To all complaining that they're playing just one chord in the middle part: beside the fact that the composition paired with the production is astounding, music is not about the number of melodies in a song, it's about just how intense emotional reaction it can provoke in the people who connect with it. It doesn't matter if the emotion itself is ecstacy, melancholy, tension, fear, or what have you.
Shamans often say one chant over and over to a drum beat that is repeated over and over for hours at a time. You don't hear the tribe bitching and moaning. Instead, they let themselves be overcome by the sound and they go on a spiritual journey.
@@urmumsbaps Well that's like your opinion man. Last time I checked, this noise was filed under the heading of art and thus, by its own decree, is ALWAYS subjective and open to interpretation. Therefore all acceptances as well as criticisms of it are valid. Unfortunately, yours sir, is not. As your basic premise assumes a failure on the part of the listener to "truly understand music", but with art of any kind, that can never be the case.
Dammit!! I bet you`re nowhere near Cornwall either.... else I`d get 20G out `specially for ya/we!!!!! "and a 1/4 houses to come sometime,and a mother to pass away... my dad did lst Apri; and Iv`spunked down to 3G already.....OOps! Yr photo there is exactly `my type` if such a thing----- Once had a 3+yr relationship with sirl look vaguely like you, but blonde....yje glasses too. And that low necjline of yours,,,the things we`d do...but I am over 40, not balding!! Thhe girl I mentioned had a 14yr `age gap` between us.. I`m fantasising now!! In PUBLICK too!!! Ah, fuck em! X
I love Swans more than any other rock band, however I still think it must be hilarious to see them rehearse. Damnit Steve, it's 27 downstroke chords. not 28.
Yeah thats why gira is also conducting the band, cues people in and out or generally just driving the looser parts that are somewhat improvised... i think? No facts, just my impression.
Been a Swans fan since the 80's. Was upset over the break-up in 97 and started following both Gira's post-Swans efforts as well as Jarboe's. Found myself listening more to her output than his. Was not much into Angels Of Light, but I am enjoying the reconstituted SWANS. It's just a shame Jarboe couldn't return. Her output over the last 15 years has been amazing.
i saw Swans last night in Beijing. It was really, really good. Someone asked me today to be a bit more specific and I said it was like being beaten around the temples with a thousand of the most dense hammers possible but they were all made of incredibly heavy velvet. They seemed to understand but I remain unconvinced. It was good.
Not all music has to conform to conventional song writing standards. There is a lot more to music than just catchy hooks, pleasant melodies, and verse-chorus-verse format.
I cant listen to any other band but swans right now, its like an addiction. Its been a week now, I kind of feel isolated compared to my usual daily intake of wide variety of genres. Swans took hold of me strongly, althought I didnt dig em from the beginning, not by a long shot. I am reading Crowley's Diary and it seems very much like I am going through Swans honeymoon. Its fucking great.
+Peter Janoshazi I listened to Swans a lot in 1987 and 1988. I wanted to form a band like them, but all my musician mates were too scared! I am not a satanist.
yevrey Although I am in no way diehard orthodox fanatic, and though I understand you are hurt because your sacred esoteric order of Swans' fans have been intruded by people whose sudden adoration of the group does not correspond to your notion of what it really means to be part of the chosen ones, this does in no way justifies your bitter reproach directed at my honest expression of the highest sympathies towards this exceptional band. Meanwhile, I was lucky enough to attend a live Swans show in Berlin and I will just tell you that my neck was never so dangerously close to a complicated fracture. So stop fucking bitching and if you don't like the way I express myself in words then simply say so directly so you can save yourself from an idiotic misattribution. You have no idea who I am, nor do really I who are you. To be true, nobody really knows who he is. So what's the point of this, you tell me.
in 1980 a female dj played a swans song on the radio, i called her and asked her who is the Band? she said swans, my life has never been the same since i heard that song! love this band sonic swans!!
more people in younger generations need to hear these guys. ...being quite a bit younger than the generation that first discovered Swans, I'm glad that he continued making art through the years so I can still potentially see them do what they do best.
Swans live shows are beyond art, they are live revealings of nature, like watching an erupting volcano. If you position yourself far away to safely observe your don't feel the heat, if you get too close you are consumed by it. Criticism or acceptance are both small next to the thing itself.
Gira calls The Seer the culmination of 30 years of music making. Personally, it feels like the culmination of 30 years of music listening. I can't wait to see them again in the fall. Yay, old guys!
Swans is an experience in extended reality. Step out of the main stream. Release your expectations. Put on your headphones, turn up, turn off the room lights, shut your eyes. Lay down, sit or stand, it doesn't matter. Be in the music. Repeat at least 3 times. You will learn and perhaps advance to another step in your evolution. Listen to their latest album. Buy the music, they need the money to live and make more music. These guys are living a blessed life of creation, helping people get outside the box of their ordinary lives.
UA-cam videos just don't come even come close to the experience of seeing Swans live Was dead centre in the front row of one of their concerts, about two metres away from Gira The intro to their show was as loud as any other band I'd ever seen, nothing special But then 4:53 hits, all the instruments kick in, and it's pretty much like getting punched in the throat by sound, I literally had trouble breathing at that moment, I could barely move Probably should've worn earplugs, the world echoed for about three days afterwards
WhyHelloThereChaps I've had ear problems (noise) for years, went to Swans in Dublin last week with no ear plugs, and me ear hasn't given me jip since then! I shit you not! Met MG afterwards, what a gent!
