This one piece, The Knot, is a distillation of the loose concept behind the 2010-2016 run of Swans, built on a foundation dating back to the early 80s. Scoff at anyone that calls you pretentious when you describe the live Swans experience as transcendental, scoff because they don't know. How could they? I desperately regret I missed one of their shows in London, post "To Be Kind". I'm glad I caught them when they were touring "Deliquescence" post "The Glowing Man", because The Knot may be the most colossal and challenging (physically) piece of music in their entire catalogue. Nevermind just how fucking mind-blowing it is that these people can even play this, truly masters of their individual crafts, coming together in a whirlwind of controlled chaos to assault your senses, to lift you up not like an angel, but more like a trial-by-fire as you suffer your way to salvation. The experience became akin to something spiritual for me, in their 2 and a half + set, exhausted, borderline hallucinating. Earplugs a necessity but I removed them for most of it, I wanted the crushing force of it all to eviscerate me, the rebuilding would come after. I to see live music A LOT, and my one Swans show is the single greatest gig ever. Louder than loud, louder than Sunn O))) for Christ's sake, groovy, shamanistic, entrancing, meditative, crushing, ugly, beautiful. I was a fan before the gig, but I was a convert after. The greatest rock band in modern history for me, Gira has expanded the notion of what music can be, to transport you to another plane altogether.
The Knot was the heaviest piece of music I have ever heard! My God! What a power! Only those who had the opportunity to hear it live, know what we are talking about! These videos can't transmit that power! What insanity! I didn't even take earplugs for the concert ... but to this day my ears haven't recovered. And already passed 3 years ...
I had seen Swans many times before, including the previous night. But what happened at MHOW was something else entirely for me - blissful transcendence, dissolution of self. Four years later, I am so thankful for this experience and will forever long to get back to that state.
Just saw this live a few days ago. It's impossible to convey the sheer volume and power of Swans' performances over video. Truly something that just needs to be experienced and felt firsthand.
Alexandru Adam Assuming you mean the Glowing Man, it is to be the final from this incarnation ie, the gang that gave us the 6 hours trilogy. But Gira will do more things with the band later on.
The Maestro was speaking with the fans at merch stand, and said that there is a concert CD/DVD of the final tour coming in the summer, younggodrecords exclusive. Keep an eye out the next months
Just saw them at the Fonda on September 2nd . . . Absolutely blew me off the face of the Earth!! This is the third time I've seen the Swans since they reunited a few years back, and this was, by far, the most intense, punishing performance yet . . . I go to many live shows . . . I've never been to another that could touch this! Brilliance
Swans is the greatest live concert I have been to in my whole life. I saw them twice. I don't care what kind of music you like. If you have the opportunity to see these guys live, don't pass it up!! They are so amazing live!! You feel like you are high just standing there without drugs watching and listening to the artwork. Lol... you will feel like you are being fucked by the music.
augustineisntmean Agreed. I saw them 2 nights ago, this bit gave me full body goosebumps and made me cry. I don't do that! Ha ha my girlfriend, who is not a fan, thinks I'm crazy. I watched this video and it happened again. So life affirmingly epic!
Ed Bate The Thursday or Friday show? I was there Friday we could have cried together! I don't think my girlfriend would have looked at me so oddly if there was another fella in the same state ha ha ha.
saw them the night before in manhattan. wish I'd booked for williamsburg instead.. but still, great show. great band. ran across gira smoking a cig outside later on and got to shake his hand and tell him how he and david yow are two of my all time favorite vocalists.
I wonder how M.Gira had teach to Walfisch the way to play his song so well. You know, SWANS doesn't play like conventional musician, so the way to explain their technic must be pretty tricky too.
a nickner i always thnk about this. how do they learn how to play their own songs? hahaha because i really dont know what the fuck norman plays in his guitar
podria entender que muchos piensen que solo son ruidos. es dificil escuchar esto. no es para cualquiera, creo que esto es mas para el que para la gente, es un viaje, al interior del ser de Gira.
i just came home from the concert and i can only praise this band, they're so good it even made me cry and also the earplugs enhanced the experience even more and made it much better, without the plugs i could only hear, well, pretty much noise and i was only forcing my ear to distinguish each sound. Gira was a sweetheart, he even complimented a girl to whom he said that looked like a model in a painting by some famous painter (can't recall his name).
If you mean that improvisation is central to it, then yes, very much so. These pieces all have some framework, but they evolve constantly, and are largely created on stage.
Here's an excrept from an interview with Gira: - For the tour, keyboard player Paul Wallfisch will replace percussionist Thor Harris. Why did Thor leave, how did you find Paul and what will Paul will bring to the table? - This was decided right after we’d finished recording the new album, in September or October. Thor’s mother is elderly and he wants to stay closer to her. He was also exhausted by our touring regimen and he has his own music. We’re still really close and there’s no animosity between us at all. I’d met Paul several times over the years, and he plays with Little Annie, who has toured with us. When Thor decided to depart, I called Paul. We got along great.
