PRESS
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Swans | Children of God / World of Skin | Review
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pitchforkmedia.com | Brandon Stosuylove, human frailty, and the midnight beauty of black orchidsAs a college radio DJ in the mid-90s, I once played "God Damn the Sun"-- the coda from 1988's The Burning World -- for over an hour on repeat. Every time the song faded, I placed the needle back in the starting groove and waited for the tentative drones to begin again. The Swans' bleak eulogizing mixed perfectly with the snow outside the station window, and I imagined passers-by who could hear were realizing we'd found the proper soundtrack to wait out the winter, literally and figuratively: "When, when we were young/ We had no history/ So nothing to lose/ Meant we could choose/ Choose what we wanted then/ Without any fear/ Or thought of revenge/ But then you grew old/ And I lost my ambition." In actuality it's a more temperate song, set to the dusty alcoholism of Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano , and the snow...I was just being dramatic. But Swans-- for all their bombast-- avoided succumbing to the same high-school theatrics during their band's fifteen year existence, contrary to what you might have been told. Formed in 1982 and fronted by vocalist and guitarist......
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DEVENDRA BANHART | Oh Me Oh My | Review
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Ruta 66 | LUIS BOULLOSAen espanolUn puñado de acordes, un genio innato para la ironÃa y el sÃmbolo y un cuatro pistas destartalado parece ser lo único que ha necesitado este chaval para construir uno de los discos más vivificantes de los últimos tiempos. Si en principio no eran más que grabaciones para consumo personal del artista, uno se pregunta qué demonios podrÃa haber conseguido de haberlas registrado en un estudio en condiciones simplemente decentes. Aunque acaso no haga falta, acaso parte del encanto sea la desarmante sencillez, artesana, autodidacta y despreocupada con la que Banhart expone sus odas entre cómicas y metafÃsicas, gemas absolutas en estado asilvestrado que lo mismo remiten a Syd Barret que al fantasma del Dylan rural y burlón (magnÃficas “Pumpkin Seeds†o “Michigan Stateâ€), igual al anárquico método de Giant Sand que al acústico y oscuro entusiasmo de los Violent Femmes. Las referencias, en todo caso, sobran cuando el talento es tan evidente que pone los pelos de punta. No son esenciales. ¿No os convencÃa el perpetuo lamento de los ya no tan nuevos francotiradores americanos de raÃz tradicional y corazón posmoderno? Aquà teneis alegrÃa y contraluces para curar vuestra dañada alma. ¿QuerÃais un nuevo......
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Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home
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Outburn | by JC SmithNaked, pained, and honestSONGS OF RESIGNATION AND TRUTH: So much of what passes for music nowadays is nothing more than regurgitated pabulum ground into gruel and fed to the masses, lacking in anything approaching honesty and more like sonic slop fed to sheep. Not with any of the work of Michael Gira, though. As the leader of Swans, his music meshed perfectly with obsessive lyrics that bled like wounds to the soul. There were never any barriers between thought and creative realization, never any concessions to anything but the appropriate tones to convey the anguish within. With the third release from Angels of Light, Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home, the acoustic inclinations of the first two releases have been fleshed out with layers of quirky instrumentation. From the ache and weariness of “Palisades†chining like a Christmas carol scribbled on flaking parchment, to the stomping barroom swagger of “All Souls Rising,†to the ominous mystery of “Nations†climaxing in torrents of wailing vocals and choral discord, and the uneasy lullaby conjured by “Wedding Song,†the beauty and quite despair never feel contrived. The imperfections of Gira’s voice only concretize the impressions, dangling like a raw......
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Devendra Banhart, The Black Babies
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THE WIRE UK | by Edwin PounceyBanhart is perfectly in tune with the pure nature of songwritingNew York singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart has been rightly compared to pre-T Rex Marc Bolan, when the mystic and elven side of his personality was more prominent than during the later glittery "jeepster" period. Like early Bolan, Banhart is perfectly in tune with the pure nature of songwriting and has a gift of being able to pull his verses out of thin air. Embroided with a blast of Huck Finn whistling or a single handclap, Banhart's effortless technique is touched with something highly personal, spectral and very special....
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Michael Gira | Interview
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WIRE | Issue 233 | Alan Licht | Photos: Jo Ann ToyThe Lonesome Angel The Angels Of Light, formed in 1998 by Michael Gira as he emerged from Swans' long dark tunnel, might not be skull crushing like a train coming the other way, but their songs are no less intense just because he's 'gone acoustic'. Â In this New York interview, Gira explains how his more melodic new material is still shaped by his formative experiences in punk, transgressive performance art and Glenn Branca's guitar orchestra, and explains how his young God label has expanded to release artists such as Windsor For The Derby, Calla and outsider singer/songwriter Devedra Banhart. Once upon a time, around 1984, Michael Gira's music was rock's most potent antisocial signifier. Â Instantly recognizable, his group Swans ground out painfully slow, dour songs performed with thunderous ferocity. Â Harder than hardcore but too mopey for the average Metalhead, liking them pretty much defined you, rightly or wrongly, as a glutton for punishment. Â "Now, I sit down and write with an acoustic guitar, for God's sake," laughs Gira. Â "There's so many people who do that wonderfully, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen,......