Swans / Angels of Light
 

Yeah, I didn't really know where to put this especially since this covers a whole lot of styles, from avant-garde to broootal metal to folk, but I end up putting most of my threads here so I figured what the hell.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s35061.jpg

So, these are two pretty different bands but they're both headed up by Michael Gira and they're both absolutely amazing. Angels of Light is dark dark folky music with a touch of electronics sprinkled in. Very dark and melancholy, but absolutely beautiful. Their album "How I Loved You" is absolutely amazing.

www.myspace.com/theangelsoflight

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/albu...es/s107081.jpg

Swans are a very interesting band. They came before Angels of Light and were the brainchild of Gira and Jarboe, his female compatriot. They crawled out of the murky depths of the NYC no wave scene to create some heavy noise rock with hints of industrial, only to expand their sound to include ethereal dirges and eventually moving completely into the realm of the avant-garde.

www.myspace.com/swansarealive

So yeah, two absolutely amazing bands that everyone must check out. I can upload Swans' Children of God, Soundtracks for the Blind, or Filth, and for Angels of Light I can do How I Loved You or their split with Akron/Family, which is pretty great on both ends. If anyone's interested, that is.

nice.

If youre into the more doomy, noisyness of Swans id recommend a band called The Angelic Process.. awesome stuff.

Can you up that Angels of Light album I've been looking for it.

can you up that band? Or do I have to go to a store and pay for that album? Cause I really don't want to do that considering I bought 7 cds today.

Angels of Light - How I Loved You
hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=JULKIX0K

Love the Angels.. Everything and How I Loved You and New Mother are all great.

god god god god god I loooooovvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeee the angels of light. Their split with akron family is one of the best cds I've ever heard.

Cant im afraid, my comp cant handle it and the link i was going to put up is dead..

Wait until their new album is released then buy it on double 12" :D
www.myspace.com/theangelicprocess

The Swans early work was punishing as hell. Very heavy beats. Theres a two CD set called Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money which has a lot of this early material on it, like the Cop album and the Raping A Slave EP.

Good stuff and a baptism of fire for people wanting to get into noise rock. Forget about all the Black Sabbath comparisons by the way cause theyre completely misleading.

The Swans had a definite influence on a lot of U.K post hardcore bands especially GODFLESH. The Swans were definitely ahead of their time-I have their first two-COP/YOUNG GOD-i can upload if anyone wants?

Cheers for the heads up on THE ANGELS OF LIGHT-look forward to checking them out.

Children of God is a great album. I've been meaning to listen to their earlier albums, so an upload would be awesome jackhammer.

Angels of Light is downloading now, thank ye.

White lies-have never uploaded before, but i'm on it so give it a day or so and it will be done!

Angels Of light-gorgeous-much appreciated!

I've never gotten around to checking out Angels of Light, but I'm a huge Swans fan. I'm especially fond of the album "Love of Life".

Anyone here ever check out M. Gira's Drainland album? It's kind of hit-or-miss but the good songs are really freaking good.

Swans are bitchin'. I can only listen to them so often though.

Uploaded COP-YOUNG GOD part 1-the other is on the way!

Listen to Throbing Gristle.

me like dem industrial muziks

Swans
 

Anyone else dig this band? I think they are truly the most unique sounding band of the past 20 years. No one else sounded like them. Not even close.


Albums everyone should get if interested:

Soundtracks for the Blind
The Great Annihilator
Love of Life
White Light From the Mouth of Infinity


All four albums are brilliant.

If any of you are looking for something different and hypnotic, these guys are definitely the way to go.

The Sound is one of the most epic and overlooked songs in rock history. Man that song is just astonishingly great.

Becoming one of my ultimate favourite bands, are the Swans.

I'm enamoured with two of their albums just now - Filth and Sountracks for the Blind.

Filth is just BRUTAL - noisy and heavy as, i love it.

Soundtracks is a two disc album, it's alot more contained in its sound but still retains the really dark and sinister themes... some noisy tracks, some really weird tracks (like Volcano - a borderline dance track! I actually checked to see there wasnt a popup playing music when this one came on).

Can't wait to discover their other albums I've not heard, then I'm gonna move onto Angels of Light / Gira solo.

