PRESS » SWANS
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Noisey.com premiere To Be Kind Sampler
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CHECK OUT AN EXCLUSIVE TEASER OF SWANS' NEW LP 'TO BE KIND' BECAUSE YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF Some records you throw on while you do shit like organize you closet or clean the toilet, tuning in and out while you focus on the mundane. But for some records, you light a candle, get a solid pair of headphones, settle in and listen to in its entirety. Swans falls into that latter category. A Swans record is a journey; songs build and expand to come crashing down again, and there is a certain hypnotic, almost shamanistic quality to Gira's voice to lead you through it all. Swans records demand your total and complete attention. The NYC-based band have a new album coming with To Be Kind, their third studio effort since reforming four-plus years ago. Due on May 12th, the LP features appearances from St. Vincent, Bill Reiflin (Ministry, King Crimson, RevCo, etc), Little Annie, and more across it's ten tracks logging around two hours in length. It's an epic journey and one that is chronicled in the teaser sampler above, available for the first time here at Noisey. Check that out, as well as a pair of full songs from To Be Kind below.......
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Q&A with M.Gira from Uncut Magazine
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HOW GIRA GOT HIS GROOVE BACK: THE SWANS FRONTMAN ON KLIMT, KUTI AND TANTRIC SEX - Fact Magazine Feature
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HOW GIRA GOT HIS GROOVE BACK: THE SWANS FRONTMAN ON KLIMT, KUTI AND TANTRIC SEX It doesn’t feel like an exaggeration to say that, at its peak, ‘Bring The Sun / Toussaint L’Ouverture’ – the opus at the centre of Swans’ latest album To Be Kind - sounds like the heavens being ripped open. Then again, the aim of Swans’ music has never been mere sonic affect, but shared sublime experience. Steering the band towards that common goal is the visionary Michael Gira. On stage, he contorts and flails, guiding the band like a possessed conductor, and it’s easy to imagine him acting similarly in the studio, sculpting chaos into complex narratives. Indeed, when discussing how many of the songs on To Be Kind were written during an intensive touring period, Gira explains, “The music developed organically, with me generally acting as the director and trying to get the music to take on a life of its own.” That life of its own, the beating heart that makes To Be Kind so powerful, like The Seer in 2012 and My Father Will Guide Me Up By A Rope To The Sky in 2010, is tricky to pin down. Rather than the sheer brute force of earlier Swans albums such as Young God, dialectical oppositions dominate To Be......
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This Is Fake DIY - To Be Kind review
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Swans expand North American tour, share new live video (Consequence of Sound)
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http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/04/swans-expand-north-american-tour-share-new-live-video/ Swans have extended their upcoming world tour with a new string of U.S. dates for this fall. The iconic post-rockers will trek down the West Coast in early September, starting in Seattle on the 2nd and ending in Hollywood on the 11th. They already have a hefty number of stops mapped out from May to July, and you can find their entire docket ahead. The band’s year-long tour comes in support of their forthcoming recordTo Be Kind, due out May 13th via Young Gods/Mute Records. Featuring the guest talents of St. Vincent’s Annie Clark, Cold Specks, Little Annie, and Bill Rieflin, the album was partially funded by a live album culled from Swans’ 2012-2013 world tour. It’s fitting, then, that they’ve also released a concert video to coincide with the new dates. Below, watch the band deliver a truly forceful rendition of “Just A Boy” during last year’s Hellfest in Clisson, France. Swans 2014 Tour Dates:05/14 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *05/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *05/17 – Boston, MA @ Royale Nightclub *05/18 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *05/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *05/22 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 2 *05/23 – Newcastle, UK @ Hoults Yard *05/24 – Glasgow, UK @ The Arches *05/25 – Aberdeen, UK......