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Michael Gira | Interview
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ARTVOICE, Buffalo NY | Tracy MorrowGod Damn The Sun As far as will, intent and integrity in underground music is concerned, Michael Gira is one of the last men standing. As leader of infamous NYC noise pioneers, Swans, to his most recent project, Angels Of Light, Michael Gira is responsible for some of the most frightening and visceral meditations on despair, longing and damnation ever. One time contemporaries of Sonic Youth, Lydia Lunch and Foetus, Swans came out of the post-no wave noise scene of early 1980s New York City. Lurking in the darkest corners of the lower east side of Manhattan, the band produced a sound so dark and unsubtle that their peers looked accessible by comparison. Relying heavily on percussion, confrontational lyricism, and most importantly, Gira's baritone voice, Swans invoked decay, oppression, struggle and pain to often ugly extremes. Although challenging listens, albums such as Greed and Holy Money continue to be seen as some of the most interesting and innovative music to come out of that era while 1987's Children Of God is truthfully one of the greatest albums ever made. "I do see the value in the past work, but I'm completely removed from it personally.......
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"Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home"
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BRAINWASHED.COM | BY MARK WEDDLEShow previewWhat's immediately striking about this, the third album by Michael Gira's Angels of Light, is the visual presentation. The six photos - an empty chair, a cluttered desk, a room full of plants, a bookcase loaded with CDs and books, a rosary draped over a thermostat, and, perhaps most tellingly, an empty bed - seem to paint a picture of a sufficient but lonely life. Coupled with the title, one can't help but construe that Gira is sending out a clarion call to former partner Jarboe. Does he want her back or has he found peace on his own? Further lyrical clues are open to interpretation as Gira's songs often blur the lines between autobiography and fantasy. An impressive orchestra of cohorts was once again assembled to add varying degrees of layers to his voice and acoustic guitar, everything from standard rock band instrumentation to mandolin, accordion, harmonium, flute, trombone, harmonica, banjo, fiddle and even a children's choir. The opener "Palisades" inquisitively details a suicide in which "reasons won't come, and no one will regret... that you're gone". Gira whoops and hollers most on the climactic "All Souls' Rising" and "Nations", 2001 tour favorites. Conversely,......
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Oh Me Oh My
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The Santa Barbara Independent | by Matt KettmannEerie.freaky.haunting.melodicEerie.freaky.haunting.melodic.. There's no end to sparsely used adjectives that describe this 21-song foray into the Texas-born, 21-year-old 's fuddled mind. At first it seems to be some weird, gimmicky singer/songwriter shtick. Then fear sets in as the lyrics become distinguishable and the ambient white noise lurks in the background. But then you can't help but listen more, even giggle, as Devendra's vocals delve into some far-off fantasyland that's actually almost familiar. Indescribably odd, but he's onto something, even if it is just hard drugs....
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Angels of Light | Everything is Good Here... | Review
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Magnet | J. Gabriel BoylanMichael Gira is always one step ahead of himselfHis sublime Swans is still too intense for most ears, yet it forecast everything from grunge to industrial rock during its 15 year existence. In the 90's, Gira retired to subtler sounds, penning love songs and loss songs for Angels Of Light. While AOL's three previous albums covered the ground between introspective folk and lazy psych (which, to quote a phrase, is like spanning from the living room to the dining room), Everything Is Good Here; Please Come Home expands the band's sound considerably. Gone are the drippy sentiments laid down, it almost seemed, solely to distance Gira from his aggressive roots. These are fractured tales, pop scrap heaps and diseased love songs that Gira recorded as simple acoustic numbers before compulsively layering and polishing them into something at least emotionally reminiscent of his work with Swans. What has always made Gira's songwriting interesting has been an ability to focus his wild energies, livid social conscience and heavy heart into a laser beam of brilliant sonic direction and arresting singularity. Angels Of Light doesn't sound like much other music available today. It's too hard and too soft at......
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Angels of Light | Preview
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Jordon Zivitz | Montreal GazetteThe Angels of Light perform at La Sala RossaMichael Gira says the new Angels of Light album is one of the crown jewels of his 20-year recording career. But he can't stand to listen to it. "It just sounds like static sound to me now," Gira said in an e-mail interview, pausing from intensive rehearsals for a tour in support of Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home." I actually hate the recording process for that reason. It kills everything. Still, I'm addicted to it." Perhaps it's the feeling of studio labour destroying his music that leads Gira to constantly reinvent it. The New York-based singer launched the Angels of Light in 1999, burying his previous band Swans after 15 years of challenging, cathartic sound sculpture that was revered and reviled in equal measure. Gira has always been at the core of both outfits, joined by a changing parade of like-minded fringe-dwellers who feel no obligation to create a living, breathing version of the album on stage. Hence the strange touring lineup, which includes three guitarists and no drummer. "I just don't see any point in trying to replicate something that's already passed. Also, it would be......