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Swans | Die Tür Ist Zu / Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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Your Flesh #35perhaps their most seductively accommodating music"Music is never tragic, music is joy. But there are times it necessarily gives us a taste for death; not so much happiness as dying happily; being extinguished. Not as a function of a death instinct it allegedly awakens in us, but of a dimension proper to its sound assemblage, to its sound machine, the moment that must be confronted, the moment the transversal turns into a line of abolition. ...the refrain itself is the content of music. The refrain is rather a means of preventing music, warding it off, or forgoing it.... Music is a creative, active operation that consists in deterritorializing the refrain." Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus. Yet again, SWANS brilliantly isolate the element of music which is its limiting factor—the refrain. Taking repetition to its extreme aberration, music ceases to represent a "song" and becomes dissipated fragments. Here, perhaps their most seductively accommodating music, SWANS close the door on their long-running project to shatter musical forms. And far from exhibiting the "brutal antipathy" most writers seem to associate with their music, SWANS are a celebration of life to the point of annihilation....
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Swans | Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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New York Press | Adam HeimlichWeather VaneLately it's been a little hard to hear music over the sound of my teeth gnashing. The autumnal transition always stresses me out. I've been listening to the new Chavez album, "Ride the Fader" (Matador), to pass the time until the weather stabilizes again. Enjoying it with the kind of furtive admiration that sparks a pre-adolescent crush. Unrequited love. Mostly though, I'm overwhelmed with worry about What Happens Next. I never liked Chavez before. Never distinguished themselves from a lot of other smartrock bands, so far as I'd heard. Critics with rock knowledge more encyclopedic than mine seem to love bands that play with pop melody and structure, referencing the canon from arty or ironic angles. And I've realized that if you listen to too many promo CDs, it's the droll stuff that really stands out. I believe this explains why Guided By Voices got so widely blown, and I thought it explained Chavez too. But suddenly I'm carrying "Ride the Fader" on me wherever I go. It reminds me of the Beatles, who were the first band I got into. "Yellow Submarine" was the album—my uncle gave it to my older brother for......
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Swans | Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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Focus 15 | JoAnn GreeneSwans should've called this Soundtracks For The DamnedAfter fifteen years, The Swans are apparently calling it quits, claiming that Soundtracks for the Blind will be their final studio album. However, a tour is planned for the new year; thus, we can expect a live record to follow sometime after. But this double album, clocking in at over 140 minutes, will truly be the band's epitaph. The evocative title doesn't begin to conjure up the correct images for this grand finale at all. More appropriately, The Swans should've called this Soundtracks For The Damned. It's too big to be processed in one sitting, nor two, nor even three—the music is so dense, the songs so varied, the moods so intense, that it'll be well into 1997 before the listener can truly come to grips with this set completely. Being it's The Swans, one's immediately drawn into a melancholy world, shrouded in shadows and awash in contradictory emotions. The music swings between brilliance and hell; there'll be times you'll want to smash the records into a million pieces, other times you'll marvel at the duo's genius. The bulk of the album retains The Swan's darkwaveesque vision of moody......
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Swans | Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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Dawnrazor zine vol. II/III | Einar SjursöSadly, the final Swans chapter, but what a swansong!Sadly, the final Swans chapter, but what a swansong! This gargantuan 140 minutes journey combines all the best elements of the back-catalog, and stretches them even further. Found recordings, tape loops, ambient drones, samples, and even "regular" songs, although nothing is regular on "Soundtracks for the Blind." A manifest of musical genius, a disturbing rollercoaster-ride through landscapes you didn't know exist. If only all bands could throw in the towel at an equal stage. Not that a lot of bands can ever dream of reaching this level. One should willingly sacrifice one's eyes for this record....
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Swans | Soundtracks for the Blind | Review
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CMJ Jackpot | Megan Framptontheir last studio release as SwansThroughout their 15-year history, Swans have continually dabbled in excess, and this double-CD (their last studio release as Swans, they claim), is no exception. Although this release is titled as a soundtrack, and there are plenty of wandering, loosely constructed tracks, the songs themselves are filled with abrasive, grinding percussion that would be too intrusive to be used as a background in a film. This aesthetic—long, drawn-out, slower-than-slow songs that are harsh and ominous—has epitomized Swans songs since lead Swan Michael Gira first matched music to his menacing lyrics. This set includes the aforementioned soundtrack-style tunes, some live material and studio songs which have been processed and reconfigured by Gira, as well as songs written by the other permanent Swan, Jarboe. When paired with the ubiquitous dirgey drones, the once innocent samples take on a new creepy dimension that leaves the listener feeling vaguely perverted, merely by listening. Always disturbing and now at the end of their current incarnation, Gira and Jarboe live up to everything they've ever promised, both in creativity and fear....