Been following Swans since the beginning. There's never been a more mind numbingly beautiful group of artists than Gira and his chosen members. I feel happiness with each note and calm with each chord.
One of my friends recommended me "Swans" and when I wrote "Swans" on youtube this was video appeared at the top. I didn't exactly know what to expect. You don't have so many chances to find a band that hits you that hard. Since than this is still great and wonderful. I'm still dreaming to perform this kind of music at the stage.
I saw your comment, clicked your page and saw that you like classical Turkish music as well. Thanks for pointing this artist out to me! To return the favor: Ensemble Al Kindi (Parfums Ottomans) and everything by Dastan Ensemble.
Swans are greatness and youtube does not compare to a live show cause a lot of the music is feeling it, vibrations pulsating through you. So those who don't get it or never been to a live will say it's noise. I'm seeing them again at the Roxy step 11, can't wait.
I saw them live earlier this year in Greece, Thessaloniki, and I still thought it was just noise. I felt absolutely nothing except annoyance at my eardrums buzzing because of how loud it was. I walked out after 40 minutes or so. It takes a very specific kind of person to enjoy hours of cacophony parsed by 3 minute sections of ostinato on guitar.
@@el_mal_de_ojo I shouldn't have to wear earplugs to a concert. It wasn't just me being sensitive either. The police came and shut down the concert because it was so loud.
Gorgeous, and a HUGE part of the experience is missing - the sheer physicality of the music when seeing them live. Swans, like a handful of other bands (Sunn O))) immediately comes to mind, Boris, Earth, etc) are really a predominantly live experience band. That is to say, that the ultimate expression of the music is hearing it live, where the sheer volume does all sorts of funky stuff to your body. Blessed to have seen them back in 2017 touring Deliquescence, I was glued to my spot for the entire set (almost 2 and a half hours if I recall) in a kind of trance. 'The Knot' is the most brutal sonic assault ever composed / performed, IMO. Approximately 45 mins for a single composition, with a skeletal framework filled in with studied improvisation. That fact that they can even play for that long at that intensity is mind-blowing enough.
+To all people who cannot connect to Swans: It's about almost trying to break your conception of music, but by revisiting the first form of music, reducing down to its primal elements. Music, in its origins, was a trance-inducing and ceremonial beating of drums around a fire before sacrifice. A religious event, a trance state. Swans craft those moments before death, the anticipation of some End in our human lives steeped in limitations. With the use of sheer volume, the primal repetitions of root notes, use of traditional instruments to create sonic layers and patterns they are attempting to break you out of your usual musical expectations. and the improvised 'flow' of movement within the composition responds to the bands connection with one another, a live instinct kind of drives the whole thing, trying to ever build towards a climax that never comes. (Many people find that frustrating, but have patience and listen again and you might find more to it). And internally your mind explodes. Interestingly if you prefer 'hearing the beat drop' to ever building to a climax that will never come you're probably listening to music as some form of subliminal sexually driven therapy, and will only choose to listen to music that will put you in a completely different kind of trance. One that makes everything O.K and nothing really that bad. Swans don't feel that way at all, and for that we are thankful.
I can see that, and like the ida, but I still find myself slightly bored unless they add something slightly resembling normal music in their formula. I feel they took it too far. Personally, I think their best song is Screen Shot. That one is genuinely scary. Not "I played a dissonant chord... BE AFRAID" scary, but truly beautiful and frightening. It gets under my skin.
You're right. Before posting that comment I hadn't listened to Soundtracks for the Blind, and now I know what I've been missing on. It's amazing how they can bind so many different genres in one album and still be flawless in each one. I found post-rock elements, post-punk elements, ambient, even some psych folk all perfectly executed. Perhaps the reason I never got into them is because I listened to the wrong albums like The Seer or Cop/Young God, Greed/Holy Money which never spoke to me.
god this is making me want to see them again so badly, this piece live was completely breathtaking (and I mean that literally, I had a bit of trouble breathing when the guitars all kicked in together for the first time)
I was there...it's been like three years and sometimes when it's really quiet I can still hear it. I love this weird noise. My favorite early SWANS stuff is similarly bangy. People who don't like it aren't necessarily wrong. They just aren't wrong enough inside to dig what's going on here.
A month ago I was at their concert, I still can't quite get over with what an overwhelming experience it has been. I was there with my friend and at the end of the show Mr. Gira shook her hand before going off stage. This is really something. And it was so great, I wish I brought some earplugs though because I had to move away a bit from the stage (at first I stood in the very front row) because I'm just not used to such extremely loud sound (but still stayed pretty close so I saw everything very well). Actually after the whole thing, the next day I felt so damn tired, it was as if the loudness of the sound was something physical, as if sound was like a wave on the sea and for this 2+ hours I was being hit forcefully with such massive amounts of it = amazing. This makes you shiver, get anxious, exhausted but at the same time it fills you with some strange energy and joy. It's really hard to explain and impossible to forget. In short - if they'll play anywhere near, you must by any means go see them!!
My very first contact with this band. I haven't felt so good for a very, very long time. I'm going to dig swans sooo hard. I'm going to show this to my friends who will just stand akwardly looking away, then reassure themselves with the usual crap about me beiing a hipster (beccause why would anyone listen to this other than for looking cool at art school parties ?). Until I meet somebody IRL who actually loves this otherworldly music the way I do, and form an unbreakable bond and feel whole at last. I think I'll go to art school parties more often.
