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SWANS (Official)
Alternative / Experimental / Psychedelic

LOVE IS THE KEY



BROOKLYN, New York
United States

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Last Login:  9/8/2009
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   SWANS (Official): General Info
Member Since10/31/2006
Band Websitehttp://www.younggodrecords.com
Band MembersDozens of people came and went through the 15 years of Swans existence. These are the people that spring immediately to mind: Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Roli Mossiman, Harry Crosby, Sue Hanel, Jonathan Kane, Algis Kizys, Jarboe, Ted Parsons, Larry Mullins, Vudi, Joe Goldring, Ronaldo Gonzales, Vinnie Signorelli, Christoph Hahn, Bill Rieflin, Bill Bronson, Phil Puleo, Anton Fier, Jenny Wade, Clinton Steele...and more...


I started Swans in 1982 in NYC. At the time, I had no musical skills whatsoever, just instinct and a need to make something happen. The music changed constantly over the years, and I'm gratified it reached, and continues to reach, a fair number of people. After 15 years, I decided to end Swans, as the name had become a burden and the associations no longer fit with what I wanted to do into the future. I started Angels of Light in 1999, and that's my main musical focus now. I also run Young God Records and release (and sometimes produce) music by people whose music I enjoy. Go to the Young God website and take a look if you're interested.
- Best, Michael Gira younggodrecords.com

PS - Jarboe was the longest-lasting Swans contributor of those listed above and contributed more than can be mentioned here. To learn more about her, go here: thelivingjarboe.com

M.Gira extensive Bio here
InfluencesHere's some of the music that I enjoyed during the time of Swans, though I'm not so sure about the word "influence" : Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, The Stooges, Brian Eno, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, DNA, The Contortions, Glenn Branca, Black Flag, early Pink Floyd, This Heat, Kraftwerk, Herman Nitsch, Cabaret Voltaire, Can, Public Image LTD., SPK, Ennio Morricone, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and always, always Bob Dylan and The Beatles...ha ha! I'm sure there's 100s more, but who cares and I can't remember anyway...mg
Sounds Like
click album for info or purchase
Record LabelYoung God Records
Type of LabelIndie


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SWANS (Official)'s Latest Blog Entry  [Subscribe to this Blog]

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   About SWANS (Official)
!-END Block to Place Custom Banner at Top of Page-!

I AM NOT INSANE - 20 Drawings by Michael Gira
first edition of 500: click for info/purchase




OFFICIAL YOUNG GOD RECORDS MYSPACE HERE


TOUR'S THE SWANSONG FOR GIRA Text from Denver Post Jan. 16, 1997 By David Thomas


In the life cycle of rock music, most bands suffer endings poorly. Either they disappear suddenly under the force of a lost record deal or bleed out their musical force slowly in the public eye through endless reunion concerts and rehashed compilations.


Michael Gira will have none of that. At the beginning of the final tour of his band Swans, Gira took the time to discuss the end of a 15 year odyssey as one of contemporary music's most highly regarded and overlooked bands. "I just want to have it discreet, finished and over, and I can move on. I have other ideas I want to do. I think it's necessary," he said by phone from Florida.


Bursting from the NY scene in the early 80's, the Swans' sound was so heavy, so threatening that listeners either fled in fear or joined the throng. There was never a middle ground. And there still isn't.


Over time, Gira's sense of darkness deepened and in the process the songs turned into something delicate and beautiful while remaining frightening. Like a slow-motion plane disaster, a lyricism emerged from the chaos.


New listeners and old discovered a rock band with as much richness and subtlety as a classical symphony orchestra.


Still, even with 15 years, 15 albums and mountains of gushing praise from fans and critics alike, Gira saw that it was time to write the final coda for his band.


"After 15 years of this grueling struggle with really no reward to show for it, the intelligent thing to do would be to move on," he said.


Artistic triumph and personal despair mark the Swans. Claiming he would do and has done just about anything to record his creative vision, Gira found an enemy where you might expect an ally - the music industry.


"I loathe it entirely. We found our own little niche now, with our own business and good distribution system, so we're able to survive on our own, I just can't deal with it. I don't go out to clubs. I don't talk to A&R people; I don't schmooze; I don't do anything to try to advance myself in that way. I just can't stand it anymore. I tried in the early days. Of course I was always pounding away. But there's only so much you can take."


Closing out the Swans' catalog is "Soundtracks For The Blind." If Gira has been seeking a high point on which to end the Swans, then this is it. Two CDs, packed with nearly 2 1/2 hours of music, the album is a scorching journey through passion and pain. The discs combine music with sounds and sonic interludes into something that strikes you as an actual sound track for an unmade movie. Highly experimental without ever becoming cerebral, "Soundtracks" works from the ambiguous emotional source where fear and excitement, love and lust, tears of happiness, and tears of sorrow mingle.