@@paulsenkans3401 It was more of a reshuffling of that 'incarnation' of Swans. Gira has finished writing the songs for the new album, and there's a CD that's been released recently by his label Young God Records titled 'What Is This?' that is made up of acoustic versions of the songs, which I presume at least some will be on the next studio album, albeit in a different composition. The releases in between studio albums always signal the recording of a studio album as that is how they fund the recording. I believe a new Swans record with a new line up and sound is imminent.
he's doing the stuff that sounds like lowing cattle, often played before the beat and brought in with a volume pedal... he's very much plugged in, but often it's not at all obvious what he's doing, one of the most subtle and original guitarists I've ever heard
I also noticed last time I saw them that where you were standing really made the difference as to which guitarist you could specifically pick out. It's easiest to distinguish Hahn because of how steel guitar sounds to begin with, but with Westberg, his more obvious work merges into Gira's parts if you're not standing to either the centre or somewhere stage-left, and his less obvious contributions are all controlled with volume pedals or delays. So saying what he's doing at any given time is frequently difficult. Take the end of "The Knot" here: Those backwards-sounding bits are definitely Westberg, the high strummy bits are Gira, and the leads are Hahn. Halfway into the track though? Very hard to tell at this angle.
I agree, when I saw these guys a couple of years ago I was front row and about 7 or 8 people across from Westberg, and my GOD...the sound! This was when they played The Apostate before it morphed into Cloud Of Unknowing. The groaning volume-swelled riff was vibrating the hair on my forearms, but that high octave-type chord he also plays just fricking screamed out of the amplifiers. Unbelievable sound.
Michael Gira is the real deal. Start with their nineties material like "Love of Life" and "White light in the Mouth of Infinity". Those are more song based albums and more accessible than this material. This current incarnation's material is more based off of movements and pieces that are worked out organically. I can understand how this music comes off as long winded and redundant at times but there are some brilliant moments in this latest version of Swans. You kind of have to work for it and that's not for everyone. This is not music you tap your toes and dance to. It's confrontational. It's bleak and psychedelic. This is the sound at the end of history.
This one piece, The Knot, is a distillation of the loose concept behind the 2010-2016 run of Swans, built on a foundation dating back to the early 80s. Scoff at anyone that calls you pretentious when you describe the live Swans experience as transcendental, scoff because they don't know. How could they? I desperately regret I missed one of their shows in London, post "To Be Kind". I'm glad I caught them when they were touring "Deliquescence" post "The Glowing Man", because The Knot may be the most colossal and challenging (physically) piece of music in their entire catalogue. Nevermind just how fucking mind-blowing it is that these people can even play this, truly masters of their individual crafts, coming together in a whirlwind of controlled chaos to assault your senses, to lift you up not like an angel, but more like a trial-by-fire as you suffer your way to salvation. The experience became akin to something spiritual for me, in their 2 and a half + set, exhausted, borderline hallucinating. Earplugs a necessity but I removed them for most of it, I wanted the crushing force of it all to eviscerate me, the rebuilding would come after. I to see live music A LOT, and my one Swans show is the single greatest gig ever. Louder than loud, louder than Sunn O))) for Christ's sake, groovy, shamanistic, entrancing, meditative, crushing, ugly, beautiful. I was a fan before the gig, but I was a convert after. The greatest rock band in modern history for me, Gira has expanded the notion of what music can be, to transport you to another plane altogether.
The Knot was the heaviest piece of music I have ever heard! My God! What a power! Only those who had the opportunity to hear it live, know what we are talking about! These videos can't transmit that power! What insanity! I didn't even take earplugs for the concert ... but to this day my ears haven't recovered. And already passed 3 years ...
I had seen Swans many times before, including the previous night. But what happened at MHOW was something else entirely for me - blissful transcendence, dissolution of self. Four years later, I am so thankful for this experience and will forever long to get back to that state.
Best and rare footage of The World Looks Black / Deliquescing / Some Things We Do!
When 35:10 came on when I saw them live in Prague, I went nuts. That moment was so epic, espeically with Gira's movements.
I think the Swans and Dead Can Dance should get together for a double bill. That would be out of this world.
Who needs gods when you have Swans?
Just saw this live a few days ago. It's impossible to convey the sheer volume and power of Swans' performances over video. Truly something that just needs to be experienced and felt firsthand.
So true!
The most overwhelming live performance I have ever experienced.
Holy shit! The Knot sounds fucking fantastic, especially with the organ now involved. Can't wait for what's to come from this band!
this is actually their final album.
Alexandru Adam Assuming you mean the Glowing Man, it is to be the final from this incarnation ie, the gang that gave us the 6 hours trilogy. But Gira will do more things with the band later on.
i didnt catch that, thanks for the info. sounds fking exciting!
The Maestro was speaking with the fans at merch stand, and said that there is a concert CD/DVD of the final tour coming in the summer, younggodrecords exclusive. Keep an eye out the next months
Just saw them at the Fonda on September 2nd . . . Absolutely blew me off the face of the Earth!! This is the third time I've seen the Swans since they reunited a few years back, and this was, by far, the most intense, punishing performance yet . . . I go to many live shows . . . I've never been to another that could touch this! Brilliance
Swans is the greatest live concert I have been to in my whole life. I saw them twice. I don't care what kind of music you like. If you have the opportunity to see these guys live, don't pass it up!! They are so amazing live!! You feel like you are high just standing there without drugs watching and listening to the artwork. Lol... you will feel like you are being fucked by the music.
