - acoustic and electric mandolins, clarinet, various songs; Ben Frost - fire sounds (acoustic and synthetic) on Piece of the Sky; Iain Graham - bagpipes on The Seer ; Bruce Lamont - horns on The Seer; Bob Rutman - steel cello on The Seer; Cassis Staudt - accordion various songs; Eszter Balint - violin, various songs; Jane Scarpatoni - cello various songs; Kevin McMahon - additional drums on the Seer Returns, electric guitar, sounds on various songs; Bryce Goggin - piano on Song for a Warrior ;Stefan Rocke - contra bassoon on the Seer...

SWANS U.S. Tour Dates:

9/6/2012 Vancouver BC Venue

9/7/2012 Seattle WA Neumo's Crystal Ball Reading Room

9/8/2012 Portland OR Hawthorne Theater

9/9/2012 9/10/2012 San Francisco CA The Regency Grand Ballroom

9/11/2012 Los Angeles CA The Music Box

9/12/2012 Phoenix AZ Crescent Ballroom

9/14/2012 Austin TX La Zona Rosa

9/15/2012 Houston TX Fitzgerald's Upstairs

9/16/2012 Dallas TX Trees

9/18/2012 Oklahoma City OK ACM Performance Lab

9/19/2012 Kansas City MO Beaumont Club

9/20/2012 Lincoln NE Bourbon Theatre

9/21/2012 Minneapolis MN Fineline Music Cafe

9/22/2012 Milwaukee WI Shank Hall

9/24/2012 Denver CO Gothic Theater

Xiu Xiu is support on all shows.

http://younggodrecords.com/

"handmade violin thing," ha. Thor Harris rules. Plus, Al and Mimi!

woo

11 songs in 2 hours!

yay ben frost (wld love to see him perform w/ swans)

Ben Frost - fire sounds (acoustic and synthetic)

xp :)

Of course he had a song a couple of albums back called 'We Love You Michael Gira' or something amirite?

BTW, artwork:

http://cdn1.tinymixtapes.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/460_Width/news-12-05-swans.jpg

Just coming here to post that. Please God let it be 4REAL.

It's real, it was included with the PR mailouts.

Great artwork, I can't wait to hear this!

Time for walkies, Bastard

i love the all-star list of guest spots. it's like the swans-universe equivalent of some terrible charity benefit show where it ends up with eric clapton and neil young on stage, playing knockin' on heaven's door, just everyone is there, sheryl crow is there, everyone is sludging away. but i'm more optimistic in this context.

exciting! the nihilistically oppressed need a charity too!

Would an NYC date kill them? Damn.

i admire bill rieflin's ongoing quest to have one of the oddest drummer's resumes on the planet.

Would a Chicago show kill them?!

biggest deal in this new PR for me is the reappearance of Jarboe (!!!)

Whew.

This is one hell of a listen.

This is one hell of a listen.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, June 14, 2012 12:37 AM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

aaaaaah

I kept thinking "Christ how are they going to top thi--oh shit, they did."

Pardon the random wordspill of mine from FB but (slightly edited):

It's much more of a huge messy sprawl (I mean this positively), so as such its nearest counterpart would be _Soundtracks for the Blind_...._Father_ to me was the translation of then recent Angels of Light back into Swans-world if that makes sense, kind of a bridge into elegant extremity. This has plenty of said elegance and extremity but feels like it's exploding outward various directions, the shifts and changes can be even more abrupt or even more stretched out and slow burn. Three of the twelve tracks are twenty minutes long or longer (title track is half an hour). The final track (to which I listen right now) is one angry bastard of a thing.

Also they were not kidding at all about that music/instrument credit list. At ALL.

xpost dunno if i'll go that far yet. but maybe soon.

Yeah I want a second listen to make sure I have it all clearer -- it wasn't constant intensity (a good thing!) and its sprawl can mean meandering on their terms. But I like that, so there ya go. I honestly was surprised when what I thought was the ending was still about three quarters of an hour from it!

Why are the swans playing at one of the worst venues in town noooooooooo

I love Soundtracks, but I'll be honest and say that the concept of three three twenty minute+ songs sounds really exhausting.

Thankfully not in a row. (Title track/longest one is the middle of the album, the other two conclude it.)

I kinda stopped listening to Swans after I heard Public Castration, maybe it's time to pick em back up again?

maybe it's time to pick em back up again?

If you're expecting the mayhem of Filth/Cop/Greed to have returned in full glory, then no.
Swans have worked with a different kind of intensity from Children of God on, I'd say.
All pretty brilliant, by the way.

just prior the reunion shows i went back to the back cat and Children of God is THE one, imho - strikes a beautiful balance between early punishing swanscore and the later more songformy stuff. also, i was taught by one of the musicians on it.

"Keep practicing."

"But Mr. Gira it's been one chord for two hours."

"Time is money."

It was crazy to see that there were EIGHT musicians credited on Public Castration; sounds like Gira, a drummer, and a guy with possibly the meanest bass tone of all time...what the hell was everyone else doing??

I dig the brutality of the early stuff but I'm not sure how much more of that I can take. I think it would be funny if there was a camera on my face while I'm listening something like "Why Hide" or "Young God"; I'm guessing there'd be some pretty contorted frowns going on

Actually "Frown Squad" is a better name for this group than "Swans"

6 musicians on public castration - 2 drummers/bass/gtr/keyboard/vocals

you can watch the video version for further clarification

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqlX_9Q9ZrQ

^ my favorite long-play music video ever natch

i was there!

does it have the oiled body builder, who was the support act?

wow!

nope

so, this is not yet available for preorder, right?

new tour dates announced:

http://thequietus.com/articles/09190-swans-tour-uk-europe-us

looks like we're getting sir richard bishop as the support in glasgow, which is sweet, tho in the same venue last time round, poor old james blackshaw was drowned out by the audience (no such probs for swans lol)

man im so stoked to see swans, missed them last time

yeah don't miss 'em

unfortunately mr gira has booked swans in boston on my wedding anniversary, I don't think the missus will be down with earshattering postrock tent revival nonsense

http://facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&id=13879391977

Only one old song, but they've never been a greatest hits kinda live band, so it doesn't really matter imo.

yeah but that old song is COWARD

i am so so so angry that i might have to pay $60 for these damn tickets.

Nothing new but while we wait:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm04wOP_gn4

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/47255-listen-to-a-10-minute-edit-of-swans-new-23-minute-song-the-apostate/

Facebook, July 13th:

set list for upcoming tour(s)... will be over 2 hrs music, i presume:
1. to be kind (unrecorded new song)
2. she loves us (unrecorded new song)
3. avatar (from the seer)
4. coward (from swans, '85/'86)
5. the seer (from the seer)
6. nathalie (unrecorded new song)
7. apostate (from the seer)
8. mother of the world (from the seer - encore song, if called for...)

i saw that, too.

the thing up at P4k is pretty rad. i am so excited for this record. my two favorite bands in the world having records come out with a month or so of each other makes this table very happy.

preorder: http://younggodrecords.com/658457004524-the-seer-cd

It's good. Listened to it today..

Website has crashed, cannot order.

yeah i got the same

preordered back with We Rose From Your etc... but couldn't help myself and listened to the leak. and HOLY SHIT that first listen is probably one of the most intense listening experiences ever.

CANT WAIT FOR MY CD!!!!!

Waiting for my live album pre-order. But it sounds ridiculously good.

preordered back with We Rose From Your etc...

oh right I forgot that I did this!

Best use of bagpipes in a rock record award goes to...

Uh, no question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9iOk8PqkKs

Actually Ned, there's quite a Malcolm Young influence on some of the tracks on The Seer. And thanks! I've never seen that promo.

