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CRUEL TO BE KIND: AN INTERVIEW WITH SWANS LEADER MICHAEL GIRA (Cincy Music)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, to be kind, young god
By Nat Tracey-Miller on Monday February 23, 2015 9:11am When Michael Gira brought his post-punk outfit Swans back from the dead five years ago, it was amidst a bevy of nostalgia-driven cash grabs by ‘80s and ‘90s alt-rock heroes. Gira, though, was explicit about his intentions in the initial announcement: “THIS IS NOT A REUNION.” After spending thirteen years on other projects (notably the more acoustic-oriented Angels of Light), he simply felt Swans was the best name to use for the music he wanted to make going forward. And what a rewarding return it has been. The three albums from the current incarnation (frankly among the best of their career) evade easy description or genre classification. The music is heavy but not metal, improvisatory yet never jammy, harrowing and dark but never hopeless. They feature a spectacular cast of A-list guest stars, including Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Low, and Devendra Banhart. Last year’s double-disc masterpiece To Be Kind included extensive contributions from both St. Vincent and Cold Specks. Swans concerts are tumultuous, unpredictable affairs. Gira stands at center stage conducting his group with eye contact and hand gestures, conjuring waves of noise from his bandmates. Their shows......
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Swans Loudly Helped Thalia Hall Reach Transcendence (Gapers Block)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, to be kind, young god
By Julian Ramirez It's incredibly hard to prepare for a Swans concert. It makes no difference whether you're familiar with Swans' leader Michael Gira and his experimental post-rock or not. Their live show is consistently visceral experience that tests the very idea of the band and the creation of music. Swans' songs have never been easy to take in as they dredge down to some very scathing and torturous sounds. Despite the inherent harshness, there is a longing for love underlining their existence that somehow become incredibly rewarding the more you listen. It's a tumultuous back and forth that makes the band all the more interesting. The closest one can get to being ready for a Swans show is to listen to their latest work. Their last two albums The Seer and To Be Kind clocked in over two hours a piece, indulging further into Gira's dark and inviting noises. These albums are the height of Gira and his current bandmates impressive collaboration. This weekend at Thalia Hall, Swans performed about six songs during their near non-stop two hour plus performance. It was one of the loudest and most transcendent concerts I've had the pleasure of attending. Starting off the......
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Swans blow fuse in Grand Rapids, plow ‘terrifying and thrilling’ sonic terrain (Local Spins)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, to be kind, young god
by Brian J. Bowe February 24, 2015 Playing in front of a capacity crowd at The Pyramid Scheme, New York’s legendary post-punkers led by Michael Gira delivered intense, lengthy and improvisational musical pieces. A sold-out crowd packed The Pyramid Scheme on Monday for a dense and intense performance by post-punk legends Swans. Over the course of a two-and-a-half hour show, the sextet built a brutalist edifice of layered sound that was terrifying and thrilling. The group’s musical pieces rarely resemble traditional songs — they’re more sculptural than declaratory. But the sonic terrain they traveled Monday ranged from delicate gong washes and dark ragas to plodding drone rock and the angular disco of the damned. In a rare treat for Grand Rapids, there was even a little Herman’s Hermits thrown in for good measure. Swans’ founder and frontman Michael Gira broke into a verse of “I’m Hen-ery the Eighth, I am” to kill time shortly after the group blew the stage power. The band is accustomed to larger venues, and apparently they used more juice than the system could handle. [UPDATE: Upon further research, it appears that this kind of stuff happens to Swans somewhat regularly. Which, ya gotta admit, approaches......
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SWANS' SENSORY OVERLOAD EVEN BLEW OUT MICHAEL GIRA'S AMP AT TREES (Dallas Observer)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, to be kind, young god
It sounds like cathedral music at first. Then, like modern classical. A drone of swinging chimes and rumbling gong is Swans' overture. Each tone is so exactly measured that, initially, it sounds like stock music pouring forth from the venue speakers. Look closely though, there to the back-left of the Trees stage, and you can see him, or it: a dark figure chipping away at a spectrum of percussion instruments. He looks slight at first, then the shadows slip off his back, revealing a muscled creature like human skin wrapped tight across the frame of a bull. This is a man named Thor, Swans' famed percussionist. He must've been cut from the same cloth as mythology's Hector. The thunder of mallets continues as the bulk of Swans take stage and man their posts. We have the aforementioned Thor on percussion, a drummer, a lap steel guitar, a bassist, and, once frontman Michael Gira arrives, two guitarists. Just as the low-end percussive drawl plateaus, Gira advances, looking like he's fresh off a homicide. His hair is spindly and wet. His face, which he wears like a mask, is pinched and screwed, as if animated by a mix of rage and ecstasy.......
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Enigmatic Instrumentation, Atmospheric Elements Entrance Crowd (Oberlin Review)
() - M. Gira, Michael Gira, SWANS, to be kind, young god
Danny Evans, Arts EditorFebruary 27, 2015Filed under ARTS, Music, Recent Stories From the opening moments of their set at Cleveland’s Beachland Ballroom and Tavern Wednesday night, Swans made it clear that they did not plan on granting their audience a standard concert experience. The New York post-punk veterans, who performed for nearly three hours but only played six songs, started so quietly that attendees didn’t even register they had begun and utilized everything from a hammer dulcimer to wind chimes to a homemade viola in pursuit of auditory devastation. Clearly, nothing about the set adhered to audience expectations of what a rock show consists of, but despite this, infamously demanding frontman Michael Gira and his five bandmates managed to offer one of the most powerful concerts I’ve ever attended. Percussionist Thor Harris introduced Swans’ set by himself. He stood near the backstage area, hitting a gong softly. As the gong grew louder, alerting the audience to Harris’ presence, other members of the band joined in. Lap-steel guitarist Christoph Hahn droned forebodingly, and Phil Puleo, the band’s other drummer, complemented Harris’ gong with tasteful cymbal work. The band built up slowly, silencing chatty showgoers. My jaw dropped as Swans’ entrance manifested......