Michael Gira formed Swans in 1982 in New York City and had, in his words, “No musical skills whatsoever, just instinct, and a need to make something happen.” Fifteen years later, the Swans were dead.
Swans have been responsible for some of the best live shows I’ve ever seen in my life and there’s a very short list of acts who were on a par. It’s relentless, uncompromising, often terrifying music and you will either love it or hate it, and just when you’ve made up your mind, something utterly beautiful happens and is sustained, with no fists to shatter the calm as you might expect. The albums are stunning enough, but to witness that kind of energy from mortal humans before your eyes pretty much changes your perception that little bit.
In case you missed the announcement, here are some of Michael Gira’s own words about the reactivation of one of the heaviest bands never to throw the devil horn salute from the Young God Records website:
As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, there was a point a few years ago during a particular show when I was on tour with Angels Of Light, with Akron/Family serving as the backing band. It was during the song The Provider. Seth’s guitar was sustaining one open chord (very loudly), rising to a peak, then crashing down again in a rhythm that could have been the equivalent of a deep and soulful act of copulation. The whole band swayed with this arc. Really was like riding waves of sound. I thought right then, “You know, Michael, Swans wasn’t so bad after all…” . Ha ha! It brought back – in a flood – memories, or maybe not memories, more a tangible re-emersion in the sensation of Swans music rushing through my body in waves, lifting me up towards what, I can only assume, will be my only experience of heaven. It’s difficult – and probably pointless – to try to describe this experience. It’s ecstatic, I suppose – a force of simultaneous self negation and rebirth. Really, I probably only experienced this a handful of times to such an extreme extent during the entire 15 year history of Swans. All the elements have to align perfectly, and you can’t force it, though you might constantly strive for it. I don’t mean to be too lofty here, but it’s a fact. I’m talking about my own experience of the music (though I’d hope people in the audiences along the way might have experienced a similar episode). When I ask myself if I believe in God, I start to say NO, but then I remember that sensation, and I’m not so sure. So I want more of that, before my body breaks down to such an extent that it won’t be possible any more. So I’m doing it.
Naturally, some of the material for this new record will be songs, centered around the voice and words. Other parts (I’m hoping) will be reaching for what I’ve described above. One thing I want to point out right now: THIS IS NOT A REUNION. It’s not some dumb-ass nostalgia act. It is not repeating the past. After 5 Angels Of Light albums, I needed a way to move FORWARD, in a new direction, and it just so happens that revivifying the idea of Swans is allowing me to do that. I’ll be using what I learned in the last several years to inform the way this new material develops, while carrying forward from where Swans left off with its final album Soundtracks For The Blind, and in particular, Swans Are Dead. If you have expectations about how Swans should be, that’s your business, but it would be a disservice to both of us if I were to make music with your needs in mind, and the music would certainly suffer as a result. In any event, I certainly never thought this day would arrive, but it’s inevitable, it’s here, it’s fate, so I’m succumbing to it.
Helping me in this quest are the fantastic musicians and friends listed below. I’ll enter the studio with the songs, we’ll hash them out together, someone will come up with something unexpected, then that will lead to new ideas, the song will take a different trajectory and the material will grow on its’ own. This is what I’m hoping, anyway.
Here’s the main musicians (though probably a lot of guests on the recording). These are the people best suited – in terms of my relationship with them and their particular musical attributes – to help move the music forward :
Michael Gira / guitar / voice / mendicant friar act (original swans)
Norman Westberg – guitar (original swans)
Christoph Hahn – guitar (mid period swans and most angels)
Phil Puleo – drums, percussion, dulcimer etc etc (final swans tour and most angels)
Chris Pravdica – bass and gadgets (flux information sciences / services/ gunga din)
Thor Harris – drums, percussion, vibes, dulcimer, curios, keys, etc etc… (angels, now also with shearwater)
I’ve been keeping an eye out for any announcement of live shows but so far, nothing’s bubbled up apart from the headlining spot at the brilliant Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, England. However, for those of you yet unfamiliar with the legendary Swans, now is your chance to bone up and get excited before they get touring again. Don’t expect to dance.
I’m fairly certain this will be allowed to stay up on YouTube, given the fact that it’s been copyright tagged but not taken down (so far), but in case it doesn’t, look up “Food, Inc.” and have a look. It’s being shown on PBS in the US and while I can’t confirm from the UK, it should still be available on their website.
Food, Inc. is a film directed by Robert Kenner and involving investigative journalist/author Eric Schlosser, who wrote the highly impactful books “Fast Food Nation” and “Chew On This“, among others. While it contains a lot of the same information that Schlosser’s books cover, there’s no doubt about the impact that visuals have when you’re telling this kind of story. (Here’s an article about Schlosser from the Times, done ahead of the film’s release.)