MonsieurSlick I went to the beaux-arts in lyons, france (1 year only). Now I live in a flat with mostly art students. so it's kind of my element already. but hey, thank you for the advice anyway !
swans was the loudest show i have ever been to. i had the foresight to purchase earplugs before the show and many people who didnt have them fled the venue when they came on or had their hands over their ears the entire time.
My high school design teacher was telling me about this band ‘cause I like music and stuff, then I read something about them on the sonic youth Wikipedia page, figured I’d check it out
+niasboiii I really don't understand it.... I'm not a fan of Swans...Their music is just noise. I'm a music major myself and this type of music is extremely chaotic and just gives off this horrific feeling. I have a friend who introduced me to this and thought I would like it. To each their own I guess.
+Samuel Loshark You've just said it, to each their own. I myself happen to like noisy music. This is chaotic, yes, but not horrific. I love the intensity.
I was there then, too. Among the hundreds of gigs I've been to in my life, that performance is the one that has stuck with me the most, by a wide margin. In a sense, I've been chasing the mind / body state I was in during their set. Transcendental. Saw them again last year at Troxy. A different beast altogether, still Swans though. A conduit to another realm.
Awesome. This is by far the best sound ever to translate the feeling after receiving or /and witnessing your practitioner telling you; you are having Alzheimer's disease. And in about a year or so, you are living in a home for those not being able to be rehabilitated. Or any other devastating information. Actually the music is making me very much feeling to be alive.....with or without a diagnosis as devastating as cancer, HIV, Alzheimer' chronic schizophrenia, or just: I am alive, Thank you for all the adrenaline and A N G E R. K
Seeing this pop up in my recommended made my day ten times better. Seeing swans live was a musical experience unlike anything I've ever experienced before.
Cathartic, real, bruising, transcendent, new... and it comes from real pain. I can relate and I believe him. I buy it. A wanker? No way. It's a shame how music has got. It's a shame how real music artists get smothered before they get a chance. It's a shame that so many who support "alternative" music can't see that this is the real deal. Years of intense musical conditioning, expectations, inflexibility, hypnotism, reactionary, expectations... No wonder music is in such bad shape. This is real. It moves me. Save for the Dirty Three I just don't see the same in any other post-rock bands... Mogwai, Godspeed, Sigur Ros.... they're all too .... smug.
I am personally happy to see all the negative comments....it lets me now that an amazing, unique, and ridiculously talented group of musicians are staying true and not trying to please everybody. Look at Zappa...look at Miles in the 70's...they were beat up by so many....you look back at them now and can't believe the level they were at. If you don't have a pallet for this type of music...then pass...simple
saw them in 91 at the Venue in Edinburgh. I leaned across the stage to nick a postcard that was stuck on Jarboes keyboard and slipped and landed on the keys. what a fucking noise I made... ran away like fuck LOL.
of the club to catch some fresh air. After the show, she told me that she felt like she was overflooded with thoughts and images in her mind and that she just passed out suddenly. Also one friend that got to the venue late was standing just at the main exit of the club during the show told me that he saw multiple groups of people taking outside their friends and others, because they were sick... I think there's honestly something to it. This NOISE is something special. This is not "normal music"
I'm on UA-cam every day and I can honestly say I can't go like, 2 days without watching this. I saw them live a few weeks ago and this is the closest thing to seeing them live.
it's the future of music, pure and simple. 'cause its the future of the world. and the future is not nice and it's not pretty, it's the end of it. no thought, no word.
nobody can play this. such passion can be put only by the creators of this composition. have you ever considered music not in terms of catchy hooks and intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro structure? this is pleasant pain in my ears, and i love, plus seeing them live this holidays was one of the greatest experiences in my entire life. cheers!
Dude, these guys are legends. Respected by many other top musicians (Ben Frost for example with his song "We love you Michael Gira"). Their music is just very physical and killing. Ive seen them live and.. well you dont want to hear it every day but sometimes is just amazing and inspiring. Its important to have variety in art isnt it? I admire that they can tour with that stuff. So much energy.
This reminds me of some heavy (and intense...But it's often the case) moments during the last Godspeed You! Black Emperor concert I went to. Heartfelt stuff ! I like it. That's not the idea I had of Swans music after I had heard a few of there songs. Thanks for posting this.
Been fascinated by Gira, Swans, and Angels of Light since Children Of God... no musical collaborator or creative mind has influenced me more! This is an absolutely beautiful sonic assault!
Viewers who like bands that push the boundaries may also want to check out Primus (US led by Les Claypool), The Perrinormal (UK Plunderphonic's masters), the Residents (a classic art anti-pop experimental enigma) and Clock DVA. Also, check out Clean Plate by the Golden Palominos (founded by drummer Anton Fier and featuring Fred Frith and Art Lindsey).
