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Swans - To Be Kind - May 13th 2014
It's another 2hr Motherfucker!!!
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Looking forward to this! They opened with the title track when I saw them live in Edinburgh in August, Swans definitely seem to be on a creative roll….
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I adore The Seer. I must confess to not knowing Swans pre-Seer. Embarrassing I know. I wonder if the studio versions of tour songs will be radical departures from what we have heard.
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Man, you really need to spend the time between now and the new album catching up on all the old Swans albums. Start with My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky and go back from there. It's my current #1 Swans record actually.
This is big news. And yes, the songs will be very different than their early live versions. I can pretty much guarantee it. |
Yes, indeed, it's ridiculous that I don't know Swans pre-Seer. So much music out there to digest, so little time. But if To Be Kind does to me what The Seer did, I'll quit my life and devote my remaining years to some kind of Swans cult.
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Just to warn you, it's probably going to be a pretty fucked up cult. Swans fans span all ages, cultures, and genres of freak. I'll bet the cult chicks are quite hot, though.
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Two muthafuckin hours again though.....I can't wait. After The Seer, 2hrs seems so appropriate for Swans. They need this amount of time to properly express themselves. I hope there is a 40min track in there somewhere.
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Swans Announce US & UK Tour Dates.
Not much of a US tour: MAY 14 Washington DC, Black Cat Mainstage 15 Philadelphia PA, Union Transfer 17 Boston MA, Royale Nightclub 18 New York NY, Bowery Ballroom 19 Brooklyn NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg 22 Manchester, Academy 2 23 Newcastle, Hoults Yard 24 Glasgow, The Arches 25 Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree 27 London, Brixton Electric 28 Bristol, Trinity Community Arts 29 Reading, Sub89 31 Birmingham, Supersonic Festival – Custard Factory 01 Leeds, Cockpit 02 Brighton, Concorde 2 |
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They have been making the best music of their lives since the Swans reboot. Amazing work, incredible performances. I have always loved them, but they truly are working on another plane now.
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the last ' I love you' someone else added that for him, right? yeah i m bleh that they arent coming here this time, but i cant complain. saw them 2 times in a year. |
"Recorded in late 2013, the new album was put together at El Paso, Texas with John Congleton, produced by Gira himself."
If a band is going to record an album in Texas, is it too much to ask that they play a few shows in Texas? Of course, they may end up playing SXSW. Musically speaking, all sorts things have been taking place out in El Paso. Some tours are playing El Paso and choosing to skip Houston, Austin and Dallas all together. |
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...ncent-20140214
It's got a 35min Motherfucker!! More vocal oriented than Seer....hmmm..... |
I'm really waiting for this album! The Seer was excellent from the beginning to the end. It was The Swans at its best. I hope this new album is even greater.
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Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Screen Shot" 8:04 2. "Just a Little Boy (for Chester Burnett)" 12:39 3. "A Little God in My Hands" 7:08 4. "Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture" 34:05 5. "Some Things We Do" 5:09 Side two No. Title Length 6. "She Loves Us" 17:00 7. "Kirsten Supine" 10:32 8. "Oxygen" 7:59 9. "Nathalie Neal" 10:14 10. "To Be Kind" 8:22 |
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that artwork is awesome.
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I still miss the hell out of Jarboe and don't consider them nearly as good without her:mad: |
Anybody love the new track or what?
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I will agree they are a different spirit without, Jarboe, but I'm with Savage, their recent trajectory is something to behold. As a listener, I'm not sure if it's fair, but I believe a good deal of pressure is on the band with this newest release......can't wait to see where it all ends. |
Some early reviewers (it leaked) are very happy.
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I stole this review from the internet because I like the style:
01 Screenshot 8:05 - begins with a simple bass riff that carries the song throughout - hypnotic mantra - builds and builds into a wall of sound - HERE. NOW. HERE. NOW! - very much a intro track that brings you into their brand of hell 02 Just A Little Boy 12:40 - laid back groove. ominous and brooding. - "I'm just a lil boy!!!" Michael sounds so fucking creepy during this line! - evil laughter (sounds cool in headphones, possibly Annie Clark?) - last two minutes things begin to pay off with small explosions - one of my favs simply because of Gira's spooky as fuck vocal delivery 03 A Little God 7:08 - surprisingly optimistic! especially coming out of the last track - jangly psychotic piano lurking in the distance - you could almost dance to this - horn/synth explosions near the end!!! FUCK THIS RULES!!!! 04 Sun Toussaint 34:05 - this is my goddamn JAM!!!!!!! - opens with a brutal fucking thrashing, relentlessly beating the shit out of you - when the lashes are done and all is calm, Michael begins his monk-like chant - I'm drunk now - ten minutes in and things begin to intensify - SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN - My neighbors officially hate me because this shit is so loud - after the torment, things die down with toy instruments and horse noises - FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.....DOOOOOOMMMM - noise bliss into referee whistles....the bass is building and bringing us back in - TOUSSAINT! (there's 11 mins left! wtf! my brain can't handle this!) - nice little tongue roll Gira - space-jazz section...something is coming/cumming... - I'm American so I have no idea what the fuck he is saying right now - FREEEEEEEE....DOM Dom dom.... - Beautiful cries of desperation. Can't believe I've been in this 30 minute trance - HERE....WE....GO!!!! My ears are fucking destroyed! - That was beyond intense....goddamnit!!! 