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bbc swans review
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Louis Pattison 2010-09-13http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/85gwhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/85gw Swans My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky Review Album. Released 20 September 2010. BBC Review A majestic return and, let us hope, a harbinger of more to come. Louis Pattison 2010-09-13 Swans, rightly, have a fearsome reputation. Born in 1982 out of the flux of New York’s artistic, abrasive no-wave scene, they quickly became a byword for rock-in-extremity, songs like Raping a Slave and Time Is Money (Bastard) hurricanes of sound atop which frontman Michael Giradeclaimed transgressive lyrics in guttural bellows. But that is not the full story. Over the years, Swans developed a depth to match this extremity. The addition of vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe added a brooding beauty to the band’s palette, and by 1987’s Children of God, Swans’ attack had relented some, their noise barrage reshaped into a brooding, gothic Americana of cutthroat blues-rock, shrill strings and eerie, Pentecostal hymnals. Following Swans’ split, this was territory Gira would explore further with his new band,Angels of Light – softening, at times, but never mellowing. And while My Father Will Guide Me… sees Gira return to the Swans name for the first time since 1997, the record itself gives little sense of a......
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bbc swans review
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Louis Pattisonhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/85gwhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/85gw Swans My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky Review Album. Released 20 September 2010. BBC Review A majestic return and, let us hope, a harbinger of more to come. Louis Pattison 2010-09-13 Swans, rightly, have a fearsome reputation. Born in 1982 out of the flux of New York’s artistic, abrasive no-wave scene, they quickly became a byword for rock-in-extremity, songs like Raping a Slave and Time Is Money (Bastard) hurricanes of sound atop which frontman Michael Giradeclaimed transgressive lyrics in guttural bellows. But that is not the full story. Over the years, Swans developed a depth to match this extremity. The addition of vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe added a brooding beauty to the band’s palette, and by 1987’s Children of God, Swans’ attack had relented some, their noise barrage reshaped into a brooding, gothic Americana of cutthroat blues-rock, shrill strings and eerie, Pentecostal hymnals. Following Swans’ split, this was territory Gira would explore further with his new band,Angels of Light – softening, at times, but never mellowing. And while My Father Will Guide Me… sees Gira return to the Swans name for the first time since 1997, the record itself gives little sense of a break......
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spin mag swans review
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By Spencer KornhaberclamorSwans 'My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky' Noise-punk gods obliterate us again, for our own good SPIN RATING 8 of 10 This pioneering no-wave act went into hibernation in 1997, but the hiatus hasn't sapped leader Michael Gira's desire for renewal and redemption through spectacular destruction: After a nine-minute opener that lays waste with creepy jet-engine roar, guitar chug, and lyrics about a "zero man," Gira delivers "Reeling the Liars In," a catchy campfire ditty about doing terrible things to dishonest people. Recognizable shapes of jazz and post-rock often accompany Gira's baritone croon, but they're always delivered between passages of fastidiously crafted clamor that's as cauterizing as ever. By Spencer Kornhaber...
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collected swans press as of 2/1/2011
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mr bozoa thick, wet sound heard oozing across the tundra http://www.groovemine.com/rantsraves_review_swans_my-father-will-guide-me-up -a-rope-to-the-sky My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to The Sky by Swans LABEL: Young God Records There’s no ‘summing up’ with Swans. The creative collective that has made up the group since 1982, steered by Michael Gira, has simply traversed too much territory, beget too many children (bands and genres alike), and defied every convention and easy buck offered through the official channels of music. Gira’s retirement of the band in 1997 during, arguably, their finest form set their integrity in stone while their leader pushed into other musical boundaries with Drainland and The Angels of Light. This September will see the group returning with their first offering in thirteen years, and while a writer may be unable to sum up the elusive essence of Swans, the band has done it for us: push the foundation until it collapses into a new, oceanic frontier. That’s Swans. “The album fuses all the greatest elements of Swans, from their early atonal aggression, mid-point dirgy darkness, and late pounding folk-rock into one relentless package.” Reunions typically sound self-conscious, and My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to The Sky......
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swans ny times article
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by ben ratlifffrom gnashing sound sculptures to serene art songsNever Say Never: Swans Return By BEN RATLIFF Published: September 3, 2010 I SAW just a little bit of a Swans show in 1983, in their early days, during their period of slow-but-alert, theater-of-cruelty music. If I remember right, I had come to CBGB to hear Heart Attack, the fastest punk band I knew, and after that the tempos plunged. Sonic Youth played next: lots of strange tunings, innocently curious. Then came Swans, with violent songs that sounded as if they were barely moving. Did they have one or two guitars then? One or two drummers? Certainly there was the tall singer Michael Gira, heaving out his nasty mottos. They might have played “Weakling” (“I don’t feel pain/I never escape/I’m under the bed/I’m licking the floor”). Or “Big Strong Boss” (“Blood runs black/Cut my throat/Kill me snake/Do what I say”). But I don’t know. I was 15, and this music didn’t seem to come from music. Maybe from literature, maybe from visual art. My ears hurt, and the whole thing seemed to require thought. As many did in those days when faced with Swans, I left early. “Thought?” Mr. Gira asked......