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Swans Live at Cockpit | Leeds Music Scene
It starts with the crashing of symbols before being joined by squealing pedal steel and distorted bass so loud you can feel your eyelids vibrating before finally gargantuan waves of doom-laden guitar join the fray. Things continue in this vein for the next ten minutes and in that time there is hardly a sound you would describe as music produced by the five faintly terrifying musicians (actually the bassist looks like your favourite hipster English teacher, which makes you wonder how he got mixed up in all this craziness) stalking... Read more...
Live Review: Swans at The Cockpit, Leeds | Yorkshire Evening Post
About an hour into tonight’s epic, positively punishing set, Swans drummer Phil Puleo launches into a solo. A spot of nimble wrist-work or technical showing-off, perhaps? Not quite: Puleo simply hammers a section of his kit with a vicious fury that suggests there’s serious beef between the musician and his instrument. This snapshot says a lot about Swans. The band built a reputation as the most confrontational band in existence during their late 80s/early to mid-90s peak. The New York outfit haven’t mellowed one bit since their recent reunion, which (very much against... Read more...
Swans Live Review @ Trinity, Bristol | 365 Bristol
As ever, one of many reasons to experience Swans live is M Gira himself. He progressed from gentle swaying to prowling about the stage to jumping, kicking and flailing his limbs around like a narcotic octopus. SWANS AT TRINITY IN BRISTOL Wednesday 28th May brought American experimental rock band, Swans, to Bristol in a characteristic furore of powerful noise. Support for the night came in the form of multidisciplinary Norwegian artist Jenny Hval. The stage set up was compromised of three musicians - a percussionist, a guitarist and Jenny herself... Read more...
Swans Live Review @ Academy 2, Manchester | Silent Radio
- ACADEMY 2,  MANCHESTER - In a recent interview with The Quietus, Swans frontman Michael Gira confirmed an urban myth that his response to a sound engineer asking how the gig should sound was to punch him in the stomach and say “like that”. The engineer in question might feel fortunate to have only been struck once, as this evening’s 100 minute set offers a more violent assault than a single dig to the breadbox. Since reforming in 2010 Swans have gained mass critical acclaim for their marvellous and inimitable... Read more...
Swans @ Academy 2, Manchester | The Skinny
Swans / Jenny Hval @ Academy 2, Manchester, 22 May LIVE REVIEW BY CHRIS OGDEN As two musicians with backgrounds in confrontational art, Michael Gira and Jenny Hval aren’t afraid to tackle the grubby desires of the body. Gira’s Swans are the epitome of brutal, beautiful power, their apocalyptic drones attempting to pound listeners into a state of ecstasy; Hval’s art is a more feminist one, subverting the male gaze by reclaiming her body as a conduit for expression. It makes for a visceral collaboration this evening, aiming for what Gira calls the “deep sex/death... Read more...
Live Review: Swans @ Academy 2, Manchester | AltSounds
It’s with excitement, intrigue and slight nervousness that I approach tonight’s show at Manchester Academy 2. I’ve never seen Swans live before. In fact until now I’ve only listened to their music a handful of times, checking out 2012’s The Seer after it was given deservedly gleaming reviews by pretty much every music website going, and more recently (today) giving their latest To Be Kind a spin just before setting off to the gig. I may not have heard much of their music before tonight but Swans are a band with a fierce reputation for being nihilistic, adversarial, yet... Read more...
Live Review: Swans, Warehouse 34, Newcastle | The Shields Gazette
ATTRACTING acclaim and interest like never before, Michael Gira and Swans’ reformation surely ranks among the most spectacular musical successes of recent times.   That rejuvenation was on full display before both old heads and new converts on Friday at Warehouse 34, on a night when classic material was generally overlooked in favour of new opuses - particularly from phenomenal new album To Be Kind. Challenging, uncompromising and notoriously loud, the past three decades have seen the New Yorkers’ live shows become a thing of legend, and indeed their sensory... Read more...
Michael Gira – Arcadia Series at St John’s Church, London | The Line of Best Fit
  Forming part of a series that sees New York’s experimental champion William Basinski pay homage to his infamous Arcadia Studio with specially curated events around London, Michael Gira performed an evening of darkly unrelenting no-wave folk at Hackney’s St John’s Church.Perhaps the father of American post-industrial rock as lead singer of Swans, Gira was a natural choice for the unique collaboration that was spearheaded by organisation Art Assembly. Historically proven to be at the forefront of leftfield music, his growling and direct approach to his solo work was only... Read more...
Michael Gira @ Church of St John, London | Bearded Magazine
Michael Gira // William Basinski @ Church of St John, London A mesmeric show from two of NYCs most revered avant garde composers As London begins what might be a fleeting early summertime and a gorgeous sunset descends over the office blocks and vibrant streets of east London, an evening with two of New York’s more respected explorers of space and noise within music may not seem like an ideal soundtrack to the warm breeze and orange skies outside but as we wander into the Church of St John in... Read more...
Freq Live Review | M. Gira Solo in France
Michael Gira/Ulan Bator (live at les Abattoirs) Bourgoin-Jallieu1 March 2014 Tonight’s show at les Abattoirs provides a chance forMichael Gira to share a stage with Ulan Bator, a band he worked with on the Ego:Echo album in 2000. The venue is an unusual one, sat on the corner of a roundabout on the outskirts of a small town on the road to Grenoble from Lyon. Taking place on one of the busy weekends in the sprawling school holidays (when it seems like the whole of France goes on co-ordinated trips to the Alps with subsequent lengthy... Read more...

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