I've heard the album and I am all about AC/DC being the hidden anchor. :-D

Touring Europe at the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZjmasZO-mU

Streaming.

so much p o w e r in this music. it is unbelievable.

listening now.

this is bracing for sure. i need to give it a closer listen another time when i'm not doing dishes and baking pie. it's not chores music.

some of the transitions between songs are clunky, but the way doc martens boots are clunky. the current song stomping on the present one to announce its arrival.

i meant the previous one, not the present one.

i think i'm going to wait to listen until i have the record so i can listen on my own time and not before i get ready to go to work.

good old lars gotrich
thanks to the magic of tumblr i know what he has for breakfast, and he eats well

i think of this cover every time i see a yorkie now

Pitchfork interview with Gira

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8925-swans/

oh man they are playing here on my birthday

So I had this idea of no restrictions on this one because, really, who do I have to answer to? No one. I have my own record company. I have to answer to God, basically. I'm not young, so I want to make the best possible work I can before I exit.

okay every answer in that interview is incredible

wait was this spin interview linked? it's great
http://www.spin.com/articles/swans-leader-m-gira-say-no-society-record-labels-touring-your-spouse

this was my favorite part

You have to respect people.
Anyone who knows me now knows I'm not mellow. But when I was younger, I kind of viewed most people as enemies or potential enemies. That's not healthy, but it's who I was. At a certain point you realize some guy working at a major record label, he's got a life and soul…hopefully. You get more out of life through respecting other humans than viewing them as opponents. It took me a long time to learn that lesson. I have no idea how much Swans would have advanced if I hadn't gone around the world making enemies instead of friends.

i again state my absolute total excitement for this show.

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/the-seer-returns-swans

"There’s one group, I won’t mention the name - they sell millions of records. On one track this fucker actually had the audacity to copy the groove and the even the way the notes bend. He even sings like me on the song - in this kind of ‘conspiratorial whisper’ style I’ve used. I consulted some lawyers on that but apparently I have no recourse, as there’s no melody involved. To me it sounded like he copied my song exactly, but apparently he ‘recreated’ it. That was really annoying, because that’s not influence, that’s just taking me and pretending it’s him. I was appalled when I saw it."

Anyone know what this is about? (my apologies if this was already discussed)

"The Seer Returns" is so fucking good

re: other people copying his style, who the fuck cares? appropriation has been around in music forever (early blues, sampling), and in modern art even longer than that (duchamp's fountain, etc). michael gira is the bad ass of bad asses, but getting butthurt about someone whispering conspiratorially is lame

No one sells millions of records anymore

Unless Adele redid "Raping A Slave" or something

I agree it's weird to hear Gira complaining about this, but I'd really like to know what songs he's talking about here

Chad Kroeger's "Children of God"

He did cop to no one selling records any more in an interview, I imagine he is retroactively complaining about someone who managed to commodify some Swans-light behavior some time in the past (like before 2003 or so).

lol at whiney

I'm gonna guess Jonathan Davis as the mystery million-selling stylistic magpie...

'nother gnu intervue: http://beardrock.com/interviews/michael-gira

Ugh, the section about 10 minutes into "The Apostate", with the wailing air raid siren guitar and the semi-randomized cracking snare drum that starts off sounding like fireworks and then veers closer to machine-gun fire, punctuated by the huge full-band hits...so good it hurts.

Wow this album is great.

Funny that Gira mentions Springsteen in that Pitchfork interview -- I have tickets to see both him and Swans within two weeks of each other. Lotta rockin.

How long does this stuff stay up on NPR first listen?

I guess till the album goes on sale? That would make sense

About a week, I think, maybe till the next round?

This rules so much. The fact that we can apparently expect new recorded material on a regular basis is such a gift.

I love this album already.

would guess he means Reznor above

Kinda lol that he would consult lawyers over someone else "whispering conspiratorially" without actually copying any lyrics or melody lines.

Fucking great album though!

He's referring to Maynard James Keenan, the Puscifer track 'Trekka' sounding like 'Everything At Once' from 'Shame, Humility, Revenge'. He was going on about it on the Swans facebook page about a year back. May have deleted the posts since though.

maynard even wears a cowboy hat

plug, yall

http://www.spin.com/reviews/swans-the-seer-young-god

Listened to the first half of the stream: IMMENSE

when are those 'rose from the bed' advance-ordered copies of 'the seer' supposed to be showing up? : /

my neighbors would hate me so much right now if there weren't some kind of additional construction noise outside. thank goodness there is, and i have this album to drown it out.
SO GOOD!

i really would love to see this tour, but i have my heaviest workday the next day. real conundrum. i already played sick for this band once! can't i declare it a holy day or something?

Has there been praise for Piece of the Sky? <3 that tune. Just to get a word in there for the pretty songs.

at least you've got room to debate - the show near me is happening on my wedding anniversary :/

xp

i'm guessing that was not a spectacular way to celebrate?

This is so great.

Is this actually out yet?

Oh I guess it came out yesterday.

ha, for one of us maybe

xp

when are those 'rose from the bed' advance-ordered copies of 'the seer' supposed to be showing up? : /

― j., Wednesday, 29 August 2012 03:37 (13 hours ago)

^ I'm waiting too.

same here. haven't gotten any email notifications yet.

And here.

So I guess I know where my next iTunes card is getting spent

3LP comes with download btw!

I want to call the local record store and pick this up when I'm playing hooky this afternoon but I know they will just say it's not in yet or sold out or they (wtf!!) didn't order any :(

you should do that. maybe they have one! i asked last week to have one put aside with my name on it.

Just posted on FB:

sheesh! i forgot to post this. the seer is out now. by the way, preorders are shipping as we speak, most of them anyway...still working on it...

on spotify, too

huh, that's funny. It wasn't on there this morning. I listened to the Rope one instead. I don't really know Swans.
Good mood music.

I mean, good music for a particular mood that isn't necessarily a "good" one.

Eagerly waiting by the mailbox, like many others here.

Wrote about this record for Burning Ambulance today. Didn't like it as much as I'd hoped I would.

I called and they had sold out yesterday, so I had them prepare to hold a copy when it comes back in.

But I'm downloading it now, damn it.

the record's very ambient in its aggressiveness, but I don't think that's a bad thing

and this is a half truth: But even at their most primitive and brutarian, the old Swans always had real songs.

swans *could* write real songs but frequently relied on soundscapes and atmosphere to get the job done, I mean cop didn't exactly have prince running scared

i don't really agree with what appears to be the conventional wisdom that this album must be taken in all at once, in one session. i did listen to the whole thing at once for the first listen, but ever since then i've just diving into the epic tracks in the middle. tracks like "the seer" and "a piece of the sky" and "the apostate" are almost song suites in themselves, and it's enjoyable to listen to them individually and then move on to something else.

Pre-ordered the LP on Amazon (weak, I know) but they haven't shipped it yet. Note on their site says ships within 10-14 days. WTF? They'll probably all be gone by then.

check out that middle eight!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vozd5F_OEio

and this is a half truth: But even at their most primitive and brutarian, the old Swans always had real songs.

swans *could* write real songs but frequently relied on soundscapes and atmosphere to get the job done, I mean cop didn't exactly have prince running scared

yeah, wasn't gira saying in interviews circa 'my father' that he took some time to realize that he was a drone artist, as far as songwriting goes? something about that explaining the songs he wrote before?

He talks about songwriting process a little in this interview I did with him a year ago.

i'd wished this album was slightly more agressive.

i know it's bad to wish something of an album that it was clearly never going to be

regardless i wish the entire album were like the ending of "avatar"

got mine in the mail today!!

old man gira would like you to put yr computer in a stereo system when listening kthx

And this is going to be what, like three vinyl records?
Yeah [laughs]. Paradoxically, the best way to listen to this from beginning to end is digitally because then there's no breaks in it. Even on CD, it's two CDs. It's a strange thing because I'm not a big fan of digitized iTunes experiences. But I think the best way is if somebody can get high-quality files from the music they buy, I emphasize, then listen to the entire album through their computer in a stereo system, or something like that.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/countygrind/2012/08/swans_michael_gira_interview_the_seer_album.php

Well fwiw I agree w/ him that this is not headphones music.

I listened to it again yesterday on headphones on my hourlong walk home and it freaked me out! Good headphones music if you can control the circs to your liking and are not a chicken.

it makes me happy walking down the street hearing 'lunacy! lunacy!' in my headphones

mine came today, going straight into the car stereo for repeated listening

swans in the car is the best

oh man i can't listen to them on my way to work in car/walking/while I get ready/at all -- it puts me in a mood that is 100% unsuitable for work
only on the way home

so the track order is different for the LPs, would be curious to know if the download is the same or has the CD running order.

http://www.discogs.com/Swans-The-Seer/release/3832321

OK that explains SO MUCH
i was really confused when i went from LP to downloads yesterday! was embarrassed to ask about it, lest i did something stupid
how weird!

tracklist for downloads (at least the ones I got with the LP, not from itunes) is much different than LPs!

