Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
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“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
That's actually one of the most eloquent descriptions I've heard of Swans' musical effect! Kudos!
Re: "liking" early Swans. It was mostly about sonic extremes with incentives of stageing an experience of discomfort through the conjunction of violent sound, tormenting verbal messages (as in "vocals") and that incendiary atmosphere arising from their very audio presence. Filth remains one of the dirtiest and nastiest debut albums of all time, precisely because there were NO redeeming efforts at communication of subtle impressions - this was sheer brutalist art in the form of "rock music essence" and thus a show of force. Ugly, disturbing and ultimately unforgettable. I don't listen to it very often, but when I do I get in a particular mood (or I'm indeed seeking to soothe an already existing mood by putting it on) - and it's neither "good" nor "bad", it's just meditative and, uh, quite Zen. Of course, by the time of World of Skin or The Burning World and Love of Life etc., Gira's musical delivery had gone from meditative to highly contemplative - a tune like "Failure" very much illustrating this.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Well, the question was posed on a Prog Rock website. Far more people here listen to (and would prefer to listen to) Genesis and Yes than Swans. I have asked questions on this site about bands like Swans and Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth and Minutemen and a whole bunch of other stuff that isn't Prog in any kind of way. I wouldn't expect the guys who really dig just classic prog and classic rock in general to dig any of those bands. I know this is Prog Rock site (in the Genesis/Yes definition of it) but with a bunch of guys like you, Kavus, Chalkpie (Frank), NogbadThebad (Ian) and--well, too many to name--who know more about music than I and can help me sort some of these bands out. Like you say:
And that makes this site a great resource.There's still a whole damn LOT to be learned about rock music - for each and every one of us.
What I love about PE is I can have a conversation about Big Big Train (whom I never would've discovered without this site) in one thread with one group of people and a conversation about Cardiacs (whom I never would've discovered without this site) with a bunch of other folks. Man, it's all just music to me at the end of the day (which is a statement I've heard in these types of threads many times), and I don't really care how it's defined.
Bob might've not heard the tender side of Swans. Maybe post some vids for him? This one kills me every time especially as I know the destruction that is coming in right behind it:
Cheers and thanks for turning me (and others) onto a lot of really cool music!
I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.
I don't want to get into an "is this prog" argument, but the reason I found about this album in the first place was (as I mentioned in the original post), if you type in 2014 ratings for "progressive rock" on Rate Your Music ( http://rateyourmusic.com/ ) "To Be Kind" has the #1 rating for the year. Some people obviously consider this to be a prog rock release.
Well, what do I know? Prog Rock it is!
(It is, though, a great album whatever it's called, and if you get a chance, go see them live. I'm so glad I did last summer!)
I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
Swans are birds and birds are really dinosaurs. Fact!
"In My Garden" (from the Children of God album) is a fantastic, tranquil tune. Unfortunately, when you look for it on youtube you get:
"Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."
One reporter's opinion:
Ten Great Songs by Swans 2.0
"Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."
Definitely not Prog, but too eclectic to be comfortably called noise rock or post rock either. They have many softer songs also.
A great band and Incredible live (and really REALLY FUCKING LOUD!!!). Gira is way more intense than a 60 year old should be the mad bastard.
The early 'phase' is hard going for sure, there's still some of it that makes me want to put my head through the wall (ie: Cop). I don't think there's even riffs on the early records, but as works of sheer oppressive ugliness they hit the mark.
'White Light' might be my 3rd favourite after the oft mentioned 'Soundtracks' and 'The Seer' and it's more accessible if anything by them can be labelled thus. There's some really beautiful heavy shoegaze type stuff on that one (and to a lesser extent, 'Love of Life')
It's a weird one. Some good stuff and yet much of it almost sounds like a typical alt-rock band, which in Swans world makes it even more alarming.Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor
Oxygen from 'To Be Kind' was probably my favourite track from last year.
Like it or not, a band name is your first impression and it will have an effect. How many people admit they have never bothered with a band called "Snarky Puppy" because it just sounds like some kind of punk band? That's reality.
I have got to the stage where I have an inbuilt bias against any band whose name starts with 'M', and the onus is on them to prove me wrong.
Having said that, the 'M' section of my CD collection is quite large, but a good fraction of that is Joni Mitchell.
The first time I saw mention of Snarky Puppy, I thought someone was just intentionally mangling the name Skinny Puppy.
I would agree with that.
But the brilliance of the band name in question here is the lack of definite article; they're simply named Swans - a symbol of which the blackened "eyemask" constitutes its foremost component in most mythology, this because blackened eyes can not be read and therefore blur all purported insights to the soul.
Harper Lee's upcoming book is a topic in global news media this week, and that got me thinking about an incident in which a friend of mine who's a former highschool teacher was met with laughter on presenting his pupils with To Kill a Mockingbird - this because 15-year old dudes weren't interested in reading and DEFINITELY not about mockingbirds and/or why these shouldn't be killed. However, the serious wonder arose when he tried explaining some of the main narrative of the text and was confronted with the seemingly impossible task of "justifying" its title.
Last edited by Scrotum Scissor; 04-16-2015 at 04:00 PM.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
That's funny, because I think the "M" is the both the strongest letter in my music collection as well as the most diverse and most representative of my musical taste. Heh - that almost sounds like it should be its own thread: "What is the strongest letter in your musical collection?"
Without actually doing a count, I think the best represented letters in my collection would be 'G' (because of Genesis), 'M' (Joni, Midnight Oil and Midnight Juggernauts & others) and 'P' (Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree).
Can't beat Z in my house, just because Zappa and Zorn have such huge catalogs.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Billy? Is that You?
It would be T for me with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Animals, ...
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
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