PRESS » M. Gira
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NME live review
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, NME, SWANS, to be kind, young god
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SWANS PUNISH A SOLD-OUT CROWD AT WARSAW IN GREENPOINT (Village Voice)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, young god
Better Than: Standing in front of a sputtering jet engine. On Friday night at Warsaw (261 Driggs Avenue) in Greenpoint, Swans performed to a sold-out crowd of masochists, who seemed to welcome the punishing drone as though it were candy. Many in the crowd wisely wore earplugs. The sheer volume of Swans easily overpowered anyone who was silly enough to forget their pair at home. Speaking in purely referential terms, only My Bloody Valentine is louder. But while My Bloody Valentine's legendary 20-minute dissonant noise-pummeling takes place in the middle of "You Made Me Realise," Swans maintained that level of intensity for their two-hour set, giving in only occasionally for Michael Gira to scat-sing or for the band to transition between songs. Opening for Swans was the Brooklyn-based black-metal quartet Liturgy. Having recently reunited again as a four-piece band, their sound was crisp and cohesive. Notably absent from Liturgy's performance was Hunter Hunt-Hendrix's high-pitched screaming; instead the vocals resembled Gregorian chants, perhaps if Kurt Cobain took up the cassock. Though the abrupt change in vocal style was hinted at on the recorded version of "Glass Earth", there was a conspicuous sense of confusion among the crowd for a moment when......
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Roundhouse, London – live review (Louder Than War)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, young god
Swans | Okkyung Lee | Jas Shaw Roundhouse, London 21st May 2015 Michael Gira and his gang of sonic cohorts visited London’s Roundhouse venue for their biggest ever UK headline gig. Simon Tucker stepped into the breach for Louder Than War. Entering the circular space that is the Roundhouse you get an instant sense of history seeping through the air. The ghosts of a million artists swirl around, and tonight a conduit to the other plane will invoke, rile, and aggravate them. That conductor of spirits is Michael Gira who, with his tribe of marauding Swans, will pummel and tease those in attendance with some glorious voodoo magic. But first… Jas Shaw (Simian Mobile Disco) is first to enter the pen, painting a tripped out, analog synth-driven picture that doesn’t instantly grab the attention but as the set develops and we are taking into darker, and more intense territory, more and more people get drawn into his sonic sculpture. Pieces get darker and more layered as the set unfurls making for a pleasant brew of ambient textures and insidious drone. We are warming up nicely… Second support, Okkyung Lee is where the night REALLY starts to take us into the abyss......
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YOUNG GOD: 10 EARLY SWANS RECORDS YOU NEED TO HEAR (The Vinyl Factory)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, young god
After blowing us away with 10 slept-on Seattle era grunge records, Nick Soulsby returns with an armful of essential Swans records from their pre-breakup chapter. Words: Nick Soulsby http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-releases/young-god-10-early-swans-records-you-need-to-hear/ Hauled from the grave in 2010, Michael Gira’s resurrected Swans have garnered vast critical and popular respect. Amid a swarm of reformations cashing in nostalgia checks, the band stands near alone with a recent run of albums living up to every inch of their daunting reputation. It wasn’t always the way. Laid to rest in 1998 with the emphatic Swans Are Dead, Gira had concluded Swans’ aura was an albatross to be slain. A tragedy. Swans back catalog offers a depth of lyrical vision, musical innovation and sheer power rarely equaled. Here are ten albums from the first life of Swans that deserve an awed bow of admiration and a few hours of ear-time. As ever we’ve compiled tracks from the records into the playlist below, and scroll down to check out the albums individually. SwansCop(K.422, 1984)Cop is a growling testament to the brutality of Swans’ early vision. Repetitive mantras disguise complex rhythmic patterns underscored Gira’s full-throated declamations of power, surrender, annihilation. These were metal riffs and vocals reduced to the......
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Swans’ Michael Gira: Growing into something new (Whopperjaw)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, to be kind, young god
Swans‘ frontman Michael Gira originally thought he would be a visual artist. Since childhood, he regularly created illustrations and “devoured books on art.” He even went to art school. It was there that he was introduced to punk rock, which he has said “seemed more relevant and urgent and necessary than forging some kind of art career, which was beginning to look like a parallel career to being a lawyer or accountant.” Initially, he started what he has called a “pretty bad punk rock band” called the Little Cripples that played a show in San Francisco. Shortly after moving to New York in 1979, he launched the oppressively noisy Swans which kept going strong until 1997 when the group disbanded and Gira started up the avant folk act Angels of Light. About five years ago, Gira had some songs for what he presumed would be a new Angels of Light record. In the process of arranging them, he realized they would function better as Swans songs so he re-formed the band and issued My Father Will Guide Me on the Rope to the Sky, what he calls a “transitional album.” In 2103, Swans followed it up with The Seer, an......