Lunacy 6:09
Mother Of The World 9:57
The Wolf 1:35
The Seer 32:14
The Seer Returns 6:18
93 Ave. B Blues 5:22
The Daughter Brings The Water
Song For A Warrior
Avatar 8:52
A Piece Of The Sky 19:10
The Apostate 23:01

wacky, I was wondering how they were going to work out those long run times on vinyl

A1 Lunacy 6:07
A2 The Apostate Pt. 1 13:18
B1 The Apostate Pt. 2 9:36
B2 A Piece Of The Sky Pt. 1 9:36
C1 A Piece Of The Sky Pt. 2 9:30
C2 93 Ave. B Blues 5:22
C3 The Daughter Brings The Water 2:33
C4 Song For A Warrior 3:58
D1 Mother Of The World 9:59
D2 Avatar 8:49
E1 The Wolf 1:35
E2 The Seer Pt. 1 18:56
F1 The Seer Pt. 2 13:17
F2 The Seer Returns 6:15

normally i'd prefer to listen the vinyl, but this release is kind of incompatible! all three of the epics (apostate, a piece of the sky, the seer) are broken up into two parts. yikes.

i'm glad i didn't order the vinyl. normally i do it just out of habit, but that looks like something that would sit on the shelf while i play the digital copy.

kind of weird to break up A Piece of the Sky in two parts since it could fit on a single side

though I haven't actually heard this yet so maybe it makes sense

i dunno, i liked the experience of changing the records, spreading them all over the table, trying to figure out what song was playing by looking at the words on the sleeve and listening to the lyrics, having a tiny insignificant role by flipping/changing

it felt like a ~listening event~ (even though it was just a normal wednesday morning)

i mean that's why i like to listen to records anytime, not just this one
this one is just a little more work, but that made me like it more :-/

kind of weird to break up A Piece of the Sky in two parts since it could fit on a single side

not really, trying to fit an album where two songs are +20 minutes onto vinyl is tricky, especially if you're paying attention to consistent volume and sound quality which I assume gira is

That vinyl tracklisting makes no sense to me. You can get a half hour piece of music onto one side of vinyl - Miles Davis put "He Loved Him Madly" (32 minutes) on one side of Get Up With It. If I was doing the vinyl for this it would be:

Side A: Lunacy/Mother of the World/The Wolf
Side B: The Seer
Side C: The Seer Returns/93 Ave. B Blues/The Daughter Brings the Water
Side D: Song for a Warrior/Avatar
Side E: A Piece of the Sky
Side F: The Apostate

Now I'm really conflicted about buying this on vinyl or not...

I may do so just so that I may put the cover on my wall

Did anyone test to see how the end of a broken up track sounds? Is it suddenly like FLIP RECORD or seriously does it really pull you out of the moment?

at the end of each side the little dog on the cover barks and you know it's time to flip

borf! (flip)

You can put 30 minutes on a side but the grooves are tighter and the dynamic range narrower. On bass heavy music - which some of this surely is - that can be a problem. I don't know what the magic ratio of fidelity to side length is (seems usually to be 20-24 minutes or so), but they obviously chose higher fidelity for this record.

"I flipped the record like 20 times before I realized it was just Gira"

xp

Great, great piece of work. I like the uncompromisingness of it all, the "we don't like repeating this note for ten minutes either but it wouldn't be the same if we didn't" I imagine hearing them think during some bits. It works and it's awesome and uncomfortable all at once. I can't imagine anyone else pulling this off quite like this.

i thought it would be electrifying, but it was sort of disappointing and slack on first listen.

I love this, "Piece Of The Sky" is so beautiful... lots of this rec reminds me of the Love Of Life/White Light era. then there are the long crushing parts, mmm. I agree w/Whiney's review above that this is very similar in general vibe to Soundtracks For The Blind, esp. imagining that record without Jarboe.

agreed, this is definitely in the love of life/white light stream of things. it feels also like a career summation, a compilation of everything that has made Swans great; in that sense, it also feels like a 'last album,' but then so did soundtracks for the blind, so maybe it won't be.

Well they're two different kind of 'last albums' -- Soundtracks was summation as fragmented sprawl, Seer is summation as epic architecture.

Looked for this yesterday but it was £20. Including COMPULSORY bonus DVD and screaming LIMITED EDITION. I mean, fuck off, Gira, you're not all that. You realise that the only people who are going to buy this thing, hardcore Swans addicts/ILxors notwithstanding, are saddo "collectors" who look like Al Murray As The Pub Landlord and who'll try to flog it on eBay for £200 without even listening to it or taking it out of its shrinkwrap?

there is a normal 2CD edition. perhaps your shop had sold out of that one.

The 2xCD is hardly cheap either, unfortunately.

£18 in HMV. I'll wait until it turns up for six quid in MVE.

The vinyl version was $27 for me.

Aye this is expensive

14 quid post free on Amazon UK. Nowt expensive about that

oh thats ok

Ten quid used on Amazon innit. Already! There'll be plenty more where that came from.

WTF is your problem?

Big sigh here at Amazon's ridiculous pricing, as almost always. Nothing to do with Swans. Depresses and frustrates me ferociously.

Go on? Used and new prices from sellers on Amazon can often be the best deal around, unless something is rare and only asshats have copies listed.

Briefly... it is far too cheap for any other retailer to compete with price-wise. When one accounts for dealer price, VAT and the price of postage, there is no profit to be made by a retailer on a sale at that price.

This is a persistent issue and I think that it is a bad thing in the long term, even if a low price may be appealing to one as a consumer in the short term. I see it potentially leading to nothing but operations on the scale of Amazon being able to really survive.

well people will always buy the cheapest they can find. Moneys tight for the 99%!

True, though many of those retailers list inventory (or should) on amazon for international sales, and Amazon will give you a credit towards every order you get. The store I worked at would be out of business if it weren't for Amazon sales.

And I suppose Marcello wants more cd's for his fifty quid.

Evan, the shop krakow works for does.

Oh OK.

What krakow is saying is that they get screwed over by amazons pricing which means people order from them instead of the shop. They have an unfair advantage over the small record shops.

Yes, I see that is very true. Unfortunately though unless you are in Brooklyn or something participating seems to me to be the only way to stay afloat.

Sorry, I'm loathe to appear to duck out, but I think I'm too tired to really get into all this now. Makes me feel depressed, frustrated and hopeless. Should discuss it on another thread really too, as it's definitely not a Swans-specific issue. I am eager to talk about it though and hope that I don't appear too much like a sanctimonious ass.

mine came today, going straight into the car stereo for repeated listening

― sleeve, Thursday, August 30, 2012 3:03 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

swans in the car is the best

― ayonanas (Matt P), Thursday, August 30, 2012 3:11 PM (6 days ago)

my first listen was on a rainy nighttime drive from PVD to NJ, it was epic.

for fun I reordered the tracks to follow the vinyl sequencing, I've been enjoying the flow of the album a lot more that way. makes me wonder why the CD tracks aren't in the vinyl order.

also been working on a 50 minute streamlined remix, interesting how easy it is to edit and rearrange the song parts, it's like a swans lego set.

the only problem with this album is that its too long for the busy times i (we?!) live in

Working my way through this and really enjoying it, but was struck by the way that Gira's voice has changed over the last ten years - it's a more fragile instrument than before, slightly thinner and cracked (which is understandable, given all the touring that Swans/Gira do.) A few years ago I saw a Gira/Akron Family gig which ended with MG performing Dylan's 'Pity the Poor Immigrant', and there's something Dylanesque about the slow ruination of Gira's vocal chords - a parallel increased in my mind by Dylan having a new album at the same time, with some pretty long songs on it too.

I think there's some intension in the way he uses the higher part of his voice now- on the recent live version of "Sex God Sex" on We Rose From Our Beds, his pentacostal bellowing is strong. I hear a lot of Damo Suzuki in the vocals here, particularly at the end of the title track.

Anyone seen the DVD yet? I've received one with the DVD missing, a mail to YGR has been sent :-(

I do feel so cheated that i was forced into spending £20 on 2 hours of amazing music and a further 2 hours of live DVD from just about the best live band there is. Get a grip!