"I had recorded these songs from the last group from last year's tour. And I had a lot of backlog of sound-track-like things, as well as boxes full of sounds, cassette loops and vocal loops from Jarboe, and all these narrative things that we have from very personal sources. And I decided that I wanted to pursue a direction that has sort of intrigued me after the last couple of albums. I made the whole album into a segue feeling, where everything bleeds from one unrelated sound to another," he explained.


"The thing that interested me most about this album - not that I'm not interested in songs - but it's more interesting to me to look at the way one thing works against something else than how they do individually. So it's a process of listening to how it feels, what the experience is like going from something that is incredibly intense to something very gentle. Those juxtapositions interest me more than the things themselves."


Once the tour is completed, Gira intends to release a summary set of Swans music in Double-CD sets, putting only the best of the band's work into an accessible package for present and future fans. In addition, his label will issue experimental soundscapes by Gira under the name Body Lovers and another project of what Gira calls "long narrative songs" as the Angels of Light.


The re-issues and the new projects will continue to sustain both Gira's voracious artistic appetite as well as reward those lucky enough to seek out his work or lucky enough to stumble upon it.


And as the Swans legacy fades into history, Gira can look back and see he did what he set out to do.


"I never had an aim except to make music, not to convince people of anything. I just had certain sounds I wanted to hear. I made them. Certain sounds, certain ways of performing them that would cause a certain experience to occur, in myself and/or the listener. And I made those things happen."


This page overseen by M.Gira and administered by SERENTA for YGR

   SWANS (Official)'s Friend Space (Randomized)
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SWANS (Official)'s Friends Comments
Displaying 25 of 1730 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
ENZO PLATFORM

ENZO PLATFORM



Nov 27 2009 10:21 PM

The second reference [enz-002], EnzoPlatform comes from the hand of
Waterfall, a young future promise of the Mexican music.From City of Mexico, 
where he was bord, Javier has managed to inspire by electronic environmental 
melodies by this relese called like waterfull.


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Thanks so much for the support. Hope you enjoy  with us and grow together with future colaboration. 

Alnitak

Alnitak



Nov 27 2009 8:53 PM

Merci:)

don't hesitate to spread the ElektroVoodooRock virus


KALI-GULA

KALI-GULA



Nov 27 2009 12:00 PM

Hell-o!

Here comes A CRUCIAL POINT, time for CHANGES! 

New QUALITY, new LOOK, new SOUND
Mini album titled CRUCIAL POINT at the new scene of our profile.
Listen to the entire album!

We invite you to listen and encourage you to comment!



Kali-Gula




V-ATAK

V-ATAK



Nov 27 2009 11:24 AM

Hello!

We proudly present our last short movie shooted and directed by the Vidio.Atak!

An army of beauties, crazy druid, strong males, head-banging transvestites, bizarre drug, sexy princess and a big buckett of blood for a shamanic rock’n'roll ceremony hidden behind a free-fight competition leads to massacre.



here is a Vimeo version:


Enjoy!

Robin for V-Atak
Rádio Morto

Rádio Morto
Online Now!


Nov 27 2009 12:02 AM

The world is a better place with Swans in it, that's for sure...
Thanx!
Marbre Negre (music label)

Marbre Negre (music label)



Nov 26 2009 7:15 PM

Photobucket
Photobucket
Since 1979

Since 1979



Nov 26 2009 2:44 AM


 






ENZO PLATFORM

ENZO PLATFORM



Nov 25 2009 4:21 PM

The second reference [enz-002], EnzoPlatform comes from the hand of
Waterfall, a young future promise of the Mexican music.From City of Mexico, 
where he was bord, Javier has managed to inspire by electronic environmental 
melodies by this relese called like waterfull.


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Thanks so much for the support. Hope you enjoy  with us and grow together with future colaboration. 

The Danny Phantoms

The Danny Phantoms



Nov 24 2009 11:37 PM

wow this music is so intense, ill get a hold of more somehow
Rádio Morto

Rádio Morto
Online Now!


Nov 23 2009 10:06 PM

I love your music! thanx!
Gamazumi

Gamazumi



Nov 23 2009 8:57 AM

Thanks for the add!
Greetings from Japan.
Noise Mortanna

Noise Mortanna



Nov 21 2009 4:47 PM

New songs from my newly released albums [ To End it All, Split with Dmah ] are up in my profile.
Check em out and let me know your opinion.
Thanks, have a great day.
Maria

Sesame Ellis



Nov 21 2009 3:01 PM

Good Morning,

I just stopped by for a visit and to say "HI".