Yeah, exactly! I saw them live in Prague a month ago or so and it was absolutely insane... People just stood infront of the stage and almost nobody moved! Everybody(including me) looked like they were in some kind of trance. During most concerts I always move to the music, but this dense wall of sound just left me completely transfixed in awe and sheer horror! That is until my girlfriend standing next to me just suddenly blacked-out after like 20 minutes of the show so I had to take her outside
seems like a concert i can go to, i don't have to headbang to fit in, i dont have to wear special fanboyish "ibelonginthissubculture" clothes, i dont have to dance, i just need to experience it.
point being...the experience of being immersed in Swans is a particularly genuine one. My basic thought is simply that with Swans, I personally feel more physically connected with their music in a live setting. So I understand that my use of a term that describes a physical situation might sound rudimentary at best and potentially mundane. But I obviously meant it to describe the feeling of music moving through you in a meaningful way. I see what you're saying about Manowar haha, "LOUD"
Enjoyed Wire last night at Heaven and Mogwai in concert in the past, as an experience not for the tunes themselves although they help of course, music has changed and is dynamic and immersive, as it was when we first started to make music and imitated the animals around us.
The recording is pretty shitty and does not do justice to the song, but the video at least shows their performance. It doesn't sound at all like this in real life. They perform live with really out of control volume and bass, so it just sounds like the recording is crapping out here.
Seeing this (twice) was one of the most uniquely brutal and cathartic experiences I've had in a music venue. Heavier than the heaviest metal, hardcore etc....
depends on the crowd probably. personally, i love drone music so i wouldn't be too offput by a younger band playing some Swans-esque tunes. that being said- these guys know how to sell it. they've been doin' it a while.
![BARONESS - Chlorine & Wine [Official Music Video]](/img/n.gif)
To all complaining that they're playing just one chord in the middle part: beside the fact that the composition paired with the production is astounding, music is not about the number of melodies in a song, it's about just how intense emotional reaction it can provoke in the people who connect with it. It doesn't matter if the emotion itself is ecstacy, melancholy, tension, fear, or what have you.
Shamans often say one chant over and over to a drum beat that is repeated over and over for hours at a time. You don't hear the tribe bitching and moaning. Instead, they let themselves be overcome by the sound and they go on a spiritual journey.
It is Just a Dream do never forget: its the swans, the highlight of the 90s
Anyone who sees music as being equal to the sum of it's parts doesn't truly understand music and won't ever truly understand a band like Swans.
@@urmumsbaps Well that's like your opinion man. Last time I checked, this noise was filed under the heading of art and thus, by its own decree, is ALWAYS subjective and open to interpretation. Therefore all acceptances as well as criticisms of it are valid. Unfortunately, yours sir, is not. As your basic premise assumes a failure on the part of the listener to "truly understand music", but with art of any kind, that can never be the case.
I almost passed out witnessing this live. I almost dropped.
Will never ever forget the first time I saw them live. Tears streaming down my face like a child, lost in the chaotic noise. I will always love them.
Stank
What`s a "QUEEF" please? Never come across this acronym/word before. Thanks!
O Righty... Thanks fer that. I think !!!!! Nee any help obtaining one ?
Dammit!! I bet you`re nowhere near Cornwall either.... else I`d get 20G out `specially for ya/we!!!!! "and a 1/4 houses to come sometime,and a mother to pass away... my dad did lst Apri; and Iv`spunked down to 3G already.....OOps! Yr photo there is exactly `my type` if such a thing----- Once had a 3+yr relationship with sirl look vaguely like you, but blonde....yje glasses too. And that low necjline of yours,,,the things we`d do...but I am over 40, not balding!! Thhe girl I mentioned had a 14yr `age gap` between us.. I`m fantasising now!! In PUBLICK too!!! Ah, fuck em! X
charl yes!
I'm 63, never heard of this band until 5 minutes ago, and have to say 'I like it'
This comment makes me happy
rock on, bro!!!
im 108 and love these dudes
Dunkacccino same
Did you make it to 65?
Went to this gig once called "The Wall of E" - literally 17 guitarists playing the E chord and notes within for about an hour. It was awesome!
try Sunn O)))
Sometimes that's exactly what one needs
Lou Reed said: One chord is rock, two chords is pushing it...three chords and you're into Jazz.
Once I read that same quote but by Iggy Pop instead, now somebody should write the same but say that David Bowie said it
@@mmmanutd Lou said it tho
@@mmmanutd I often attribute the quote to Phillip Glass
And negative chord playing is punk
Didn't Seth Putnam say this?
I love Swans more than any other rock band, however I still think it must be hilarious to see them rehearse. Damnit Steve, it's 27 downstroke chords. not 28.
🤣
Yeah thats why gira is also conducting the band, cues people in and out or generally just driving the looser parts that are somewhat improvised... i think? No facts, just my impression.
@@SaumBodhiyou are correct he’ll even sometimes use his tongue to indicate certain things on stage
There are, no words, no thoughts, that can possibly describe experiencing Swans live
I know one word that would accurately describe it, noisy.
I can only imagine
I would say it's comparable to a really bad attack of diarrhoea.
Exactly, until you did not seen them live you dont know the magnitude of sound !
7 days🎉!!!
Been a Swans fan since the 80's. Was upset over the break-up in 97 and started following both Gira's post-Swans efforts as well as Jarboe's. Found myself listening more to her output than his. Was not much into Angels Of Light, but I am enjoying the reconstituted SWANS. It's just a shame Jarboe couldn't return. Her output over the last 15 years has been amazing.
💯
great song to cover at a high school talent show
LOL :-) hillarious idea!
at 140 db! :-)
SurvivorAndBatman can't decide between this or dopesmoker
Time machine modulus
Great song for me to poop on.
My 15 year old son turned me on to Swans. I have wasted my life until now....