Ive yet to watch the DVD though, all viewing time has gone on 70s cult british stuff im cutting up for a project and I wanted to actually get a handle on the album first. Also want to dedicate an evening to it, get the projector hooked up to our stereo so i can give it the full on living room cinema treatment rather than huddled in bed with a laptop like 90% of the rest of the crap i have time to watch

here's my 46 minute remix/remux/reedit of the seer for folks who don't have two hours to spare

Swans - The Seer Retracts
1) The Wolf
2) The Apostate Recants
3) A Piece of a Piece of the Sky
4) Lunacy
5) The Seer Returns
6) The Mother of the Seer
7) The World
8) Avatar

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

Realised that both
a) Amazon was doing the deluxe set more cheaply
and B)Gira is running everything on the money he is making on selling cds.

So its not like it was a major label that you could get a discount on & not have the company making a loss/unable to afford future projects.

Sounds like Gira is having to cut down on other artists on the label already since his attention is on running the band again. SO hoping that people are buying from the label.

amazon (at least in the US) is selling the special edition for $24.45 and they are out of stock

amazon (at least in the US) is selling the special edition for $24.45 and they are out of stock
--vincent black shadow giallo (Edward III)

They were selling for $14 a few days ago.

I'll buy it next week at the show unless they price it stupidly high.

pretty sure that's the regular edition (tho they have it labeled as "special edition")

xp

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/amazon_seer.jpg

Bought the Special Edition at Other Music for 20.99.
The regular went for 16.99.

Pretty fair prices me thinks?

Hmmn weirdly the $24.45 one sez it's only one disc and the $13.60 sez it's two?!!?!

yeah I think their listings are all fucked up

if you look at the other sellers for the $24 one they explicitly say its the one w/ the DVD (at least they did last week)

I was looking at the .co.uk after having bought it at the Young God site when I noticed. & I assumed Special edition meant the same thing it did at the YG site.
Well I've got a signed edition for a few quid more & there will be more SWANS if he can afford it I presume.

I am hoping my missed post this morning is the YGR delivery.

yeah, was hoping I'd get mine today. Hopefully Monday. Dunno how long it takes to get here.

here's my 46 minute remix/remux/reedit of the seer for folks who don't have two hours to spare

awesome! can't wait to listen to this when i get home

i finally ordered mine, but must admit that i torrented the whole thing, too, because i wanted to listen to it repeatedly before they play here in SF on Monday.

i'm not trying to be combative, but why order online when you could buy from a record store? they can order stuff too and you don't have to pay (or wait!) for shipping. and you can buy it from a real live human being.

amoeba berkeley doesn't have it, and i called amoeba sf and they sold out. plus going anywhere near haight street gives me the howling fantods.

Even going to Aquarius Records?
(Who carry the album.)

i am hardly ever in the city, and also, who the hell cares, i fucking ordered the damn thing, get off my back.

I bought mine online, from Gira. It came with the limited version of We Rose From Your Bed.

Holy fucking goddamn was the Swans show tonight ever great! It's not just an amazing show, it's the sound of the crushing of your enemies. It was around 2 hours long, but it only felt like 30 minutes. It helps that a vast majority of the material played was from The Seer. I would double-hydrate up before you see them on this tour. The show takes a lot out of you.

It's here, finally. Is 11am too early for Swans? Maybe.

mackro mackro, this is excellent news. I'll see them in two weeks.

Really, really hoping I can make it to the Tuesday night show, but so far no luck with a ride up and back. Alas.

I've been ordering these directly from Young God because I like the fact that (almost) all the cash goes directly back into the label, and because there's a high chance that it'll come with a personal thank you note from Gira.

Your mix is strange but intriguing, Edward III, thanks!

No reply about the missing DVD yet, unfortunately - I hope I won't have to completely reorder and hope there's a DVD included that time around :(

Oh, and btw:

http://i48.tinypic.com/dqxid.jpg

Six ordinary guys, just thinking bout things.

i've literally never watched a DVD that came with a CD

headed up to Portland in a few hours, will take mackro's advice and hydrate.

also, earplugs.

i'm as big a fan of Swans as they come, but they really are a hard bunch to look at in those photos.

anyway, my thoughts on the album here:

http://walkingthelongmileshome.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/nothing-inside-you-is-real-swans-career-retrospective-and-review-of-the-seer/

Never thought I'd see the day but:

#114 on the Billboard Top 100 sales chart
#100 on Billboard top 200 Current Albums chart
#2 on Billboard new artist chart (18 less units than #1, Wild Nothing)
#24 on Billboard alternative chart

does this mean they're up for a New Artist Of The Year award anywhere?

The album was number one in the UK independent record shop album chart on the week of release, which is fantastic.

I liked them better before they sold out, man.

Re Seattle show last night: I should note that I saw them 1.5 years prior for the previous album's tour. That show was GREAT. But it's now a memory of a mere warmup to last night. The theme to the last tour was "hey kids, we're back! :-D". So far, the theme to the current tour is "you're in for it. See you on the other side"

They also did an oldie. It starts with C and that's all I'll say.

Gira posted the projected set-list for the tour on facebook a while back apparently.

Does it rhyme with Howard? xpost

hey La Lech -- reading back upthread -- one potential solution to yr dilemma is to go to the Milwaukee show. It's two weeks from tonite, Saturday, so presumably not a school night.

I'm seriously considering making the trip, cuz i'd like to see 'em twice on this tour. and, well, who doesn't love a good excuse to head to Milwaukee?

Amazing show. Holy shit were they great.

i'm not trying to be combative, but why order online when you could buy from a record store? they can order stuff too and you don't have to pay (or wait!) for shipping. and you can buy it from a real live human being.

Because Amazon doesn't slouch at the counter when I come up to it, pretending I'm not there and hoping I'll go away.

The real answer to that is you can generally find stuff for cheaper, even after shipping (but this is also usually older albums), and the other is I'm sure many people in the world aren't living near enough to a record store to go with that option.

Tix for Chicago: purchased! ILX user Je55e is going too.

Your mix is strange but intriguing, Edward III, thanks!

ha, strange how? was actually just trying to boil the album down to its song-muscle, removing all the 5-10 minute drones and any evidence of karen o.

Amen to that last part. I've ffwded her song after hearing it once. Too Miranda July-does-Cat Power for the rest of the album IMO.

Strange wasn't the right word perhaps - I meant more something like: unusual when you've almost gotten used to the flow of the normal song order and length to then hear them in another order which ALSO works nicely - xpost

yeah "Warrior" is certainly the weakest link on the record.

and also HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW. i can't even...."Coward" was amazing, the new songs were amazing, everything— definitely one of the best performances i've ever seen.

bummer, got to wait another week. Been expecting this to fall through my door at any moment but looks like what I got through email yesterday means it was only just dispatched. Not sure how long it takes a package to get across the Atlantic.

HAILING KRAKOW - does your shop still have copies of the double cd edition w/ DVD? And if so, could I reserve one until next Wednesday (payday!)

Thanks

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW.

Portland show had some problems, unfortunately, most seemed to be due to bad onstage sound. Gira spent a fair amount of time looking cranky, cut one song a minute in and decided not to play it, and said they couldn't do an encore because they couldn't hear anything onstage. It was frustrating to watch them try to get in the zone and not quite make it. The opening song and "Coward" were still mind-blowing though. He seemed to take it in stride, I think the old version of Swans would have beaten up the sound guy.

or just walked off

doesn't seem to be much footage out there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0B1o-BaQag

im seeing them this Friday. never seen them before and I'm a bit protective of my hearing (what's left of it). so im guessing get earplugs and stand as far back as possible?

lol yes

that's what I did, it was great. every once in a while I would take the earplugs out, go "WHOA", and put them back in.

when I saw them on the first comeback tour it wasn't a hurty kind of loud, more of an air-is-fully-saturated-with-sound type thing

I usually do earplugs nowadays but made an exception in their case

yes, def earplugs

Yeah, I've put Frances through a lot of things which she doesn't always earplug for (inc Sunn). She didn't feel the need for earplug at all during the Swans (who she had never seen before) but was only managing 15 minutes at a time without a break outside from the 'fullness' of the air in the room and the general oppression.

you can feel your innards vibrating
it's great!

bump

HAILING KRAKOW - does your shop still have copies of the double cd edition w/ DVD? And if so, could I reserve one until next Wednesday (payday!)

Thanks

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 15:17 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i brought earplugs for myself and some friends, and i put them in a few times, and then was like "I AM NOT GETTING THE FULL SOUND SCREW THIS." and my ears weren't ringing afterwards or anything, tho i obviously lost some hearing. i wear earplugs at a lot of other shows, so i figured i could let my hearing be pummeled one night a year.

