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.

First off, loads of Swans and Michael Gira is in the general rotation mix at Radio Hydrogen which streams ’round the clock.

And here are some videos:

While you’re at it, you might want to have a look at solo work from Michael Gira and his work with Angels of Light, which followed Swans.

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.)

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.

I got to the show early enough to see Bitter Ruin, who were phenomenal. I had that uneasy initial moment where I wasn’t sure whether I loved them or hated them and that’s the very reaction I know is going to result in a long time love and respect for an act. If I like something too quickly, chances are it’s a brief love affair that burns out pretty quickly. Every artist I truly love has hit me wrong at first and that says a lot about the way I love. And that’s another story for another site. Bitter Ruin are an extremely talented duo, completely unashamed and unhindered onstage, Ben’s bang-on guitar bumped up against flamenco and Argentine tango, depending on the song, and given the fact that those are two of my all time favourite music genres, he was always going to get under my skin. Then there was Georgia. What a set of lungs on this small, beautiful woman. She had the kind of voice you wouldn’t necessarily need to mic, pure power and rich, pitch-perfect tone, but then when she got angelic, chills happened. Actual gooseflesh. THEN BEN SANG. Curse your beautiful hides, Bitter Ruin. I’m hooked. Though the sound was incredible at Koko, Georgia said she had a sore throat and wasn’t at her best. (I’m having a little trouble imagining full force Bitter Ruin if that was not 100%.) This will give you some idea.

I don’t care if you have to miss a meal, buy their CD. Do not fail yourself.

Ahem. Now, if you like Robots in Disguise, you probably know they have a new single out called Wake Up. This is the video for it.

They wore the same outfits, I want you to know. I want you to know that because the cuteness was reaching Japanese levels. However, they performed acoustic and while I did adore Ann(e)’s acoustic hand drumming, it didn’t quiiiite work. It’s inexplicable, really. They were on tune, played their guitar and bass just fine, but they sounded less like Robots in Disguise and more like X-Ray Spex. That shouldn’t be too much of an insult to them if my radar is still correct, but the reason I like Robots in Disguise is because it sounds like the Wake Up video looks. It’s quirky, adorable electronic pop that transcends the pop charts and makes you want it like an imported t-shirt with a sugar sweet round eyed animal on it, even if it does cost £45. Stripped of the synths and insane atmospherics, it kinda missed the mark. I haven’t lost a shred of respect for them, though. In fact, Sue Denim’s Twitter implied that she learned they were playing the show only a scant few hours before they were on stage. So, unrehearsed, breakneck speed set and the new single played twice (for the latecomers?), it was still worth seeing.

Then. Melissa Auf Der Maur. I can’t even … Hang on. I need to compose myself.

Right, so Melissa, as you may or may not know, was once a bass player for Hole. I have to say, despite the music industry shit MADM has endured to get her independence, I hope she doesn’t regret the path she’s taken to get to make this kind of music. It’s still desperately underrated music but it’s totally original. She’s heavy rock without resorting to screaming or growling, letting her voice drift over the leaden bass and the driving sound her band makes. Now, they played this gig acoustic after five sleepless days and nights WALKING AND HITCH HIKING to London from Helsinki, on borrowed equipment from Robots in Disguise, and having played a rushed gig at the Jazz Cafe the night before to make up for their cancelled Cargo show. (See: #fucktheashcloud.) Even acoustic, you could get the power here and though the wall of sound was rather missing and the sound guy was left with no choice but to put her vocals forefront when they’re normally woven in and our of the music, bodies were swaying. She won over a crowd that probably had 5% overlap at best and the applause-o-meter gave a good level of how many new purchases she’s going to see. I HOPE. (Buy her music, you pirates. She’s totally indie. AND MADE OF ROCK.) A taster:

Then Amanda. She’d been making little appearances all night, each time a little more stage-ready in terms of clothing and makeup, introducing acts, telling the tales that led them to this gig, asking the audience for a 9 volt battery, letting us know the status of the patchy webcast connection and so forth, and she was always totally at ease, charming, funny, and you could sense her purposefulness and assertiveness as well as her humour. This was sort of the impression I had of Amanda Palmer all along and had this been the impression I’d left with, it would have been a good show. However, when she claw fingered her keyboard and opened her mouth to sing, my opinion changed somewhat.

Amanda Fucking Palmer is a rockstar.