At least your son didn’t waste it :)
I love watching the communication between these guys as they wind up.....body language, gestures.....good Lord...... what a tight family....
i saw Swans last night in Beijing. It was really, really good. Someone asked me today to be a bit more specific and I said it was like being beaten around the temples with a thousand of the most dense hammers possible but they were all made of incredibly heavy velvet. They seemed to understand but I remain unconvinced. It was good.
richardrandomk Dude, that is the best description of the physical experience of seeing Swans I have ever read.
Johnny Quan thanks man :-)
I thought of that scene in Fight Club where Tyler Durden is laughing after he gets beaten up
Not all music has to conform to conventional song writing standards. There is a lot more to music than just catchy hooks, pleasant melodies, and verse-chorus-verse format.
i can’t even describe just how spiritual feeling this whole thing is, there’s no other word for it
Swans is literally the only band I've seen that perform, facing eachother and not the crowd.
YOB is another.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
LCD Soundsystem
Jeromes dream
A lot of bands do it.
2:55 When you get to play a cool instrument in band class but have 128 measures of rest
I cant listen to any other band but swans right now, its like an addiction. Its been a week now, I kind of feel isolated compared to my usual daily intake of wide variety of genres. Swans took hold of me strongly, althought I didnt dig em from the beginning, not by a long shot. I am reading Crowley's Diary and it seems very much like I am going through Swans honeymoon. Its fucking great.
+Peter Janoshazi I listened to Swans a lot in 1987 and 1988. I wanted to form a band like them, but all my musician mates were too scared! I am not a satanist.
+Paul Senkans sucks about your friend's man, it's never too late to start though
Peter Janoshazi your average poseur.
yevrey Although I am in no way diehard orthodox fanatic, and though I understand you are hurt because your sacred esoteric order of Swans' fans have been intruded by people whose sudden adoration of the group does not correspond to your notion of what it really means to be part of the chosen ones, this does in no way justifies your bitter reproach directed at my honest expression of the highest sympathies towards this exceptional band. Meanwhile, I was lucky enough to attend a live Swans show in Berlin and I will just tell you that my neck was never so dangerously close to a complicated fracture. So stop fucking bitching and if you don't like the way I express myself in words then simply say so directly so you can save yourself from an idiotic misattribution. You have no idea who I am, nor do really I who are you. To be true, nobody really knows who he is. So what's the point of this, you tell me.
Some good dancin music right here. I could really cut a rug with this tune!
Dance with Ladybird.
Those are toilet sounds Bobby!
I'm doing some clogging 😊
in 1980 a female dj played a swans song on the radio, i called her and asked her who is the Band? she said swans, my life has never been the same since i heard that song! love this band sonic swans!!
swans started in 82
@@AFullNelson they definitely started out in '82. they didn't even have anything recorded in 1980
@@buoy9665 im guessing this person meant the 80s in general
more people in younger generations need to hear these guys. ...being quite a bit younger than the generation that first discovered Swans, I'm glad that he continued making art through the years so I can still potentially see them do what they do best.
The sound of the end of the world. This music is not about listening, but emotions and dreaming. I understand now.
Swans live shows are beyond art, they are live revealings of nature, like watching an erupting volcano. If you position yourself far away to safely observe your don't feel the heat, if you get too close you are consumed by it. Criticism or acceptance are both small next to the thing itself.
Front row Somerville mass at the capital theater in 97. Epic. Awe inspiring. Soundtrack for the blind tour.
That guy at 10:05 basically sums up what it's like to listen to Swans.
and the girl at 9:50 blockin her ears, tryin to stay cool like: "i'm in the wrong concert".
@@IliasPiperis word is, they reach legendary decibels in their concerts.
@@alexschuster1618 I know! Can't wait to get an ear buzz.
@@IliasPiperis tbh, Motorhead got me there every time I saw them. I don't know how mf'in lemmy did it.
Gira calls The Seer the culmination of 30 years of music making.
Personally, it feels like the culmination of 30 years of music listening.
I can't wait to see them again in the fall. Yay, old guys!
Swans is an experience in extended reality. Step out of the main stream. Release your expectations. Put on your headphones, turn up, turn off the room lights, shut your eyes. Lay down, sit or stand, it doesn't matter. Be in the music. Repeat at least 3 times. You will learn and perhaps advance to another step in your evolution. Listen to their latest album. Buy the music, they need the money to live and make more music. These guys are living a blessed life of creation, helping people get outside the box of their ordinary lives.
UA-cam videos just don't come even come close to the experience of seeing Swans live
Was dead centre in the front row of one of their concerts, about two metres away from Gira
The intro to their show was as loud as any other band I'd ever seen, nothing special
But then 4:53 hits, all the instruments kick in, and it's pretty much like getting punched in the throat by sound, I literally had trouble breathing at that moment, I could barely move
Probably should've worn earplugs, the world echoed for about three days afterwards
Very jealous
I got the pleasure of opening for them, one show, Children of God Tour
I only hope he stepped all over your fingers and spit blatantly in your face, a guitar to the face to top it off.. a master of the art
Just came home from a show about 3 horus ago... ears are ringing. Amazing. Wall of noise. Thank you cowboy jesus gira.
WhyHelloThereChaps I've had ear problems (noise) for years, went to Swans in Dublin last week with no ear plugs, and me ear hasn't given me jip since then! I shit you not!
Met MG afterwards, what a gent!
Been following Swans since the beginning. There's never been a more mind numbingly beautiful group of artists than Gira and his chosen members. I feel happiness with each note and calm with each chord.