I've got YOB the night before SWANS so I am definitely wearing earplugs for both. As it is I'll still probably be having hearing issues on Monday morning.

tickets purchased for tomorrow night. very stoked.

I wore earplugs (expensive ones too!) when the last Swans tour swung around to Leeds and felt so detached from the experience afterwards. I wished I hadn't worn them. But I am seeing them again next month and I'll kick myself if it fucks me over. And you really cannot trust yourself being able to tell when you're there.

I'd give them a go without plugs, as they probably will not be dangerously loud. (Although I realize this is all subjective and depends on venue). I saw them twice on the My Father... tour and again last month on The Seer tour. The two My Father.. gigs were only moderately loud; no plugs needed at all. Last month's gig was certainly louder, and I had to move from directly next to an amplifier to a more comfortable position, but I didn't need ear plugs. They were freely available anyway at all three venues.

I've come back from a few weeks travelling to find my signed copy of the Seer in my mail-box. I had been worried it would get stuck at customs (like my copy of "We Rose From Your Bed...") and get sent back to YGR because I was away for so long. Finally listening now....

Austin show was really great on Friday -- "Coward" was a total mindfuck, just massively great.

Leaving in 5 minutes to go see them tonight in Dallas. Stoked.

man have a good time~!

That was stunning. And based on this show earplugs are a must; one of the most loud and visceral shows I've ever seen. My sternum hurts and my insides feel wrong.

Wow.

I've never really paid much attention to Swans before but I listened to about half of this on the way into work today and it's fantastic. The title track is immense.

I just heard a snippet about four hours ago and I was totally mesmerised. Will be buying ASAP.

Yeah it's amazing (although to be honest it could probably stand two fewer 19+ minute songs, I really like "The Seer" and "Apostate" a lot so really why complain.)

Yes yes yes.

^^^ Scik otm

How / why have I never listened to Swans before? Known of them for fucking ever.

I'm in the same boat, 'cept I jumped on board with the last studio album. I'd always known of them and heard a scattered track here and there, but now I need to go back and inhale the rest of their discography.

yes you will

expect them to turn up in 80s rock poll

There are similarities, but swans II is a totally different beast then their original incarnation imo.

almost every incarnation of swans was a different beast

So what would you recommend as a good place to go next?

some of the work that gira did as Angels of Light might actually veer closest to what Swans is doing now, although i'm certainly no Swans pro

except angels of light were kinda boring

Ok, yeah, I've heard the Akron/Family and Angels of Light split, definitely preferred the Akron half of that.

soundtracks for the blind prolly the next logical step for my father/the seer fans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcEG0WvfSDM

then children of god

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTIN6RsgLNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijIPY-MTClI

if you like the new album you would like most of the 90's swans stuff. very similar sounds.

Cool, thanks! Its one of those kinda daunting back catalogs. Wishing I'd have paid more attention back in the 90s, but I don't think I would have been ready then.

yeah "soundtracks for the blind" & "children of god" are still respectively n°1 & 2 in my swans disco.

white light/love of life too. essential.

yup

swans periods:

1982 - 1983: labor EP, filth
alternates between flailing uppity no wave tempos and sickly dirges, killer polyrhythms

1984: young god EP, cop
descent into total lifeless nihilistic thud, glacial pace

1986: time is money 12", greed, holy money
introduction of keyboards/samplers and the gothy overtones of jarboe, the scuzz of the earlier material is scrubbed off, sound is clean, robotic, sterile

1987: children of god
massive expansion of sound, brutality now alternates with torch song tunefulness

1988: the burning world
inexplicable easy listening album

1991 - 1996: white light from the mouth of infinity, love of life, the great annihilator, soundtracks for the blind
forays into folk blues, tape loops, chamber music pop, this period is the most similar to current reconstituted swans

The Great Annihilator is awesome too.

i've only heard up to "Holy Money" I guess it's time to get Children of God or something

they never really made a bad record except for maybe the burning world (and I blame that on bill laswell, cuz live those songs were pretty killer).

not helpful advice for ppl looking to dive in tho I guess

yeah its all good. and burning world has some of their best songs so....get that too.

Bear in mind, though, that the live albums are not totally representative of the contemporaneous studio stuff and you should totally listen to the live albums too. Public Castration is a Good Idea and Feel Good Now are crucial.

yeah! public castration takes the austere greed/holy money material and completely reinvents it through LOUDNESS and it's likely to be my #1 pick for the 80s poll

yessss they're playing Seville in December!

god did I hate the burning world when it came out, this was absolutely not what I needed in 1988

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR6niiAh0uY

I'd love to see pictures of peoples faces when they listen to Public Castration, like I'm sure I make the most contorted expression whenever I hear it

i loved the blind faith cover. but i just love that song. i really liked acid at the time though. so, that helps.

plus, its just so beautiful.

i used to be on jarboe's swans e-mail list in 1999/Y2K-ish and among the people there "God Damn The Sun" from Burning World was way at the top of any swans song poll.

fyi if you ever see them, the u.k. 12 inches of burning world songs sound waaaay better than the album versions. sonically. especially "Saved". american uni vinyl some of the cheapest shit at that time. sadly.

when i saw gira play solo a few times in the last ten years or so, he wld only perform a v small handful of swans songs, and 'god damm the sun' was always amongst them

I still waiting for vinyl of this.

Jarboe is going out on tour soon doing mainly Swans torch songs. Can't blame her for trying to get a piece of the action, I'm sure she feels sidelined by Gira despite doing vox on the new album.

I'd be into that depending on the backing band (although to be honest I don't much care for solo Jarboe.)

it's just her and a pianist

Sounds really dull.

I think i was at the Public Castration show. If so I was still coming down from taking a load of speed the night before. I sat in the balcony at the ULU beside somebody who I later thought had been Diamanda Galas.
Can't think what my face would have looked like while experiencing the show though. Pretty blistering experience anyway.

In '87 I stuck my head in a bassbin at the Birmingham show & I think that was supposed to be one of the loudest gigs on that tour.

'88 was better live than on record. Was Burning World actually out that year, I have it in my head as being the next year. I think several members left because they were unused whereas the '88 tour still had the line-up from the Children of God lp. Westberg, Kizys, Parsons. Playing very heavy folk rock. I thought the shows I saw were pretty literally awesome. Then spent the next 20 years wishing I could get some of the recordings to listen to. Finally did when I started getting stuff from Dime etc. I think I still have the Mean Fiddler show on my walkman.

yeah the Burning World was '89, '88 was the year of the Love Will Tear Us Apart 12" which was a pretty bad idea really. The Jarboe version was much better than the MG version. I saw them at the Kilburn National Ballroom, that was probably '88.

saw them at CBGBs on the burning world tour, c/r the year unless I look up my review

fun fact: sebadoh opened, nobody knew who they were and the crowd talked through their entire set

I'll let you know in a month after Supersonic about the Jarboe piano show. (for people who didn't know like, I'm guessing, Kerr her last Supersonic show was fronting Esoteric, which was great but also fairly clearly not Swans)

I think i was at the Public Castration show. If so I was still coming down from taking a load of speed the night before. I sat in the balcony at the ULU beside somebody who I later thought had been Diamanda Galas.

i was all like nah, public castration was recorded at the ICA i know cos etc etc, but then i looked it up and whaddya know:

Tracks 1-6 recorded live at I.C.A. London 27/3/86.
Track 7 recorded live at The Garage Nottingham 13/2/86
Track 8 recorded live at U.L.U. London 14/2/86.

so we are all correct hurrah. the 87 tour was meant to be the pinnacle of noise-as-noise swans - ilxor mark s went to the legendary show at the town and country club in kentish town (immortalised on the 'feel good now' live rec as 'beautiful reprise - the town and country backstab cowardice') where i think the police intervened to turn the show off/down. funnily enough the next time i saw swans was again at the town and country (tho' maybe it was called the forum by then?) in the early 90s, a fantastic gig on the white light/love of life tour (do remember that that was fairly sparsely attended, they didn't even open the balcony up.)

I was at The T&C on that '87 tour too, where a lot of Feel Good Now was recorded, among other places.

