Gira & Cyrus

I listened to the Swans new 2 hour epic album last week To Be Kind. Initial response is its not as good as The Seer their previous 2 hour opus but still plenty of laughs to be had. Some epic journeys into sound ie the 34 minute Bring The Sun/Toussaint l'ouverture really brings the noise and is worth the price of admission alone. I even thought a bit of (proto)grunge was creepin in on one or two tracks, you know, like Helmet-esque riffs and Scratch Acid type of cacophony. Sure those groups were probably influenced by the Swans. Anyway those particular trax just didn't seem as classy as Swans of old. Actually in my wife's car the other day Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus came on the radio and gave me the same kind of sonic pummelling thrills I expect of Swans. Does this render Gira and crew redundant? Strange days indeed!

Swans - The Seer

This convalescing thing does have its upsides. I may end up in The Guinness Book Of World Records for being the first and only person in the world to have listened to the Swans Triple LP from start to finish in one sitting. Twice! Of course post op pharmaceuticals don't hinder this kind of behaviour. The Seer goes for 1 hour and 55 minutes. So it was great to finally get to grips with the record as a whole. Instead of listening to snippets while out walking, on the tram etc. I wasn't even going to attempt a review or whatever this is because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Anyway fuck me what an epic it is in all senses of the word. It should be listened to as a whole. It makes more sense and really is how it is supposed to be listened to. People sit in a cinema for 2 hours to watch a film. Why can't we do the same with triple LPs. Now I wouldn't be saying any of this if it wasn't any good. Believe me it's up there with their other epics like Children Of God,  Soundtracks for the Blind etc. The previous LP was ok but that was just a warm up for the true power and brilliance of this magnificent ensemble's new masterpiece. There is less singing, perhaps his voice isn't what it used to be but it's still pretty darn strong, intimidating and powerful. Gira is also doing new things with his vocals. Swans could be the best reactivated band ever. 30 or so years on they are at some kind of unexpected peak. The instrumental passages which really make up most of the album are incredible, sometimes dark at others beautiful. There is psychedelia, repetition, electronics, noise, menace, prog, No Wave remnants and light but what we most want is that Swans intensity we all know and love. There's plenty of that too. It wouldn't be a Swans record without absurdity, perversity, experiments, hilarity and some going OTT. This is impeccable orchestrated noise of the highest order. My only qualm, and that's impressive for a triple LP, is Karen O(h no), why not Jarboe? I can always skip that track. Jarboe does however feature on many tracks. This is a real band effort and they are in rude form. This is unmistakably the Swans the same yet different.

Like the previous post about Mr Scott Walker I love how Mr Gira is still fearless and uncompromising. He's not getting soft or complacent in his old age. That's what your bores and Bobs are for. Still experimenting and lookin' for intense kicks. Gira's Laurels are in an envelope outside the boundaries reaching new edges.

Mick was always fond of a hat even when they weren't cool.
Looks like a fun party.

RE: Swans

Funnily enough playing at Melbourne's ATP heritage/vintage rock festival alongside the reactivated Swans are a band made up some people who were paying very close attention to Swans in thier final days and copped most of their moves from them in this era, Godspeed You Black Emperor! Do they still exist? or are they a vintage act too? It might get a little awkward around Mr Gira .Godspeed's first couple of records were good until that Skinny Fists one and the one after that I couldn't dig either of those at all and then well I lost track of them. They're probably sepulchral as well.

Anyway the dude from Snog is one David Thrussel and is an interesting guy. His radio show had it all Country and Western, Spaghetti Westerns, Soundtracks, electronic music, conspiracy theory and much more. In recent times he's been running the fabulous reissue label The Omni Recording Corporation. They've put out some good gear including Jack & Misty compilations as well as a series of Moog masterpieces including Bruce Haack's classic The Electric Lucifer and Gil Trythall's Country Moog: Switched On Nashville and many other rippers. Well worth checkin out the catalogue, long lost gems everywhere.