CHEZALE

CHEZALE



Nov 20 2009 11:53 PM

Thank you
Ranter’s bay

Ranter’s bay



Nov 20 2009 8:32 PM

hi...thanx for the add...

..love your work!
MONSTERPALOOZA

Eliot Brodsky



Nov 20 2009 6:54 PM


THE MONSTER EVENT OF THE DECADE!!

VERNE LANGDON -MONSTER OF CEREMONIES
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD CAST !!!!
Allen Trautman -(TarMan) Beverly Randolph (Tina) Don Calfa - (Ernie)
Brian Peck (Scuz) John Philbin (Chuck) Thom Mathews ( Freddy )
Tony Gardner -Makeup Artist ROTLD,Zombieland and many more
AWARD WINNING FX ARTISTS DISPLAYING AND SELLING!!
200 venders!!! MONSTER MUSEUM !!! Presentations!!!!!
For more info: www.therubberroom101.com
retro grad

retro grad
Online Now!


Nov 20 2009 2:37 PM

check out my new song the great lightness.
Alien999

Alien999



Nov 20 2009 12:22 AM

just a little birthdaypresent and tribut to my 20 years old DR 550 MKII ;)
myspace.com/alien999
x-samples: myspace.com/alien999, myspace.com/alien999projekt, myspace.com/weepingangelsrapport, myspace.com/war91bis95.. etc..
hey, my FRIEND.. remember Frankfurt in the 90s....(batschkap)
we talked for long time after concert,
you invitetd me and my band to come with you all into your hotelroom for session..
.. .your words and "i wish you good luck" had been a something very special for us! .. ;)...
it had been great to meet and talk to you !!!!
(sorry for my brother... he was in an bad mute.. too many problems.. like me tooo ;(  )
NÜKLEAR FEAR(new songs posted)

NÜKLEAR FEAR(new songs posted)



Nov 19 2009 4:52 AM

HEY WE GOT NEW SONGS
STRAIGHT FROM THE E.P.
CHECK THAT SHIT OUT!!!!!!!!
fragment king

fragment king



Nov 18 2009 6:39 PM


JACK DUPON

JACK DUPON



Nov 18 2009 2:49 PM

Hi,
If you live in New York or the surroundings you can help the French band Jack Dupon by contacting Dave Roberge from Transit Music Group.
Here to comment : www.myspace.com/transitmusicgroup
Here for an e-mail : transitmusic2@aol.com
And tell him, Yes we want Jack Dupon for a United-States-Tour in 2010.
Thanks and greetings from France......
Filthy Charity

Filthy Charity



Nov 18 2009 11:02 AM





Halo Manash

Halo Manash



Nov 18 2009 7:53 AM

Out now: Halo Manash 'Taiwaskivi', CD + DVD!

As winter hibernation and spring awakening gives way to summer, Halo Manash rises radiant into luminosity, with wings spread into all worlds, and brings forth Taiwaskivi, an opulent work of solar ambience and primordial Ur-music.

Taiwaskivi, a work of sonic flame and aural ash, consists of seven interrelated tracks, utilizing such diverse instrumentation as organ, horns, vocals, drums, gongs, percussions and various string instruments as well as field-recordings captured during the pilgrimage that the creation of the work embodies.

An air of finality abounds, as Taiwaskivi, although a complete work in itself, can also be viewed as the third and final facet of a tripartite series of works that are part of one holistic creation – a treelogy, with seed, root, trunk and finally, branches. Being the culmination of an ascending journey through the aforementioned realms within and without, Taiwaskivi is the celestial crown at the peak, reaching toward Sol, source and beyond; it is the leaves and fruit of the branches and their skybound nectar ever-flowing - the sacred fire, the consummation and conjunction of All.

Comes in a hand finished cardboard booklet. Two different editions are available; regular CD edition and CD + DVD with inserts. Both are limited to 500 copies.

For more information visit:
www.auralhypnox.com

Sticky Monkey

Sticky Monkey



Nov 17 2009 11:44 PM

Hey!





Download My Debut Album "Ultraturquoise" FOR FREE here:





http://www.divshare.com/download/8419719-9ea





Thank You So Much For Your Support





Oh, And Feel Free Tell Me Your Opinion No Matter If It's Negative Or Positive! I Need Your Opinion!





Cheers!
Julia Dürer

Julia Dürer



Nov 17 2009 3:22 PM


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