I know I saw Swans at ICA but I thought that was earlier, though maybe I'm confusing '85 and '86.
I know they were over once in '84, to the u.K. at least cos I saw them support The Fall at Heaven. Can't remember if they were over in '85 or not, then they were documented in '86.
Is there a From THe Archives or anything on the Swans?

yeah my grasp of dates/chronology from that time is now p hazy, but there was an NME issue with a cover article about american hardcore bands, prob written by chris bohn/biba kopf, that was my first introduction to ppl like sonic youth, black flag, swans, foetus? think that was 84, but can't seem to find an image of the cover (black and white snap of rollins iirc) to confirm the date

There's one that has Rollins' tattooed arm on the cover I think, that has a very wideranging idea of hardcore as the theme for the bulk of the issue. Includes things like Leonard Cohen's Death Of a ladies' Man, Yukio Mishima etc etc

There was also a thing on the downtown NYC scene that covered Swans, Sonic YOuth, Foetus, Lydia Lunch and a couple of others in the cover story.

I'm pretty sure I still have the hardcore edition somewhere here but not sure about the other one. & I have mice so I hope it's intact when I find it.

thanks, again i cld be confusing/conflating the two issues in my mouse-bitten mind

http://www.vinylonthe.net/images/stockpix/2012-05-31_nme-hardcore_opt.jpg

15 September 1984, according to wikipedia.

Children of God tour was my first time, at the Pavilion Theatre in Brighton. Jarboe was ill that night and couldn't perform.

that's the one!

This has got very little relevance to the Swans, but while we're reminiscing... Stevolende, just going by various things you've said, I'm sure I've met you once long ago. Did you go to the R*peman/Band of Susans/Dinosaur Jr gig @ Leeds Uni in about 1988, the one with the anti-Albini protest outside? If you're the guy I'm thinking of, you'd ridden up on your bike and you were striding round campus in yr biker gear looking for the venue. Pardon me if I'm wrong though.

I recently found this really interesting boot from '86, Mabuhay Gardens SF, it's a live radio recording and they lose the signal at one point and a panicked DJ has to vamp for a minute or so.

The sound of the recording is really weird and great, something about having to contain and parse all that ferocity for radio and struggling to balance the elements made them come out sounding even more industrial, queasy and fucked up.

Mind blown by "a piece of the sky"

Somehow this record gets better the more you listen

Would love to hear some live 80s shows

When I get home I'll organise a link to the SF gig.

This has got very little relevance to the Swans, but while we're reminiscing... Stevolende, just going by various things you've said, I'm sure I've met you once long ago. Did you go to the R*peman/Band of Susans/Dinosaur Jr gig @ Leeds Uni in about 1988, the one with the anti-Albini protest outside? If you're the guy I'm thinking of, you'd ridden up on your bike and you were striding round campus in yr biker gear looking for the venue. Pardon me if I'm wrong though.

― mod night at the oasis (NickB), Thursday, September 20, 2012 10:13 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Funny that, if I'm thinking of the same gig. I only started hitching around the U.K. following the Dinosaur Jr tour at the other end of the EUropean jaunt of that tour. I think it was originally a Blast First tour that featured Rapeman, BAnd Of Susans and Dinosaur Jr. & after the Europe bit Rapeman had dropped out. Though I did see them in Bedford & I can't think how that fits in with the rest. Just remembering Albini wearing a teddy Bear head backstage
so no it wasn't me at the Leeds gig as fare as I recall, though I did go there quite frequently over the next couple of years. Could be remembering it wrong. I was hitching anyway but at some point around then I was wearing a sleeveless bike jacket frequently. Though probably under a long mac. I'm brown with dreads btw.

I've got this on headphones for the first time and finding it a little harsh. A very sibilant "Song For A Warrior" to start disc 2. Let's see how the rest is. Wondering about my set-up.

Stevolende: I think you said on some other thread that your dad's Nigerian iirc? and you mentioned following those sorts of bands round before, so I was just putting two and two together and wondering if that was you... Only reason that encounter with whoever it was is still stuck in my mind is cos that was the first time I'd ever been to a gig by myself and that was the very first person I spoke to there! I'd travelled over from Salford for it and was quite intimidated by the whole thing - the student protest outside, all these lairy northerners inside shouting at Albini to play Kerosene and him getting increasingly frustrated by it... I missed the last train home and spent the night squatting under a tarpaulin next to a cement mixer on some building site near the station, praying that I wouldn't get stabbed. Middle of October and it was fucking freezing - happy days.

good lord, used copies of Public Castration are pricey. anybody wanna make me a dub of the Thirsty Ear CD reissue, or a burn of the 2LP? hit me up thru ilx webmail. I have it on MP3 but it's just not the same.

Odd, coming back to me that when I started hitching I still had my green german army coat which was actually a bike messenger one. Got nicked at Harry Crews in 88 that did.
I didn't think I was at that gig. Maybe I was. Just thought Rapeman didn't do the post Europe part of that tour and that was the main part I did do.
Remember being in Brighton, Edinburgh, probably Newcastle. But can't remember Leeds being part of that.
The Leeds I do remember, I thought was a non college venue and people were coming up to me thinking I was Murph. I guess I looked somewhat similar to him in a B+w photo in one of the UK weeklies at the time. But I'm obviously a different colour. I had been sitting with him a little before people started asking me if I was him though.

I think Rollins Band was the first Leeds College gig I was at. Maybe I have date order wrong though. Did go to Duchess Of York quite a bit after that though.

Swans at Mubahay Gardens SF (radio recording)

http://wtrns.fr/5QOPsiYnCdqqie

thanks!

man that took about 15 seconds to download!

really? tell me if it's okay willya..

unzipped ok. No tags though? I cant listen to it just now as I'm about to start rolling out the 80s results as they will be emailed to me v v v soon

Cool, tags are for sissies.

Drinking a Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf and listening to The Seer right now, good Saturday night. Unfortunately my son sleeping in the next room means I can't listen to it as worringly loud as I'd like.

PRIORITIES BRUV

My cat has been laying right by the speaker the entire time this album has been playing. My cat is badass.

sick mouthys cat liked it too!

Untapped market here Gira.

YOUR CAT KNOWS TRUTH

(Lately i find myself empowered by typing in ALL CAPS, sans punctuation. This way lies ruin, perhaps.)

thanks for the mab show!!

yr most welcome!

guess this can go here

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

sounds great!

your vinyl rip. nice job.

thx, such a damn shame about that remaster. and I'm pretty sure the original mixes were lost somewhere, cuz gira was selling the master tapes on his site back around '99. prolly gave up on remixing it. all those early swans albs sound better on vinyl, but jesus are they expensive. that ep goes for what, $60-$100 now?

I've got a rip of greed I should throw up there too.

i know someone who has swans master tapes for some reason. i can't remember why. he is pals with jarboe. i should ask him.

do it!

inquiring minds wanna know

yeah, can't remember the circumstances. they are, you know, legitimate circumstances.

awarded custody by an exasperated judge during gira v jarboe proceedings

when gira left atlanta he left all the master tapes in the basement of their house. she subsequently sold some of them on her website

wow, okay, yeah, my friend has a treasure trove. he does video stuff for J. he's actually going to europe tomorrow with her to sell merch and video stuff for her tour. but via her he has amazing stuff. rehearsal tapes! i told him he should set up an online archive for fans but maybe that's a legal mess, who knows. demos, hundreds of live shows. i'm heading over to his place when he gets back...

i love swans.

he was on that email list i was on way back when and before we knew each other.

demos! man, i really want to hear those. and live shows from 1982 on reel-to-reel. man. he's the nicest guy in the world. and a super-fan. they are safe. that's the nice part. he told me who bought some of the original masters of the studio albums and those are safe too.

yeah she mentioned yr friend in an email to me. br3tt, right? sadly this tour is not coming anywhere near me otherwise i'd be there.

Yay! I found a copy of "The Seer" with the DVD in Newport! Admittedly I'll have to sit through a Welsh Assembly consultation on children with special needs before I can play it, but I'm a little bit excited. Thought I'd have to go to Cardiff to get that, so very pleased.

Carry on etc etc.

So if you hadn't seen the Jarboe thread yet...I went ahead and asked her how she ended up on the album.

http://thequietus.com/articles/10290-supersonic-2012-jarboe-interview

Rob M xp: I love the idea of the bonus DVD containing footage of a Welsh Assembly consultation on children with special needs.

cool interview, Ned. She talked about her falling out with M Gira in a surprisingly sympathetic, classy way?

Kinda what I thought!

