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Michael Gira and The Angels of Light
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Slugmag | by Lincoln LysagerInterview / Show previewFor over 20 years, Michael Gira has been creating works of lasting importance and integrity. As founder of the seminal and constantly evolving Swans, he established a reputation for creating some of the most overbearing, honest and moving music to emerge from the East Coast “noise scene.†In addition to this, he has been active in a variety of other endeavors as a producer for other musicians and as an author, sending out ripples of unease and critical acclaim with the release of The Consumer, a collection of short stories and prose which was later followed by a spoken-word disc. Michael was born in the 50s, the son of some privilege, and his early years were spent in L.A.—quite fitting when considering the modern malaise and urban conditions that spawned the themes that run through his work. “I suppose moving to New York City way back in 1979 from L.A. did have an influence on the work I eventually made with Swans, starting in 1981,†he says. “Where I lived at the time—East Village/Lower East Side—was an extremely dangerous, decayed, wasted urban environment…only a few buildings on my block were “officially†occupied by......
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DEVENDRA BANHART
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freewilliamsburg.com | by Alexander LaurenceINTERVIEWI met Devandra Banhart during his first national tour following the release of his debut album Oh Me Oh My... The Way the Day Goes by the Sun is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit. I first heard this record in early January on a cold day. I thought that I was listening to some transsexual junkie from Alabama. His strange voice pulled me into a surreal world where anything is possible. It was the most unique record I had heard in a while. The world that Banhart creates in part blues and part acoustic folk. Impressed by his unique music, I wondered if I could talk to him and decided to book an interview. Maybe I could channel him through old jazz records? It was unsettling to find out that Devendra was twenty-one years old and had only been playing a few years. I found that he was born in Texas, but has lived all over (Venezuela, Los Angeles, and New York). He went to San Francisco Art Institute, (I went here too) where he first started playing and he even lived in Williamsburg for a while. Banhart grew up loving the......
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DEVENDRA BANHART /Oh Me Oh My...
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Eye Weekly | by Jason Andersona work of great purity and ingenuityIf this were the Middle Ages, Devendra Banhart would inspire a religious cult of nomadic self-flagellators. Since this is the 21st century, he is attracting followers who are slightly less freaky: bearded psych-folk fans, heard-it-all rock critics and explorers of the burgeoning zone of "outsider music" (hear the two volumes of Songs in the Key of Z for further reference). Discovered after he gave a bag of home recordings to former Swans leader and Young God Records founder Michael Gira, Banhart is a 21-year-old whose surreal, spectral music variously recalls Tyrannosaurus Rex, Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and the sort of English folk tunes favoured in the days when people got stoned with real stones. The thoroughly wondrous Oh Me Oh My... (the full title is actually 22 words long) collects Banhart's largely improvised tributes to flowers, animals, "nice people" and the state of Michigan. What could've been a contrived art-school prank -- after all, Banhart is not some inbred from the Ozarks but a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute -- feels more like a work of great purity and ingenuity. He is surely on the side of......
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Angels of Light | Lush Light
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catsmusic.com | Rod SmithWith the Angels of Light, Michael Gira continues to fashion a dense majesty from layers of inspiration. Michael Gira knows exactly what he likes—at least when it comes to making records—and he’s not the least bit shy about discussing his preferences. “My favorite thing,†the recording artist, producer, and head of Young God Records explains via e-mail, “is to be in the studio, clock and money ticking away, in complete disarray, with no idea of what I want to do next, only to find something that works out of sheer panic.†The making of Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home, the third and latest release by Gira’s main project, The Angels of Light, must have been a very panic-stricken affair indeed. It’s an almost impossibly rich record much of the time, brimming with mandolin, dulcimer, violin, keyboards, horns, and various other instruments (in addition to the usual guitars, bass, drums, and vocals—lots of them), all meticulously orchestrated for maximum dramatic effect. As Gira writes: “I ended up saturating every available molecule of the recording tape with sound.†Gira’s propensity for density is anything but newfound, though. As the mind behind Swans, he experimented with it for fifteen......
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Angels of Light | Everything is Good Here... | Review
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Glass Eye | Jay HarringtonGira shows once again that he is unafraid to try new thingsEverything Is Good Here, Please Come Home (Young God) This is the third lp from Michael Gira's (ex-Swans) latest project. A departure from the first two primarily acoustic offerings, the tracks on this record start with Gira's guitar and voice but add everything from marimbas to trombones to electronic noise to children's choirs to open tuned lap steel and mandolins. The result is an often hypnotic, somewhat dark, vaguely creepy end product that features guest appearances by a host of Michael's friends, including ex-Cramps guitarist Kid Congo Powers. With this album Gira shows once again that he is unafraid to try new things and let a project take it's own direction. He has said of the record "I can't think of anything less fulfilling than ending up with something that sounded exactly as I planned it from beginning to end.I think it's one of the best things I' ve done." I guess I'd have to agree. There are elements of Tom Waits, Shane McGowan, and Mark Lanegan sprinkled about in here and the overall sound reminds me a bit of Crooked Fingers, but this record......