Okay, you AFP fans knew that but I really had no way of knowing this until I got into a building and within earshot of her gigantic balls of rock. Even when she fucked up the lyrics, restarted songs with a laugh and some blue streaks, totally missed entire chords or indeed verses, I DID NOT CARE. And neither did anyone else in the crowd. She had us all from jump and we were all rapt, all eyes forward, letting themselves be pulled along the AFP highway, laughing in all the right places, screaming and clapping their hands raw in other places, reacting as though it was a private audience with each cluster of people that had gone together, or each person there alone. The level of intimacy she raises with her audience never falters and is never shattered. She makes every person feel like they’re in on the joke, part of the family, a necessary component for the total output, not just the receptors. She’s ablaze with show business in the truest, most important sense and she’s got that all but inexplicable element you find in people like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Thom Yorke and yes, Lady Gaga. Show fucking business. Rock stars. Legends well before they hit the dirt. That’s what I mean. That she doesn’t make the kind of music or play the kind of game you need to in order to be scooped up and ass raped by a major label may prevent the mansion life but it lets her make her own money (especially having been recently liberated from her indie label contract) and above all, allows her to do exactly the kind of music she wants/needs to make and throw herself around the world, staying with people she’s never met, interfacing on a real level, getting participation in her shows on every conceivable level, which fosters the kind of love and loyalty you don’t get when you’re being whisked off in a limo.

Amanda Palmer live at Koko, London 22/04/10 by Dead By Sunrise photography

I don’t know how to begin to cover the little moments of magic in the show. You can pretty much watch any YouTube video of her performing live and get an idea of some of the kind of engaging moments you’ll get from her on any given night, but it seems more important for this blog for me to try to cover how, by virtue of her performance, she can transform anyone with a healthy level of respect for her into someone who understands what all the fuss is about, and actually thinks it’s not enough. I will, however, make special note of a few moments: Jason Webley made an appearance “from the airplane” and sang and played guitar and accordion on each of two tracks, with which Amanda sang along. These were Evelyn Evelyn songs and the harmonies were flawless. At the end of the night, after the encores and performances with Georgia and Ben of Bitter Ruin and a smashing cover of I Would For You by Jane’s Addiction with Melissa Auf Der Maur on lowwwww acoustic bass, she led a Sex Pistols karaoke of Anarchy in the UK complete with words on a giant screen and a stage full of pogoing audience members.

Amanda has got a sort of honesty box thing going on with her new single on her website, which is her first release without a label. You can download it for free, and then pay what you think it’s worth. She said during the intro before she played it live that she thought that was the way forward. If that’s the case, and I hope it is, then only the artists who are as talented, engaging and impressive as her will be able to make a living at it and the rest will fade into obscurity.

A footnote: Amanda’s husband-to-be, Neil Gaiman, was at the show. I’ve been a fan of his work for (gulp) twenty years now, and a fan of his since the first time I met him about five years after I discovered him. He’s always been truly gracious, gentle, attentive, patient and he’s always put his fans at ease and made them feel valuable. I’ve seen this in action from the point of view of someone interviewing him, from the point of view of a fan who’s waited for ages, and from the point of view of someone going to cons for professional reasons, working with some of his colleagues. He’s never, ever faltered and he still hasn’t. He stayed with Amanda after everyone had gone and signed things for fans until the last of us was gone. I gave him one of the dolls I’d made, with a hand drawn tag, and he was incredibly sweet about it I was actually rendered speechless. I could barely ask him to sign a tag, and by the time I got in front of Amanda, I hadn’t recovered, so I said nothing. I’d put all of my contact details on the tag, in this fit of self-assurance and the opportunity for the kind of self-promotion necessary to make a go of anything in the arts. Today, however, I feel a bit skeezy about it because it’s so contrary to my nature it’s unreal. I made mention of trying to self-fund surgery (ugh, I do not want to talk about that) and that almost made it worse. I know I’ve got to carry on like that but I wish it hadn’t been with something I’d placed in the hands of someone I’ve admired for so long and someone who’d turned a switch in me during her performance that very night. A purer gift would have been closer to the mark, but I can’t undo it now. I hope the doll made them smile at least.

To sum up: These are independent artists I’ve just talked about, some more starving than others, but all in need of continued support to be able to do the things they do. Please do buy their music legitimately, especially those doing self released work. Here are your sources. Follow these links to their other spaces and faces and tweets.

Bitter Ruin: http://bitterruin.com/
Robots In Disguise: http://www.robotsindisguise.co.uk/
Melissa Auf Der Maur: http://xmadmx.com/
Amanda Fucking Palmer: http://www.amandapalmer.net/

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.