I mean she has a rep for being loopy but what a classy interview. Being involved on the new record hopefully soothed some old grudges

I don't know why this makes me so happy but it made my day

She never came across as loopy to me, certainly. An intense energy but always a happy and humorous one. She seems to be in a very good and liberating place, something a lot of her comments indicated.

great interview, ned

Thank ya!

my friend can't make it to the show in NY tonight so there is a last min ticket available, on the off chance that anyone in this thread didn't get one. if you want it, let me know!

I haven't listened to the other versions in the same way, so I am not sure if they're mastered the same, but cranking up the vinyl version of this is amazing. One of the few things I've listened to recently where the music feels like it completely fills the room without feeling painfully loud.

Unfortunately not making it to see this tour, but... someday!

Here are a couple of photos I snapped at the show last night. They were really great, but so amazingly loud that I left before it was over because I didn't have earplugs and was seriously worried. Right ear's ringing a little today, but I don't think any long-term damage...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Swans2_zpsa491b73f.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Swans1_zpsf7278655.jpg

And a friend of mine wrote a good review of the show, too: http://blogs.metropulse.com/the_daily_pulse/2012/10/concert-review-swans-at-the-va.html

It's fitting that so much of the music from the show felt like the grand finale for most other bands; Swans' music sounds like the last music in the world, as if whatever ambitions and anxieties first stirred the human heart to make music had been satisfied.

i've posted this a couple of places but i've got a free +1 for the swans show at the metro in chicago tonight if anyone wants it

bonus you get to hang with je55e and me

I'm on the fence about going tonight. Want to see them, but sort of know what I'm going to get, which makes seeing them almost superfluous.

That's like saying I don't want to read Moby Dick because I already have a good idea of what happens in it.

I'm insulted. You have no idea what to expect from Je55e, n/a, and me.

I ended up taking the train up to Milwaukee for the show there last month. So good. Will be there tonight as well. Josh you're nuts if you miss them, you sort of *don't* know what you are going to get. The songs are in there but what they're doing now feels close to free-flowing rock improv (the live album from the My Father tour is ample evidence. I fully expect the show tonight to differ from the one I saw last month (just as the two My Father shows I caught were significantly different)

Best live band going today, no question

Love this band, Rob, but I can't swing a weeknight endurance test. I'd be the only guy lost in the maelstrom distracted by the fact that I have to volunteer in my daughter's class the next morning.

I guess if you gotta have a kid... Inconsiderate of them to schedule volunteer time after Swans concert night.

Totally. I'd take my kid outta that school if I were you, Josh.

I had to leave during the end of what I thought was the last song, but please tell me they didn't play Mother of the World after I left.

There was a time I was a much better sport about this sort of thing. Like, hey, if Gira is willing to put in the work, then I am willing to stand alongside him! But of course, Gira is getting paid, doesn't operate on a weeknight to weekend schedule and gets to sleep in the next day, too. I don't, at least never on the latter point. I was asleep well before he would have hit the midpoint of his set.

Also: I totally would have considered going were there not a fucking opener. And Stormy, had I known you were going I would have let you come along with me as my +1 (which obviously I did not use)!

I'm going to work this morning. Just sayin.

(but I don't have kids, and I consider kids/kid a valid excuse)

You also didn't stay to the end! ;) For all you know that might have been 30 minutes of assaulting noise you missed.

i know, and i'm sorry. i'll be even sorrier when i hear what i missed.

i left even earlier than la lechera due to being lame and old. it was a great show but i'm not used to wearing earplugs at shows. they have a sick rhythm section.

Have they been playing Mother of the World on other tour dates? I was looking forward to that and I didn't hear it, unless they played some totally unrecognizable version of it that sounded nothing like the original (and therefore was not the same song). I love the opening part and also the IN AND OUT AND IN AND OUT

AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN

part

i don't really know their back catalog at all so i didn't recognize anything other than when gira was singing the lyrics to the seer (but the music sounded pretty different). i know he said one song was new and incomplete (i think that's the one where it looked like he was getting pissed off at thor for not understanding his conductor gestures). but looking up the lyrics now i think my favorite of the night was "coward."

Have they been playing Mother of the World on other tour dates?

set list for upcoming tour(s)... will be over 2 hrs music, i presume:
1. to be kind (unrecorded new song)
2. she loves us (unrecorded new song)
3. avatar (from the seer)
4. coward (from swans, '85/'86)
5. the seer (from the seer)
6. nathalie (unrecorded new song)
7. apostate (from the seer)
8. mother of the world (from the seer - encore song, if called for...)

Sorry. :(

Who knows, maybe it wasn't called for!

Love the multiple meanings of "if called for."

oh that is such sad news
i had based like 3/4 of my excitement on hearing that song, they knew it, and i have been punished. i accept that. won't do it again.

i'll take my lumps. but i did have a good morning class today so i can't really complain about the way things turned out.

not to add even more bad news, but word on the streets is that not only did Swans play Mother of the World, but they rocked harder than they have ever rocked before

:(

Z S is a dick

ahahahaha i'm sorry that was a jk!

and actually, they might not even have played it. at least in DC, they didn't do an encore at all!

i like the feelings of regret and guilt that accompany this thread. appropriate somehow!

Pretty sure Apostate was the last song in SF.

Yeah, they didn't play "Mother of the World" last night, "The Apostate" was the last song. Show ended at around 12:15, so about exactly two hours.

Josh you had a valid excuse! (and thanks for the theoretical +1 but I had already bought an advance ticket a couple weeks back)y

Oh! Thank you! That's actually a bit of a relief.
Was it just me, or were the lights excessively bright in there? I felt like that was interfering with the show. Also the added fact that they did not play the song I wanted to hear on this particular tour.

yeah swans is not a guaranteed encore, totally depends on gira's mood and the crowd. he prolly saw everybody leaving and was like "screw this no mother of the world for you"

and I love y'all but you sound like a bunch of lamers? I guess my perspective is kind of skewed from years of warehouse shows ending at 2 or 3 in the morning. a friend on fb was recently lamenting about deer tick going on at 11pm on a weeknight, maybe bands should be offering some kind of early bird special...

that varies so much by city and weekday!

i want michael gira to call me a lamer

I'm a lamer
put yr knife in me
THUD THUD THUD

that would be amazing

laaaaaamer
laaaaaaaaaaaamer
*gasp for breath*
laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamer
laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamer
*gasp for breath*
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!!
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*auxiliary percussionist/caveman beats the shit out of gongs*

Edward III otm

LaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmer
chug chug chug-a chug chug
chug chug chug-a chug chug
LaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmer
chug chug chug-a chug chug
chug chug chug-a chug chug

(repeat until the lamer begs for forgiveness)

you fucking earlybirds make me sick

the daughter brings the coffee

half asleep life

white light from the mouth of insomnia

soundtracks for the lame

dry eyes
red with fear
insomnia
white light is here
the lamer has arrived
the lamer has my eye
the lamer has arrived
the lamer's in my eye

laaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER
laaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER

michael gira is a p groovy guy on stage, his goofy handflapping made the show for me. also he & the band stood & absorbed applause for like a full-five minutes after the set, people were pouring out of the venue but you could tell those who were still applauding were like "how much longer are we going to have to do this for?" but he just kept waving it in demanding more & more lol

... it looked like he was getting pissed off at thor for not understanding his conductor gestures

this ruled

http://thequietus.com/articles/10654-michael-gira-swans-bakers-dozen-favourite-albums

^ Gira's pick of his favourite albums (usual click-thru shenanigans I'm afraid). Nothing all that surprising there but he mentions the Stooges 'We Will Fall' by name and duh, OF COURSE! Why have I never noticed the similarity between that and the Swans before?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/krakow81/8191238369/"; title="Swans at the Arches, Glasgow by Crimson Glow Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8191238369_af0ebe2397_z.jpg"; width="640" height="427" alt="Swans at the Arches, Glasgow"></a>

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8191238369_af0ebe2397_z.jpg
Swans at the Arches, Glasgow by Crimson Glow Photography, on Flickr

that crimson glow dude is pretty good at takin' pictures.

http://signup.koko.uk.com/mouthtomouth/MouthtoMouth.jpg

I'm going to sound like a terrible person, but I had a ticket to see them in Glasgow last night but didnt go because I just wasnt in the mood at all.
I can listen to My Father and The Seer fine and really enjoy quite a number of bits but I havent really clicked with them, I felt this way at their last live show and I'm a bit jealous that I'm not fully immersed in it like most people seem to be.
I'd love to be loving this like I do with most of Gira's work, because many of the older records shook me to the core in a way I fear will never happen again with any art.

