Where to start with Swans

M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
You can separate their works into two distinct branches, pre Children of God and then post Children of God, both are equally brilliant, it just depends on where you are in yourself, really.

If you're going for stripped down atonal arhythmic post-post funk then early works, if you're going down a less stripped down, more New York loft jam then it's the later stuff.

They never put a foot wrong, just dive right in. White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity was the one to really do it for me, but you can gain entrance anywhere. Good luck.
 
echevarian

echevarian

babylon sister
Some of my individual favorite tracks are Time is Money (Bastard), Just Like A Drug, and their cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart (Jarboe Version).

They went from extremely noisy quasi industrial, to spooky almost goth "death rock" with heavy religious symbolism
to cosmic sounding stuff kind of like Spiritualized to making music that sounded like Godspeed You Black Emperor three or four years before that band existed.

What with the side projects (Skin and others) there's a lot of ground to cover.

And thats not even mentioning the stuff Gira's been up to recently.
 
Last edited:
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
First time I went to NYC I found a copy of Holy Money in the street outside where I was staying, literally lying in the gutter covered in grime. Seemed really apt on several levels. Maybe Michael Gira goes around planting them or something.
 
L

Loki

Well-known member
someone suggested to me to start at the last album and work backwards - eventually they become unlistenable... not a bad starting point and more or less true though early sludgy stuff like Cop is still wonderful in my opinion...
 
T

tom pr

Well-known member
loveoflife.jpg


I bought this for like fourteen quid in my late teens and i was hooked. the post about starting at the end and working back is a good one - it would be like descending through the various levels of hell or something. in fact the mood of white light at the mouth of infinity and love of life is like how i picture purgatory.

also if you ever get the chance to see gira play live, then do. he's amazing.
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
I quite like some of the Angels of Light stuff thats come out, but I can only take a few tracks at once. Pretty overbearing stuff.

Also worth checking is Akron/family, who've been Gira's backing band for the last few albums I think. That split album they did with Angels of Light was a good one, whatever that was called.

Still not got round to checking out Swans though...
 
CHAOTROPIC

CHAOTROPIC

on account
For the full late Swans experience, it has to be "Swans are Dead", the double live album of their last tour. It's like late-period Braque or something ... kindof measured & restrained but with this unbelievable weight & presence. Sound as pure physical force; warm as the sun, cold as fucking ice, heavier than Ludwig Van.

Play 'Feel Happiness' very very loudly in a dark room & you'll see what I mean.
 
P

polystyle

Well-known member
Would say start with the beginning ...
Go back before Der Swans even , to Circus Mort (!)
before Gira saw SPK live @ CB's.

Norman sez he's sometimes asked to 'do music like The Swans again'
to which he replies 'why, I'm not the same person now ...'
 
L

lissajou

Well-known member
Swans were the band what changed me irrevocably.

For truly, I have no idea how my life might have turned out, had I never heard their music.

While I reckon I bought Filth first, Feel Good Now is the album I really swooned for.

Time-vast, rapturous, and passionate, it's an album I still find rife with heavy magic, despite having initially listened to it more than sixteen years ago.

Regardless of which LP you end up beginning with, STAY AWAY FROM CIRCUS MORT!!!

I'm fucking serious, dude, it's one of the most horriblest goddamn records of all time!

What is Norman Westberg doing these days? Remember seeing him open for Swans as part of a pop group called Sugarsmack or something back in, like, 1992.

My seventeen year old self was extremely disappointed.
 
P

polystyle

Well-known member
I mention C mort as a joke , as they seem to have been left off the resume.
And Norman -well he's our guitarist tomorrow night
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Benny B said:
I quite like some of the Angels of Light stuff thats come out, but I can only take a few tracks at once. Pretty overbearing stuff.

Also worth checking is Akron/family, who've been Gira's backing band for the last few albums I think. That split album they did with Angels of Light was a good one, whatever that was called.

Still not got round to checking out Swans though...
Click to expand...

BUMP

ok finally got round to checking them out. New album 'The Seer' is fucking HUGE, better than the Angels of Light stuff I've heard. Need to get some of those earlier albums I think. Don't know what I saw in Akron Family listening back.

I'm declaring it the rock album of the year (not that I've bothered to listen to any others - the new Animal Collective is sounding a bit...ugh). Any takers?
 
connect_icut

connect_icut

Well-known member
My faves are Filth (early, noisy) and Love of Life (later, melodic).

Haven't heard the new one but they were great live in Vancouver a couple of weeks back. Way better than the last time they came to town.

Don't recall hearing a good rock album this year. I guess Ty Segall's done some pretty good stuff. Does the Woebot album count?
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Just found out they're coming to Seville in December, hope I can make it. Everyone says they're amazing live. I used to go and watch loads of noisy bands live when I was younger like Boris, Earth stuff like that - think I'll be taking earplugs this time though.

Yet to check out the woebot album but I quite liked the tracks I've heard on bandcamp. They made me smile.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top