05 Some Things We Do 5:09 - violin plucking and swells with another "we...." mantra - really needed this relaxation - I take that back....this sounds like Hitchcock chillin' on a beach - Michael is describing the human experience - "we love...we love...." 06 She Loves Us 17:01 - first 4 minutes sounds like smoking crack at Christmas - piano drip drone... - brutal free form noise-pump...rhythm section is killing it right now - 7 minutes in and a repetitive groove begins to build, kinda funky - love that lead guitar part (almost sounds like Gary Numan synth or something) - MOW MOW MWEOWWWW! (Michael has been watching too much Super Troopers) - HALLELUJAH! - Michael is screaming "FUCK FUCK FUCK!" as if he were Tim "The Toolman" Taylor and accidently hit his finger with a hammer - groove collapses and falls apart at the end into choir of discontent - WHOA! just added another brutal riff near the end for the fuck of it 07 Kirstin Supine 10:33 - another needed break. calm but anxious - okay this has to be Annie Clark doing the harmony behind a nice bell melody - full band finally kicks in about halfway through, church bells and all - repetitive rhythm section building over drone guitars and strings - no real pay off 08 Oxygen 7:59 - okay I guess this is the climax I was looking for - similar to the live version as far as I can remember - the goddamn drum and bass on this song!!!!! - heaviest track on the album - BRICK HOUSE!!!!! - this is what you wanted from Swans 09 Nathalie Neal 10:15 - weird Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom garbly intro - another of my favs I'd like to add - jangly piano thing is back - woman voice over. sounds like it's recorded from a cellphone - I love the groove of this song - NATA LEY EH EH EH EH EH EHHHHHHHH - "Live forever in this song....Natalie!!" Did this chick pay $500 to Gira? - Probably the catchiest melody - Desert outro "Na...Na na na na...Nathalie" - Wow this is over already 10 To Be Kind 8:23 - string and choir intro - piano melody behind Michael's lyrics - "There are millions and millions of stars in your eyes!" - the band begins to swell and crash into a formless drone - again lashing and lashing and lashing, beating you into the ground - ends with a formless drone into vicious fucking destruction ....goddamn |
Uhh.... I'm listening to this right now.
More later. |
Still listening. I'm not really present today. I exist only to hear this album.
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Talk to Skujy.
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Man, it's insane. I don't know what to make of it. On one hand it's "classic" Swans - heavy drones that sound like the nicotine fit of an ancient God, interspersed with self-calming, hymnal meditations... all to the jagged snapping bass and thunderous thud of the band in top "vamp" form.
It's not revelatory in the same way the Seer was. But it's definitely an experience. Gira is in a cathartic, chaotic trance for much of the record, and there is a lot of strange lyrical imagery that almost sounds random.... Like a Titan with Tourette's. Gone are the folk and country influences that made the Seer such an epic, but the noise (my god, the noise) and the muscular drone have returned. More sparsely produced; sounds kind of live. Brings to mind images of: the sun, sun gods, Egypt, Pyramids, Night sky, dreams, black holes, faeries, fucking, Hinduism, heat, pedophilia On my second listen now. Maybe more will reveal itself to me this time. |
Fuckin A. Thanks.
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I don't understand why you can't get a DVD with the LP package? Why would it only be included with the CD? They did the same thing with The Seer and its pretty frustrating.
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Fuck me, this is great, in a Las Vegas Goes To Hell kind of way.
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I'm not a vinyl buyer, but it was very interesting how the track order for Seer 3LP differed from CD. Has anyone seen 3LP listing for TBK?
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Those 2 released tracks make me very very happy about TBK. (FUCK, SYG, don't you care about Swans?)
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^^^hey, I was going to post that......good read!
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Sounds very spacey in parts. Quite a different feel than Seer. I'm sensing from the two released songs and this sampler that TBK is more complex than Seer. "Little Boy" vocals in this sampler sound a bit over the top, haha....in a Mick Jagger 2014 kind of way. Hmmm....
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Can't wait for the release of this beautiful monstrosity.
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Seer is my favourite album, hands down. Next 19 days is gonna be hell for me, hahaha. I feel that this band is at the absolute peak of their powers. TBK will be a monster indeed. It's very special when someone turning 60 this year does not suck, is continuing to push boundaries and find new areas to explore. This is fucking wonderful.
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I want to add that I did recently find My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky 2cd with the 46min extra disc. It has superb moments but I cannot overcome the feeling that it was merely a warmup for what followed.
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I'd like to hear My Father version of Oxygen. I am pretty sure they tried to record it, as the name for the album comes from the original acoustic version of Oxygen. Just guessing...
TBK Oxygen sounds mad, but not as ferocious as the live version from Not Here/Not Now. About The Seer, it is definitely not my favorite Swans album (that would be Swans are Dead, hence my user name, if live records count), but it has a peculiar quality of sucking my energy and crushing me down. After listening to The Seer I usually feel tired, but in a good way. The Apostate brought me many joyful moments of torturing my flat mates, to the point that one even attacked me and I had to defend with a kitchen knife. That's what Swans do to you. |
Having listened to it I'll say this-they've done it again.
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