The drummer, Phil Puleo was actually in my dads college band. He went to one of their shows a couple days ago.
One of my friends recommended me "Swans" and when I wrote "Swans" on youtube this was video appeared at the top. I didn't exactly know what to expect. You don't have so many chances to find a band that hits you that hard. Since than this is still great and wonderful. I'm still dreaming to perform this kind of music at the stage.
they definitely evolved, -or matured as an act you could say. their early stuff is utterly terrifying and brutal scary lol.
I saw your comment, clicked your page and saw that you like classical Turkish music as well. Thanks for pointing this artist out to me! To return the favor: Ensemble Al Kindi (Parfums Ottomans) and everything by Dastan Ensemble.
Kazimierz Garshin Thank you for the recommendations my friend. "Ud" is a wonderful instrument.
Swans are greatness and youtube does not compare to a live show cause a lot of the music is feeling it, vibrations pulsating through you. So those who don't get it or never been to a live will say it's noise. I'm seeing them again at the Roxy step 11, can't wait.
I saw them live earlier this year in Greece, Thessaloniki, and I still thought it was just noise. I felt absolutely nothing except annoyance at my eardrums buzzing because of how loud it was. I walked out after 40 minutes or so. It takes a very specific kind of person to enjoy hours of cacophony parsed by 3 minute sections of ostinato on guitar.
@@georgepantzikis7988 Sounds like a you problem. Don't you have earplugs?
@@el_mal_de_ojo I shouldn't have to wear earplugs to a concert. It wasn't just me being sensitive either. The police came and shut down the concert because it was so loud.
Gorgeous, and a HUGE part of the experience is missing - the sheer physicality of the music when seeing them live. Swans, like a handful of other bands (Sunn O))) immediately comes to mind, Boris, Earth, etc) are really a predominantly live experience band. That is to say, that the ultimate expression of the music is hearing it live, where the sheer volume does all sorts of funky stuff to your body. Blessed to have seen them back in 2017 touring Deliquescence, I was glued to my spot for the entire set (almost 2 and a half hours if I recall) in a kind of trance. 'The Knot' is the most brutal sonic assault ever composed / performed, IMO. Approximately 45 mins for a single composition, with a skeletal framework filled in with studied improvisation. That fact that they can even play for that long at that intensity is mind-blowing enough.
Sunn O))) is punishing live ! but in a good way especially in a cave in the middle of Tennessee 😊
+To all people who cannot connect to Swans: It's about almost trying to break your conception of music, but by revisiting the first form of music, reducing down to its primal elements. Music, in its origins, was a trance-inducing and ceremonial beating of drums around a fire before sacrifice. A religious event, a trance state. Swans craft those moments before death, the anticipation of some End in our human lives steeped in limitations. With the use of sheer volume, the primal repetitions of root notes, use of traditional instruments to create sonic layers and patterns they are attempting to break you out of your usual musical expectations. and the improvised 'flow' of movement within the composition responds to the bands connection with one another, a live instinct kind of drives the whole thing, trying to ever build towards a climax that never comes. (Many people find that frustrating, but have patience and listen again and you might find more to it). And internally your mind explodes.
Interestingly if you prefer 'hearing the beat drop' to ever building to a climax that will never come you're probably listening to music as some form of subliminal sexually driven therapy, and will only choose to listen to music that will put you in a completely different kind of trance. One that makes everything O.K and nothing really that bad. Swans don't feel that way at all, and for that we are thankful.
No
u wot m8?
I can see that, and like the ida, but I still find myself slightly bored unless they add something slightly resembling normal music in their formula. I feel they took it too far. Personally, I think their best song is Screen Shot. That one is genuinely scary. Not "I played a dissonant chord... BE AFRAID" scary, but truly beautiful and frightening. It gets under my skin.
This why people hate swans fans.
think it is more because we like the music & the songs
You're right. Before posting that comment I hadn't listened to Soundtracks for the Blind, and now I know what I've been missing on. It's amazing how they can bind so many different genres in one album and still be flawless in each one. I found post-rock elements, post-punk elements, ambient, even some psych folk all perfectly executed. Perhaps the reason I never got into them is because I listened to the wrong albums like The Seer or Cop/Young God, Greed/Holy Money which never spoke to me.
god this is making me want to see them again so badly, this piece live was completely breathtaking (and I mean that literally, I had a bit of trouble breathing when the guitars all kicked in together for the first time)
honestly, i don't understand their music at all, but it just feels right, and i freaking love it.
I was there...it's been like three years and sometimes when it's really quiet I can still hear it. I love this weird noise. My favorite early SWANS stuff is similarly bangy. People who don't like it aren't necessarily wrong. They just aren't wrong enough inside to dig what's going on here.
A month ago I was at their concert, I still can't quite get over with what an overwhelming experience it has been. I was there with my friend and at the end of the show Mr. Gira shook her hand before going off stage. This is really something. And it was so great, I wish I brought some earplugs though because I had to move away a bit from the stage (at first I stood in the very front row) because I'm just not used to such extremely loud sound (but still stayed pretty close so I saw everything very well). Actually after the whole thing, the next day I felt so damn tired, it was as if the loudness of the sound was something physical, as if sound was like a wave on the sea and for this 2+ hours I was being hit forcefully with such massive amounts of it = amazing. This makes you shiver, get anxious, exhausted but at the same time it fills you with some strange energy and joy. It's really hard to explain and impossible to forget. In short - if they'll play anywhere near, you must by any means go see them!!
