PRESS
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Larsen | Rever | Review
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preamp.com | Holly DayGod, this is beautiful. Tense, frightening ambient landscapes of static and accordion looped in on themselves, with the occasional nonsensical vocals that come across as religious chants from a post-apocalyptic choir. Okay, so that's track one and two. Then the album turns into a pleasant-sounding sort of instrumental of accordions and violins and piano, only to degrade into electric guitars and stark, whispered vocals. It goes on from there into repetitive guitar and percussion pieces, to pieces punctuated by five-minute waves of cymbals crashing, gorgeous, echoey bass lines, and the occasional foray into rock. This album is so disturbing that I can't play it while my kid is home, and so nerve-racking that it actually makes me nauseous. I'm going to buy everything this band ever puts out....
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Angels of Light | We Were Alive ! | Review
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forcedrapture.comraw aural force and sonic beauty"We Were Alive!" is a collection of 10 visceral hymns performed live by The Angels of Light in 2001 in Toronto. In them, Michael Gira and his musicians manage to find and fashion a perfect balance between raw aural force and sonic beauty, something that he has pursued for 20 years. Although there is obviously pleasure and a sense of joy in the earlier Swans releases, you had to cut through several layers of skin, fat and muscle to find them, often your own. "Filth", "Cop", "Young God", "Greed", "Holy Money", "Public Castration is a Good Idea", "Real Love", "Children of God" and "Kill the Child" are probably best experienced when you’re completely pissed off or depressed. The words and sounds contained in these albums seem to focus all negative emotion and turn it into an invigorating, life-affirming force. It isn’t a matter of feeling a "connection" with a group who’s voiced an opinion you happen to share, as much as it is experiencing how well their careful use of words, rhythms and repetitions are used to convey intense ideas, sensations and emotions. While very physical music, early Swans is also very intelligent music. The......
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Angels of Light | We Were Alive ! | Review
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forcedrapture.comraw aural force and sonic beauty"We Were Alive!" is a collection of 10 visceral hymns performed live by The Angels of Light in 2001 in Toronto. In them, Michael Gira and his musicians manage to find and fashion a perfect balance between raw aural force and sonic beauty, something that he has pursued for 20 years. Although there is obviously pleasure and a sense of joy in the earlier Swans releases, you had to cut through several layers of skin, fat and muscle to find them, often your own. "Filth", "Cop", "Young God", "Greed", "Holy Money", "Public Castration is a Good Idea", "Real Love", "Children of God" and "Kill the Child" are probably best experienced when you’re completely pissed off or depressed. The words and sounds contained in these albums seem to focus all negative emotion and turn it into an invigorating, life-affirming force. It isn’t a matter of feeling a "connection" with a group who’s voiced an opinion you happen to share, as much as it is experiencing how well their careful use of words, rhythms and repetitions are used to convey intense ideas, sensations and emotions. While very physical music, early Swans is also very intelligent music. The......
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Larsen | Rever | Review
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Rockerilla #262 | Maurizio MarinoDavvvero strane le circostanze che portano M. Gira a produrre il disco dei torinesi Larsen.chiamato in Italia a coronamento di uno strano "rituale2 ideato dalla band, che prevedeva la spedizione alla volta degli States, ogni primo e ventunesimo giorno del mese per un anno intero, di un cd contenente demo ed abbozzi di canzoni, Gira giunge a Torino nel 2001 e viene invitato a trattenersi per 21 giorni, giusto il tempo di realizzare l'album. Nel tempo trascorso in Italia, Gira ammette di non aver mai visto i volti dei componenti della band e di aver effettuato le registrazioni davanti a uno schermo che celava le loro reali fattezze (che i nostri si siano ispirati ai residents? ndr). Risultao di questa collaborazione quantomeno atipica è "Rever": lavoro dall'essenza onirica e claustrofobica capace di far convivere noise e folk apocalittico in una galleria di quadri dalla bellezza scura e inquieta (citiamo per tutte "Radial" "Mentre" "Akin") Senz'altro una delle produzioni piu' memorabili della storia della Young God...
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Larsen | Rever | Review
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Rockerilla #262 | Maurizio MarinoDavvvero strane le circostanze che portano M. Gira a produrre il disco dei torinesi Larsen.chiamato in Italia a coronamento di uno strano "rituale2 ideato dalla band, che prevedeva la spedizione alla volta degli States, ogni primo e ventunesimo giorno del mese per un anno intero, di un cd contenente demo ed abbozzi di canzoni, Gira giunge a Torino nel 2001 e viene invitato a trattenersi per 21 giorni, giusto il tempo di realizzare l'album. Nel tempo trascorso in Italia, Gira ammette di non aver mai visto i volti dei componenti della band e di aver effettuato le registrazioni davanti a uno schermo che celava le loro reali fattezze (che i nostri si siano ispirati ai residents? ndr). Risultao di questa collaborazione quantomeno atipica è "Rever": lavoro dall'essenza onirica e claustrofobica capace di far convivere noise e folk apocalittico in una galleria di quadri dalla bellezza scura e inquieta (citiamo per tutte "Radial" "Mentre" "Akin") Senz'altro una delle produzioni piu' memorabili della storia della Young God...