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M. Gira | Live | Review
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THE PORTLAND MERCURY | JULIANNE SHEPHERDThe cowboy of death - M. Gira's Excuisite GloomI didn't expect a solo M.Gira to leave such a lasting impression. But after his mostly acoustic performance at the Beyond The Pale Festival in San Francisco earlier this year, and despite the presence of such musical divinity as Neurosis, Zoviet:France, and Shellac, it is Gira's image that still burns in my heart and mind. He towered out onto the stage, tall and gauntly chiseled and wearing a huge Stetson. His skin was white too, and his pale hair and eyebrows glimmered under the stage lights. He looked like a giant ghost cowboy. His presence was enormous, his deep baritone voice smooth as chocolate. When drunks at the back of the venue chattered vapidly during Gira's set, he remained composed, and instead of throwing the passive glares that are typical of the frustrated musician, he coolly addressed the yammerers: "Do you have something to say?" He wasn't confrontational about it; he said it with a wry grace, and when he received no response, he shrugged his shoulders and continued playing. Of course, it was M.Gira's music that was most impressive; if he sang about it, he could......
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Angels of Light | Live | Preview
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SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN | HEIDI SMITHGira’s new project attracts a broader audienceMichael Gira began Angels of Light in 1998, a year after the death of his legendary dark and disturbing band Swans. While Swans mostly had a cult following, Gira’s new project attracts a broader audience, including die-hard Swans fans. Angels of Light’s current release, How I Loved You wasn’t originally intended as a romantic work, but the love theme arose as Gira collaborated with friends on the album. It’s songs viciously tear your heart out, trample on it, and then gently place it back inside your body, as if it were all just a beautiful nightmare. Gira’s coarse voice – a haunting combination of Johnny Cash and Thurston Moore – soothes you as he croons morbid lyrics about sex and love. He backs up his vocals with sleigh bells, accordion, ukulele, and piano, which add a delicate yet chillingly eerie effect. Angels of Light arouse you to waltz through a cemetery – naked....
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Angels of Light | Live | Preview
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SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN | HEIDI SMITHGira’s new project attracts a broader audienceMichael Gira began Angels of Light in 1998, a year after the death of his legendary dark and disturbing band Swans. While Swans mostly had a cult following, Gira’s new project attracts a broader audience, including die-hard Swans fans. Angels of Light’s current release, How I Loved You wasn’t originally intended as a romantic work, but the love theme arose as Gira collaborated with friends on the album. It’s songs viciously tear your heart out, trample on it, and then gently place it back inside your body, as if it were all just a beautiful nightmare. Gira’s coarse voice – a haunting combination of Johnny Cash and Thurston Moore – soothes you as he croons morbid lyrics about sex and love. He backs up his vocals with sleigh bells, accordion, ukulele, and piano, which add a delicate yet chillingly eerie effect. Angels of Light arouse you to waltz through a cemetery – naked....
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M. Gira / D. Matz | What We Did | Review
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Pitchfork Media | Daphne Carr...by far the most palatable of Gira's growing mass of output...A while ago I did this transcription of an Alan Licht interview where he talked about "the old days" and how New York City used to be dangerous, ugly, and full of vagrants, and therefore, also abound with strange and dark magic. In that city, so long over-run by snap-cap glamour kids with dad's Swiss bank account fueling their shoddy-art dreams, Michael Gira was a prince. His was mood unpredictable, his art was both serious and seriously disturbing, and it was either with extreme ecstasy or displeasure that audiences witnessed the violence, sound collage and glass-shattering vocals of his then-band Swans. While touring with Sonic Youth in the mid-80s, Thurston Moore commented that Swans were louder and more abrasive than they could ever be-- that they rather scared Moore & Co. and the rest of the audience. But while Moore's ensemble produced a linear progression of art-rock through the 80s and 90s, Gira's band traveled less predictable paths (from an MCA-fronted cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" to the ambient side project Skin, which also featured fellow Swan, Jarboe) before finally disbanding in......
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M. Gira / D. Matz | What We Did | Review
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Pitchfork Media | Daphne Carr...by far the most palatable of Gira's growing mass of output...A while ago I did this transcription of an Alan Licht interview where he talked about "the old days" and how New York City used to be dangerous, ugly, and full of vagrants, and therefore, also abound with strange and dark magic. In that city, so long over-run by snap-cap glamour kids with dad's Swiss bank account fueling their shoddy-art dreams, Michael Gira was a prince. His was mood unpredictable, his art was both serious and seriously disturbing, and it was either with extreme ecstasy or displeasure that audiences witnessed the violence, sound collage and glass-shattering vocals of his then-band Swans. While touring with Sonic Youth in the mid-80s, Thurston Moore commented that Swans were louder and more abrasive than they could ever be-- that they rather scared Moore & Co. and the rest of the audience. But while Moore's ensemble produced a linear progression of art-rock through the 80s and 90s, Gira's band traveled less predictable paths (from an MCA-fronted cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" to the ambient side project Skin, which also featured fellow Swan, Jarboe) before finally disbanding in......