Like Nancy & Lee with wah wah and Moog.
One of my favourite discoveries of the last 10 years.
Recorded between 1967 & 1973.



Swans

Mick & Jarboe back in 94 waitin to be hip again, only
15 years to wait.

 Seeing Swans without Jarboe to me would be like seeing The Mac without either Buckingham or Nicks (well Nicks really) Wasn't she integral? She was to me & I loved Swans right up to Soundtracks for the Blind, you know when no one else was listening to them anymore except that dude from Snog who used to have a fuckin great show on PBS. So their resurgence has been quite baffling to me. People my age who'd never heard of 'em/couldn't have cared less about them back in the 80/90s all of a sudden knowing about Swans in the 2010s is a bit weird....... the younger ones I can understand...... anyway whatever the internet makes everyone an instant expert these days and eventually we'll all have the knowledge of the world inserted into our brains and we'll probably have a choice of whose opinions we'd like as well. Soundtracks For The Blind is probs my equal fave LP of theirs along with Children of God. Apparently Jarboe did some backing vocals on a couple of tracks on the new record but she's hardly rejoined the band.

Miserable/Funny Songwriters

I was going to bang on about New Zealand music and why the 80s to about 91-92 were a golden era etc. and not just the popular Flying Nun bands but the weirder ones plus xpressway etc.  Another time perhaps or maybe look elsewhere on the net for such information.  I remember a pretty good article on Flying Nun at the Stylus Website. There is also a good doco on the youtubes about Flying Nun Records.  Popwatch fanzine once had a terrific piece on the xpressway label. 

I was thinkin' about funny singers and songwriters.  It used to be, people would say 'Nick Cave was a bit dour.' and not see the funny side in the 80s into 90s, but now he's almost a fully fledged comedian so people are comin' round to the idea.  There also used to be "How can you listen to The Smiths? They just moan!" Of course as soon as anyone said this you knew that they hadn't truly listened to the band.  Morrissey was fucking hilarious!  Those Smiths albums still make me laugh.  Leonard Cohen too, what a laugh he was. Then there was the more obvious funny dudes like Robert Forster, Mark E Smith and Dave Graney. As well as hardcore like Flipper and Angry Samoans.

I had another category as well where it all seemed so serious surely they were havin' a laugh.  Maybe they were, maybe they weren't.  It didn't matter to me I thought they were a laugh a minute.  First example being Swans.  The darkness, the impotence, the serious delivery, the sickness etc. what a hoot!  Michael Gira possibly the funniest man on the planet.  Jarboe a bit funny too.  Joy Division were funny.  Add in Ian Curtis's dancing you got yourself a good time.  Primitive Calculators were great fun to me and my little sister when I was in my early teens.  Still one of the good time bands for me.  It turns out in recent interviews that indeed they had great senses of humour.  Einsturzende Neubauten with their crumbling architecture, wanting the world to end, the harshness, the screaming the mental illness etc. all good comedy fare.  Liabach, pretty funny as well.  Rollins too but I had to love the music as well so I don't know if he counts.

Funny songwriter or just a funny guy?

Anyway the whole reason I was thinkin' about this was because I was listening to The Drones for the first time in years and wondering where Gareth Liddiard fitted into this.  Sure on the telly he's a funny guy (RockQuiz a couple of times) but do I find his songs funny? I'm still not sure.  Steve Kilbey a recently hilarious dude was something nobody saw coming, well not from The Church's music anyway.  He might have always been a private card but I like the idea of him flowering late with his comedic prowess.  Gettin' loose in his old age.

Maybe all of this says more about me than anything else. Who knows?  Any thoughts out there ?


**That's a great painting of Gareth Liddiard (from The Drones)  from last years Archibald Prize Exhibition, which I managed to catch in The Yarra Valley.  That painting was also one of the strongest in the competition.