I will still never forget the first time I heard The Swans. I thought Death metal was brutal and then A friend introduced the band to me (about '92 on a night shift at work) and my jaw hit the god damn floor:

I've been meaning to listen to the Swans for a while now. Any particular album I should start out with?

Swans are one of my two all time favorite bands. I would recommend "Children of God" (1988) first, because that album still has that slow, heavy, rhythmic sound of their earlier albums, but also paves the way for the more melodic, sprawled, classically beautiful music of their later phase. "Soundtracks for the Blind" (1996) is brilliant as their last album, ending a great career as a kind of a symbolic swan song. It's also their most beautiful album.

But, if you're more interested in an extremely dark, noisy and hypnotic sound "Children of God" will lead you to "Greed" (1985), "Holy Money" (1986), "Cop" (1984) and "Filth" (1983) as their noisiest and angriest album.

If I have too choose, my personal favorite would be SKIN-Shame,Humility,Revenge (1988).

The Skin/World of Skins side-project with Gira and Jarboe is freaking awesome as well. I have not, however, been able to get my hands on Ten Songs From Another World. Anyone have it?

Not long now for the new record (i know it's been leaked but i'm waiting to buy it) and the start of the tour . The early reviews i've seen (Uncut ,Mojo) have been good , both 4 out of 5 star . There's a couple of recent Gira interviews knocking about the net that i tried to link but can't 'cos of the 15 post rule or summat, but check out the New York Times music section and "The Quietus" site if you're interested.
Can't wait for this, it's been a long wait.

I have been listening to it a bit (*cough*) and can say that if you're expecting another Swans-album you'll be disappointed. If you are, however, expecting an Angels of Light-album you'll definately be satisfied.

^I think it's a true Swans album with an Angels of Light experience.

I constantly listen to ''Children Of God'' and ''Soundtracks For The Blind''. Sometimes I have to take it easy though...the brutal tone makes me queasy sometimes, lol.

yeah i've been listening to it quite a bit also....and it really has a feel of Angels of Light release...especially what they did with 'We Are Him'....so a bit of continuation in Gira lyrical process.....but at the same time Norm makes his presence known....and at times shows a glimpse of some of the hardest Swans pummeling....although not for the same length....personally i am having a bit of a love hate relationship with the album at the moment...i am almost positive this will change next month when i see them

i agree with Children of God....and can really get to me at times....but Soundtracks for the Blind....is almost a welcome beating

Right had a good few listens to the new lp and gotta say i'm well impressed . Heavy enough at times to be like latter day Swans but mixed in with some A.O.L elements . And that'll do me . Good stuff .
First live show tonight in Philly . Anyone going ? Tell us what it was like tomorrow will you . Seeing 'em in Manchester in a few weeks and can't wait . Get the feeling from Giras interviews that the live experince is going to pretty 'intense'.

I like The Great Annihilator and the Neurosis+Jarboe album. Didn't like any of the other Swans albums much.

Anyone seen 'em yet then ? Going next saturday in Manchester . Got a real hard on for this now , I wanna be pummelled with sound ! Ok, i'm not expected it to be like the old, old days but i gather its still going to be something pretty special from what i've heard.

Can't speak for before; I was little when they were around before. But I can say it was ****ing amazing, I don't know that it really could have been much better in the old days. Really they just make enough noise to burst your eardrums and it is absolutely fantastic.

SWANS were great last night in M/CR . Really awesome . Best gig in a looooong time . Quite amazing.

Never before have I heard such beauty and rage in a band.

Swans
 

I didn't know where to put them. They're no-wave/post-punk and whatnot.
When you're surfing through Sonic Youth's discography, you'll find the urge to explore the no-wave/noise scene. Then you'll get to Swans.
Swans shows would leave fans ill, they were just that heavy. To start, you can pretty much go chronologically. My favorite is Children of God.

From what I have heard, one of the loudest live bands of all. I have had people tell me their ears were bleeding 5 minutes in from how loud they were.

They're yet another band on my list of artists I really need to check out more. Your video and a couple other recommendations have moved them up the list a few spots. I've also heard the stories of their live concerts also. And judging by this cut from their live hayday in the early 80's.... wow.

Skin is also a cool band, love their Stooges cover.


Like this one, stripped down and sinister sounding. Good cover.

Swans are one of my favourite bands. Brutal live band as well, I saw them on their last tour and it was immense.

I tend to prefer their earlier works, but it's all excellent.