My very first contact with this band.
I haven't felt so good for a very, very long time.
I'm going to dig swans sooo hard.
I'm going to show this to my friends who will just stand akwardly looking away, then reassure themselves with the usual crap about me beiing a hipster (beccause why would anyone listen to this other than for looking cool at art school parties ?).
Until I meet somebody IRL who actually loves this otherworldly music the way I do, and form an unbreakable bond and feel whole at last.
I think I'll go to art school parties more often.
Klemes67 Go to art school if you have the opportunity where you live !
MonsieurSlick I went to the beaux-arts in lyons, france (1 year only). Now I live in a flat with mostly art students. so it's kind of my element already. but hey, thank you for the advice anyway !
I know this is an old comment but holy cringe 😬 it was dead on arrival.
swans was the loudest show i have ever been to. i had the foresight to purchase earplugs before the show and many people who didnt have them fled the venue when they came on or had their hands over their ears the entire time.
this sounds like something we would have done in the band room after school in high school lol...only with marimbas and drums and piano probably
***** Oh dude you bitch slapped that punk.
***** ok so this music is the same as blink 182 by your logic.
Would love to hear that. Sounds unique.
This is the first song I'm going to learn how to play on guitar... Can't wait to drag everyone into the living room for a listen. ;-)
I meditate to this in public places like on the bus when I need to sleep, it's very calming! Thanks Swans for making great music!
absolut clear pure music
My high school design teacher was telling me about this band ‘cause I like music and stuff, then I read something about them on the sonic youth Wikipedia page, figured I’d check it out
First time hearing this band and I must say... I like it
their bass player is really something else, he can absolutely shred. if you go to a swans show bring earplugs or you won't make it til the end .
+quoe1 You will realise life after leaving the concert even more. Dude, the music just embraces you like a thick needle packed coat of glue.
+niasboiii I really don't understand it.... I'm not a fan of Swans...Their music is just noise. I'm a music major myself and this type of music is extremely chaotic and just gives off this horrific feeling. I have a friend who introduced me to this and thought I would like it. To each their own I guess.
+Samuel Loshark their newest stuff is more "musical" and less experimental. check out how to be kind
+Samuel Loshark You've just said it, to each their own. I myself happen to like noisy music. This is chaotic, yes, but not horrific. I love the intensity.
I saw this band in 2017 in the Roundhouse London....it was something else!
I was there then, too. Among the hundreds of gigs I've been to in my life, that performance is the one that has stuck with me the most, by a wide margin. In a sense, I've been chasing the mind / body state I was in during their set. Transcendental. Saw them again last year at Troxy. A different beast altogether, still Swans though. A conduit to another realm.
Awesome. This is by far the best sound ever to translate the feeling after receiving or /and witnessing your practitioner telling you; you are having Alzheimer's disease. And in about a year or so, you are living in a home for those not being able to be rehabilitated. Or any other devastating information. Actually the music is making me very much feeling to be alive.....with or without a diagnosis as devastating as cancer, HIV, Alzheimer' chronic schizophrenia, or just: I am alive, Thank you for all the adrenaline and A N G E R. K
Profound. Well said!
What a lovely song.
Saw them live in 98. I was so excited. Got my cds and book signed. Fuckin epic show
The most brutal & poetic band in the universe.
Seeing this pop up in my recommended made my day ten times better. Seeing swans live was a musical experience unlike anything I've ever experienced before.
Cathartic, real, bruising, transcendent, new... and it comes from real pain. I can relate and I believe him. I buy it. A wanker? No way. It's a shame how music has got. It's a shame how real music artists get smothered before they get a chance. It's a shame that so many who support "alternative" music can't see that this is the real deal. Years of intense musical conditioning, expectations, inflexibility, hypnotism, reactionary, expectations... No wonder music is in such bad shape. This is real. It moves me. Save for the Dirty Three I just don't see the same in any other post-rock bands... Mogwai, Godspeed, Sigur Ros.... they're all too .... smug.
listening to swans is emotional intensity. this was incredible
I liked that note they played
I am personally happy to see all the negative comments....it lets me now that an amazing, unique, and ridiculously talented group of musicians are staying true and not trying to please everybody. Look at Zappa...look at Miles in the 70's...they were beat up by so many....you look back at them now and can't believe the level they were at. If you don't have a pallet for this type of music...then pass...simple
This is a Masterpiece!
god this is awesome. The Swans have more passion than almost every band put together. LOVE YOU GUYS. PLEASE DONT STOP. peace.
That was one of the most unsettling and transcendental songs I've ever heard! Holy Fuck!
truly there's no words-no thoughts to describe this epicness
saw them in 91 at the Venue in Edinburgh. I leaned across the stage to nick a postcard that was stuck on Jarboes keyboard and slipped and landed on the keys. what a fucking noise I made... ran away like fuck LOL.
....and I thought the "Swans Are Dead" tour back in 1999 was immense.... This is EPIC man..
its beautiful
of the club to catch some fresh air. After the show, she told me that she felt like she was overflooded with thoughts and images in her mind and that she just passed out suddenly. Also one friend that got to the venue late was standing just at the main exit of the club during the show told me that he saw multiple groups of people taking outside their friends and others, because they were sick...