His solo show supporting Boredoms was really special to me, a lot of people seemed to act like it was nothing special and I even heard some bitchy fashiony comments as if to say "he's soooooo last decade", I couldnt believe I heard people saying that shit. He even apologized for his voice but it was stunning, I've been eager to hear the studio version of a certain song ever since that gig but dont know which album its on and scared it wont be as good as that live version.

I barely got into the Body Lovers/Body Haters thing at all.

For some reason I still love to buy loads of records but only go to one or two concerts a year now, am I alone in being obsessed with records but not that big into concerts? I seen some great ones but most of the time I'm lukewarm about it. I'm not that bothered about going to see even some of my favorite bands except a select few who I think might be great live. My next thing will probably be Mark Eitzel in febuary, unless I'm still not in the mood.

I've been looking around trying to find out what song that might have been at his solo/Boredoms gig, it was sang with that thing he does with his voice on "Mother Of The World" where he shakes his voice up and down at the end of each sentence, I think it may have been a really different version of "Nations" but I hope not, it was so harrowing and I'm scared it might be a really rare track I'll never find, a unique live interpretation of a song, or worse: a song never recorded (but I dont think so, because a friend told me all the songs were from previous albums).

http://www.setlist.fm/setlists/michael-gira-73d6fa59.html?page=5

^ the setlist for glasgow wasn't posted, but if you look at some of the earlier dates on that tour (e.g. rome or amsterdam), his set seems to be pretty constant. does that help?

Where's the Irish dates Gira mate?

Sort it out

i was fortunate to see swans on the greed / holy money and children of god tours and never again expected to experience another musical event that shook me in such a fundamental way, but the gig last night had precisely that effect. crushing. wondering if i will experience the like of that ever again?

Thankyou very very much Albert Crampus(NickB) for your help. It was, as I had thought earlier, "Nations" but different from the first early version I found on youtube, the version I saw was more like this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLCreWbag0k

...does the studio album version sound like this, with the crazy shaking vocals? Because that really got under my skin.

i was fortunate to see swans on the greed / holy money and children of god tours and never again expected to experience another musical event that shook me in such a fundamental way, but the gig last night had precisely that effect. crushing. wondering if i will experience the like of that ever again?

― stirmonster, Saturday, 17 November 2012 18:07 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wanted to hear what you and krakow and other glasgow attendees thought of the gig on friday. i was surprised by how much the sound had changed since the last time they played the arches - much heavier, thicker, overwhelming - at times, particularly in the very bass-heavy first half, it kind've reminded me of attending a really deep dub blues night, totally physical and body-targeted - my clothes were rippling, i could feel a crash barrier vibrating against my leg, saw bits of debris fall from the ceiling. at one point it felt like someone was pressing on the inside of my mouth. it was a sound you could really get lost in.

of course, the sound wasn't by any means perfect, but fair play to the arches for giving it a good old try (i'm guessing the power of the sound system is one of the reasons why gira favours it as a touring venue.) his vocals especially disappeared under the heavy bass-drums, tho i notice he's singing less these days, anyway - at times he still sounds as powerful as ever, but his voice is much less the focus.

the muddy sound in the arches has ruined many a gig for me in the past, but i think in this case it actually enhanced the bludgeoning. i was compelled to wear ear plugs which is something i (probably foolishly) rarely do and that muddied the sound even more but didn't take way from the brute physical force. as you mention, there was all sorts of debris falling from the ceiling which i have only ever see happen in there before when mungos hi fi had their massive dub sound system set up. i'm still undecided as to whether i missed the sheer power of gira's vocals which were the dominant sonic factor last time i saw them but it was good to have a different experience rather than it being more of the same. as they appear to have come full circle sound wise, i'm wondering where they can / will go from here?

i was back in there a few hours later to play a gig and there was some local techno act playing. several people i spoke to were saying how loud and powerful they were but i could only chuckle as in comparison with swans it was akin to hearing mantovani played through a small transistor radio.

I want thor to protect me in his big hammering arms

This might be the album where Swans finally clicks for me. Helps that I'm on a huge Scott Walker tip at the moment and this is the only thing that comes close.

Weird music/real-life sync-up. I've just moved house and was cycling to my girlfriend's house the other night and tried to take a short cut. I ended up getting slightly lost and ended up in a slightly dodgy neighbourhood, it was raining, dark, lots of dark underpasses and alleyways etc while "93 Ave. B Blues" unravels into my ears in all its creepy howling glory. I wouldn't normally be frightened of cycling through this area, but suddenly everything took on this haunted, gothic tinge and I was very very scared indeed.

how is this album so long? it zips by in a minute

Man, this is really good. I haven't kept up with Swans stuff since Great Annihilator, but I really like the balance of musical heaviness and the dramatic, uh "gothic" elements that always seemed overpowering to me on the Various Failures period recordings.

The Apostate is just so fucking huge when you listen to intently all the way through without letting yourself get distracted.

listen to it

alright, alright, i'm doing it already...

haha, i was just correcting my typo. but the request still stands :)

Wow. Gira posted the setlist for the forthcoming dates and it seems like The Seer is pretty much done with already:

1. to be kind
2. mother of the word intro/ bleeds into screen shot (new song)
3. coward
4. she loves us (this one still evolving, but finding it's shape)
5. The Seer / bleeds into toussaint louverture song, which then bleeds into new song oxygen... this last bit, "the seer" etc, is 1 1/2 hours or so in length....
we might insert the new song nathalie after she loves us, but that would make set reach to close to 3 hrs per night, and not sure that's advisable, for all concerned!

Oxygen isn't exactly new, as it was on "I Am Not Insane", but it'll be awesome to hear as it was really surprising it wasn't deemed worthy of 'full band' before now. I wish I was about for the shows.

I am seeing them tonight in Bristol and I am MAD EXCITED.

And I'm mad jealous 'cos I'm in the middle of being on holiday, otherwise I'd be there too.

Wear earplugs, i'm begging you.

oh yes certainly. I was wearing earplugs and it felt like I wasn't. I posted brief thoughts on the other Swans thread and I'm going to repost them here cuz I'm an egotist or something:

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.)

Rob M, are you me in disguise? I'm gutted to be missing Bristol because I'm on holiday as well.

Am I you in disguise, Aldo? Depends where you are holidaying...

Kenya last week, Zanzibar this.

Legoland last week, Torquay this week. We must be different then.

T minus five minutes.

Listening to a recording of the Leeds gig, so fearsome, feels like I'm hearing some explosives testing going on from a safe distance.

We left after an hour and three quarters so they were still playing - I felt saturated and it wasn't like they had a big single to encore with; I didn't recognise any of the set - and the noise coming from the back of the building was phenomenal. Unrecognisable as a product of music.

Love the fact that one of his band was wearing a suit and another was wearing a nice cardigan. And then the drummers are just tattooed daemons.

Although actually only one had tattoos, the other was longhair and beard. Thor?

yeah Thor is the longhair

I was gonna skip this because the venue is literally my least favourite in the whole world and I figured that ~atmosphere~ is such a big part of Swans shows that it would suck the life out of it. however I got offered a free ticket y'day afternoon and am v glad I took it cos they owned. there wasn't an encore but there was a lot of grateful and charming bowing at the end

Yeah, Bristol O2 Academy fucking sucks. So sad they moved from Arnolfini but I guess that means more payola for the band.

Got an excellent view at the Concorde - just busy enough without feelin crowded. Vicky rarely gets to see more than a glimpse of the band at shows cos she's little, but we could see fine. Sound quality was insane - felt like the band was playing inside me at points.

Gira's just sent out news of the latest live/demo fundraiser release, Not Here Not Now:

http://shop.younggodrecords.com/not-here-not-now-handmade-release

Meantime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZloh0qVOLk

definitely got a copy of this. really excited

yeah I should probably buy mine ASAP, I think the last version of this (We Rose From Our Bed or whatever it was called) sold out pretty quickly (and was awesome).

this is really really good

got mine today, gonna throw it into the car for the next week or so o listening

Envious. (Would've loved to get this but the money's not to hand.)

See, this is the sort of value-added stuff I wish more acts would do.

Got my shipping notice this morning.

https://www.facebook.com/larkin.grimm.1/posts/1284036894947002