I understand that a lot of vegetarians and vegans choose their lifestyle out of disgust for the food industry’s practices and I can relate to that, but as someone who knows the alternatives first hand, having eaten good, healthy food, including meat, at my grandparents’ farm in Argentina, I know that you don’t have to brutalise or mistreat your animals to produce meat and would encourage those who do not choose to omit meat from their diets to seek out meat from a farm that grows ethically and will happily show you where and how the animals are kept and how they’re slaughtered. There are hundreds dotted around the world and you can help support them, honour the animals you’re eating and benefit from healthier food. You’ll pay more for it when you buy the meat, but you’ll save on healthcare and all of the associated costs involved in yo-yo dieting. Besides, you’re laying money down for a piece of meat that came from a living creature. Should it really be as cheap as it is in the supermarket?
I should note that this film isn’t depressing. It does deal with some distressing things and it should make you feel shocked and appalled at those segments, but there are some truly inspiring parts here and it genuinely gives you a way out of what can often seem like a helpless spiral, a life under the control of huge corporations that are engineering your food to keep you on their cheap and nasty programmes. This film will absolutely offer alternatives and give you a realistic starting point to do what you can to change your life and ultimately change the way food is processed across the entire world. While it’s definitely depressing to hear what the problems are, it’s important not to stop there, but to offer alternatives and solutions that you can implement straight away. This film does that perfectly.
Additionally, UK superstar chef Jamie Oliver has been doing things in the US in an attempt to open the eyes of those who control what kind of food goes into the bodies of their families. Very practical, straightforward advice is given. You can sign his online petition on his Food Revolution website and see his fantastic TED Prize wish speech below. (22 minutes long.)
I’m finding it increasingly difficult to get to gigs over the past few years, but this gig was a must-see. Evelyn Evelyn, a pair of conjoined twin sisters performing dark tinged cabaret on a variety of instruments. Their story is engaging, their entire act is something truly original and there is a lot of heart in this act. There are three shows at Bush Hall and they were sold out well before I could scrape up the cash, so I let it go. Then I find out that their performance at Koko is not sold out. I didn’t have a choice not to go, really. Let’s just have a look at them.
Unless you’re in the know here, you may be confused when I say the show didn’t happen because of the volcanic ash coughed up by Eyjafjallajoekull having prevented… one of the twins from performing. I’d been alerted to this fact in advance so I wasn’t in the least bit disappointed when I learnt that Amanda Palmer would be performing instead. In fact, the slightly panicked collection of additional performers to ’round out’ what would have honestly been a great evening even without them made me even more excited to attend what would certainly be a once in a lifetime thing. Great gig to lose your born-again gig virginity on, eh?
I hadn’t seen Amanda Palmer live before, and whilst I enjoyed her music and the way she wrote and her general artistic output, nothing was to prepare me for the full impact of Amanda Fucking Palmer live. Let me digress for a moment to cover the openers.
Switchblade delivery of an exquisite turn of phrase, a passionate problem solver, strength through joy, that voodoo that you do, dangerous curves, raw materials, earned physical exhaustion, mental acrobats, homemade stencils, PIG, Banksy, McQueen, Westwood, Pugh, medical ephemera, a gold tooth, a real tooth, Mr. Ducktail, the old masters, the new bastards, self confidence, self deprecation, back flips from standing, the brutality of boxing, the precision of opera, cold and dry, hot and wet, laconic dears, the real deal, Jared Louche, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Antony, Anna Wildsmith, honest expression, metered response, better sequels, a good vein, real Victorian, criminal elements, underground honour, lunacy and legacy, purity and and impunity, Lady Gaga, Freddie Mercury, Marilyn Manson, moths on the window, butterflies in the stomach, a killer cuppa, pressed coffee, the onset of the outset, grip getting, ink and metal in its various forms, handmade, machine drilled, making a spectacle, Jeunet et Caro, Wes Anderson anyway, Doctor Who, Trans Am radio rock, Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, queens and kings, a full house, a quiet night, a murderous morning, ringing ears, ten steps up and one step down, design, design, design, design and writing comma good.
The film for the glorious McQueen 2010 collection, Directed by David Sims, with music by our friend Raymond Watts and Jon Gosling.
This is a beautiful film. We miss McQueen’s influence on what is too often the most vapid of art attacks, the fashion world. We still won’t give it up, though, and nor should you.
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at Barbican Centre, London
Finches are just generally superb anyway, but give them instruments and they’re Einstuerzende Belew
There’s language and there’s speech. There’s chess and there’s a game of chess.
We’ve moved onto chess.