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Body Lovers - Number One of Three
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Mark WeddleOverall impression: absolutely brilliant.I had very high expectations for this disc, and I can truthfully say that they were completely blown away. I've had this cd for only 12 hours and it's already impossible for me to imagine life without it. Michael Gira has taken the first bold step from out of the shadow of the SWANS moniker. This disc, the first of three, exemplifies the instrumental skills of Gira and friends which have been foreshadowed on the last several years of SWANS' discs. The entire spectrum of sound is covered throughout: drones, horns, samples, keyboards, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, harmonica, viola, violin, subtle and furious percussion, etc and a brief stanza of lyrics on 1 track. The disc is meant to be one continuous listening experience, but track id points have been added where the music drastically changes. I love the whole thing, but tracks 8 - 10 are really incredible, especially 8 ... simply the most beautiful piece of music committed to tape I've heard in many, many years (and quite emotionally uplifting with each listen). I was actually surprised at how subtle and beautiful the majority of the disc is ... there are moments of......
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Swans Are Dead | Review
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Pitchforkmedia.com | Nick MirovRating: 7.7 Listening to Swans is like looking into the face of eternity and being scared shitless by it. Whether or not that qualifies as a religious experience is for you to decide. For almost fifteen years, Swans mastermind Michael Gira has made the most unabashedly dramatic, harrowing music to come out of the '80s New York art-punk scene, or anywhere else, for that matter. The closest mainstream comparisons would be to Skinny Puppy's grotesque Grand Guignol theatrics or Ministry's insane thunderous noise, but neither band can match Swans' visceral humanity and orchestral, epic scope. For the past few years, Gira had felt that too many preconceptions had been built up around the Swans moniker, so in the interest of maintaining his artistic integrity, he has chosen to break up Swans and continue to record under different names. Swans Are Dead is their aptly named final release; a double live CD culling live recordings from their 1995 and 1997 tours. Sound pretentious? Well, it's impossible to carry off such weighty, bombastic music without sounding at least a little pretentious. However, Swans Are Dead can be an incredibly compelling listen if you have the patience to overlook the......
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Swans | Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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Y Zine | Derick Varndark metaphysical landscapesThis double compact disc is a whole world of ethereal lovers and drags you through dark metaphysical landscapes. Jarboe and Michael Gira have released their LAST album as The Swans. "Soundtracks" is over two hours of music that is sometimes dark, sometimes droning, and always unpredictable. Layers and layers of samples and music are born in this album. "Soundtracks" is musically textured and extremely original. Michael Gira manages industrial sampling without the choppy "techno" or machine effects. Drones, moans, answering machines, keyboards, pan flutes, and thousands of other sounds. Michael's lulling deep voice shines on the album, "Johnny Cash" like vocals completely contrast Jarboe's feminine and smoothing voice. "Volcano" is an amazing song about a woman love for another woman. "Animus" and "The Sound" are both great songs about just darkness in general with killer lyrics. On the average, songs are about ten minutes long on this album, but they are worth it if you have the attention span. The album comes in a cool "brown bag" digipak. The attitude and outlook of the album is definitely dark, but not as edged as all the pasted Swans album. It is overall a great buy......
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Swans | Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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Y Zine | Derick Varndark metaphysical landscapesThis double compact disc is a whole world of ethereal lovers and drags you through dark metaphysical landscapes. Jarboe and Michael Gira have released their LAST album as The Swans. "Soundtracks" is over two hours of music that is sometimes dark, sometimes droning, and always unpredictable. Layers and layers of samples and music are born in this album. "Soundtracks" is musically textured and extremely original. Michael Gira manages industrial sampling without the choppy "techno" or machine effects. Drones, moans, answering machines, keyboards, pan flutes, and thousands of other sounds. Michael's lulling deep voice shines on the album, "Johnny Cash" like vocals completely contrast Jarboe's feminine and smoothing voice. "Volcano" is an amazing song about a woman love for another woman. "Animus" and "The Sound" are both great songs about just darkness in general with killer lyrics. On the average, songs are about ten minutes long on this album, but they are worth it if you have the attention span. The album comes in a cool "brown bag" digipak. The attitude and outlook of the album is definitely dark, but not as edged as all the pasted Swans album. It is overall a great buy......
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Swans Song | Extensive Interview and History
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AddictedToNoise.com | Howard WuelfingMichael Gira, leader of the influential but little-known band Swans, isn't just floating along with the current. He's controlling it. "The reason I write is because I have to, that's what I do. I don't have any other choice," explains Swans founder/frontperson, Michael R. Gira late one Summer afternoon at NYC's Knitting Factory, before a spoken-word performance. "It's the reason I make music. That's what I do in life. I'm not adjusted nor adjustable to anything else." Gira's Swans are one of those rare acts that have really "mattered" in the course of rock music's evolution. It's unlikely that their album sales at home in the U.S. have broken five figures -- to Gira's continued puzzled dismay. But, like the Velvet Underground before them, a hefty percentage of the records they have sold were to musicians who went on to form bands with significant debts to their unmistakable oeuvre. The massive, harshly textured sounds, ponderous rhythms and hypnotic repetition of their first half dozen recordings would become central elements of Industrial Rock and avant-metal's "Grindcore" movement. Musicians like Bill Rieflin of Ministry and Justin Broderick of Godflesh readily admit Swans' influence. The group count the likes of......