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Underground > Radio & Music >

New swans record

05:07 / 27.10.10

any michael gira fans on here?

i saw the not a reunion reunion tour about a month ago, and it was both musically fantastic and quite possibly the single loudest show i've ever been to. like in all seriousness no hyperbole i could feel my glasses shaking at a few points, and my inner ear did weird things for about two days when i'd turn my head fast. it was so loud it hurt through my good earplugs.

was it brecht that said that one should dread the theater but find it neccesary, like a trip to the dentist? that's kind of how i feel about swans. it's incredibly moving music that almost feels pre-verbal, but, god damn, it's a lot to take and it's physically exhausting.

the new album stands up pretty well, too. it's both more melodic and heavier than i had expected. you can kind of tell that a lot of the material had its genesis as things that were intended to be angels of light songs.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:54 / 27.10.10

I'm going tomorrow- I love the album, though I'd disagree with your last observation- I wrote a review of it here.

21:17 / 27.10.10

he said as much in a few interviews, and their melodies sounded a little more like angels of lights melodies than the melodic later swans stuff. i could be wrong, and to each their own, but it reminds me of the fullness of that first angels of light record with that thick swans heavy guitar sound blended into it.

my friend's comment on the chimes at the live show: they sound like something from a haunted cursed church that will eventually kill you if you keep playing them.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:40 / 28.10.10

I know what you mean about New Mother, actually. That's not too far a leap either- it's the one that sounds most like Swans.

01:34 / 29.10.10

The new album is great and they were stunning live when i saw them last week.

I took a few photos of them and you can see some of them here.

Best gig i've been to in years i'd say. Roll on next year.

05:25 / 29.10.10

Gosh, dare I say it? I found them a bit ... contented-sounding, in Koko last night.

I did enjoy it, but I'd dragged along a few non-Swans friends, and the consensus was that towards the end, they sounded 'a bit like The Police. Without the tunes.'

Plus, while issues with the real police may have been involved, I'm not sure they were loud enough.

I was expecting to feel as if my brain had gone through a cement mixer, but it's seven hours later, and I can hear perfectly well.