I think there's honestly something to it. This NOISE is something special. This is not "normal music"
Fucking goosebumps every time I hear this piece. Just unbelievably fantastic. No words.
no thoughts
I'm on UA-cam every day and I can honestly say I can't go like, 2 days without watching this.
I saw them live a few weeks ago and this is the closest thing to seeing them live.
The more famous Swans becomes, the happier I become.
How the Hell have I missed this band? This is amazing!
i love Swans
hypnotic, brutal, haunting, mesmerizing...i had the privilege to see this with my bare eyes and what a bedazzling experience it was!!!
9:49 smiling female front row w/fingers in ears
still amazing, after all these years, love this
James Hetfield, what are you doing here?? You're on the wrong stage!
POW, right in the kisser! ;D
CuriousDave HETFIELD ON THE TRACK.
Yeah. he got bored of playing Enter Sandman and so he started this other band
I AM THE TABLE!
As The Melvins and Swans show, having two percussionists really does have a huge fucking impact. Brilliant song
it's the future of music, pure and simple. 'cause its the future of the world.
and the future is not nice and it's not pretty, it's the end of it. no thought, no word.
So impressed. Can't believe what my ears just took to my brains.
Norman Westberg chewing gum, as usual.
who cares
Apparently 9 people do.
nobody can play this. such passion can be put only by the creators of this composition. have you ever considered music not in terms of catchy hooks and intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro structure? this is pleasant pain in my ears, and i love, plus seeing them live this holidays was one of the greatest experiences in my entire life. cheers!
I think we'll all agree, like that guy at 10:08, we all just ascended to a higher plain thanks to Swans.
Dude, these guys are legends. Respected by many other top musicians (Ben Frost for example with his song "We love you Michael Gira"). Their music is just very physical and killing. Ive seen them live and.. well you dont want to hear it every day but sometimes is just amazing and inspiring. Its important to have variety in art isnt it? I admire that they can tour with that stuff. So much energy.
This is force.
This reminds me of some heavy (and intense...But it's often the case) moments during the last Godspeed You! Black Emperor concert I went to. Heartfelt stuff ! I like it. That's not the idea I had of Swans music after I had heard a few of there songs. Thanks for posting this.
9:36 Hugh Laurie on drums...
Definitely. Watching the video, you see them watching each other a lot, looking for cues and such. It's sort of like the way jazz musicians play.
How a song can be so dark and loud and yet so peaceful and pretty confounds me
how high are you
Been fascinated by Gira, Swans, and Angels of Light since Children Of God... no musical collaborator or creative mind has influenced me more! This is an absolutely beautiful sonic assault!
Viewers who like bands that push the boundaries may also want to check out Primus (US led by Les Claypool), The Perrinormal (UK Plunderphonic's masters), the Residents (a classic art anti-pop experimental enigma) and Clock DVA. Also, check out Clean Plate by the Golden Palominos (founded by drummer Anton Fier and featuring Fred Frith and Art Lindsey).
Thanks!
Yeah, exactly! I saw them live in Prague a month ago or so and it was absolutely insane... People just stood infront of the stage and almost nobody moved! Everybody(including me) looked like they were in some kind of trance. During most concerts I always move to the music, but this dense wall of sound just left me completely transfixed in awe and sheer horror! That is until my girlfriend standing next to me just suddenly blacked-out after like 20 minutes of the show so I had to take her outside
no toughts
head empty
Awesome!!!
Seeing them in Denver on Sept 24th.
Fan since 1991.
seems like a concert i can go to, i don't have to headbang to fit in, i dont have to wear special fanboyish "ibelonginthissubculture" clothes, i dont have to dance, i just need to experience it.
every subsequent word in your post made me hate you more
it's called being a grown up. it's more important to experience a show like this. headbanging has always been a good way to sort out retards.
well hello then, special snowflake #400885
youtube comments tend to overflow with those who believe they are elitist gatekeepers.
Just an observation.
BlackPaw cringe
ironically swans is that very type of band
point being...the experience of being immersed in Swans is a particularly genuine one. My basic thought is simply that with Swans, I personally feel more physically connected with their music in a live setting. So I understand that my use of a term that describes a physical situation might sound rudimentary at best and potentially mundane. But I obviously meant it to describe the feeling of music moving through you in a meaningful way. I see what you're saying about Manowar haha, "LOUD"
Swans in South America please
+SuperDuck And Mexico again, please.
+SuperDuck COME TO BRAZIL
Also Chile ! :D
+SuperDuck And argentina
And do a re-issue of Die Tur Ist Zu. And come to Peru
Enjoyed Wire last night at Heaven and Mogwai in concert in the past, as an experience not for the tunes themselves although they help of course, music has changed and is dynamic and immersive, as it was when we first started to make music and imitated the animals around us.
dr. house on drums!
comebacks usually suck, but this is the greatest comeback of all times!!!
The recording is pretty shitty and does not do justice to the song, but the video at least shows their performance. It doesn't sound at all like this in real life. They perform live with really out of control volume and bass, so it just sounds like the recording is crapping out here.
Seeing this (twice) was one of the most uniquely brutal and cathartic experiences I've had in a music venue. Heavier than the heaviest metal, hardcore etc....
That's one big ending!
(Starts 1 second in!)
depends on the crowd probably.
personally, i love drone music so i wouldn't be too offput by a younger band playing some Swans-esque tunes.
that being said- these guys know how to sell it. they've been doin' it a while.