I saw them yesterday, they rock like a mammoth. No compromises, love them or hate them....
Love them or hate them? I still have mixed feelings. Don't know what to believe yet and i'm seeing them on March the 22nd.
Just like their music ... Love, Hate. Love, Hate! Live, Death, Live, Death! PEACE
Saw them on Friday. It was fucking beautiful.
Lucky!
the best band i see live in my whole life
35:10 - 40:15 tho. fucking immaculate
When they played that at the show I just went to... I was not prepared. So good.
unbelievably sick
augustineisntmean Agreed. I saw them 2 nights ago, this bit gave me full body goosebumps and made me cry. I don't do that! Ha ha my girlfriend, who is not a fan, thinks I'm crazy.
I watched this video and it happened again. So life affirmingly epic!
I cried during this part when I saw them in London the other week.
Ed Bate The Thursday or Friday show? I was there Friday we could have cried together! I don't think my girlfriend would have looked at me so oddly if there was another fella in the same state ha ha ha.
The sound was incredible. That was my first time seeing them live. I vibrated for at least 3 days. The entire set was spine chilling.
brilliant fascinatins redefinite what music is
Cloud of Forgetting is amazing live thanks so much for the post.
Got to catch them when they pass through Europe
saw them the night before in manhattan. wish I'd booked for williamsburg instead.. but still, great show. great band. ran across gira smoking a cig outside later on and got to shake his hand and tell him how he and david yow are two of my all time favorite vocalists.
Did he know who David Yow is?
yeah. though didn't seem fond, interestingly.
Haha, I kinda expected that.
JESTESCIE ZAJEBISCI ,NIE DODAJAC RELIGII
That guy is really channeling his inner Keith Jarrett at 15:20
I remember Phil Puleo standing up straight when playing in his Cop Shoot Cop days....
Thanks , Thor dont played this tour . Paul Walfisch is the new Swans member..
Thanks - will make the change.
going to see them today, I'm excited as fuck...
I wonder how M.Gira had teach to Walfisch the way to play his song so well. You know, SWANS doesn't play like conventional musician, so the way to explain their technic must be pretty tricky too.
a nickner i always thnk about this. how do they learn how to play their own songs? hahaha because i really dont know what the fuck norman plays in his guitar
podria entender que muchos piensen que solo son ruidos. es dificil escuchar esto. no es para cualquiera, creo que esto es mas para el que para la gente, es un viaje, al interior del ser de Gira.
i will see them next wednesday, any advice ? like earplugs or something ?
Earplugs, get close, don't text in front of Gira. Have fun!
will he kill me if i film 30 seconds of his performance so i can remember that experience ?
i just came home from the concert and i can only praise this band, they're so good it even made me cry and also the earplugs enhanced the experience even more and made it much better, without the plugs i could only hear, well, pretty much noise and i was only forcing my ear to distinguish each sound. Gira was a sweetheart, he even complimented a girl to whom he said that looked like a model in a painting by some famous painter (can't recall his name).
This is almost in the spirit of jazz, is it not?
In what sense? If anything it's like the opposite of jazz.
I don't mean the genre of music. You're thinking too literally. I'm sure you can figure it out.
So, you can't explain yourself. That's what I thought.
If you mean that improvisation is central to it, then yes, very much so. These pieces all have some framework, but they evolve constantly, and are largely created on stage.
It makes sense ... because even Michael is a great jazz lover! Jazz is one of the purest forms of art! Just like Swans
Bam.
😮
Is that a Gibson BB King Lucille ...?
Clive Barnes I believe so yes
What's up with Thor not playing on this tour
John Piloto
??? you just wrote my name
John Piloto he's working on his own projects
Eric O i seen that but there was no goodbye so it makes it kinda odd to just replace him
Here's an excrept from an interview with Gira:
- For the tour, keyboard player Paul Wallfisch will replace percussionist Thor Harris.
Why did Thor leave, how did you find Paul and what will Paul will bring to the table?
- This was decided right after we’d finished recording the new album, in September or October. Thor’s mother is elderly and he wants to stay closer to her. He was also exhausted by our touring regimen and he has his own music. We’re still really close and there’s no animosity between us at all. I’d met Paul several times over the years, and he plays with Little Annie, who has toured with us. When Thor decided to depart, I called Paul. We got along great.
JA WAS KOCHAM KOSMICI
GLEN BRANCA
There's definitely parallels. You can tell the influence from Branca on "Oxygen" very clearly
gira played for branca
Featuring the original soundtrack from Hell.
dawne SWANS TO JEST TO
When will these guys play Manchester UK? Anyone know?
Paul Senkans may 28th
Did you end up going??
@@el_mal_de_ojo Sorry, no. Now I am full of self-hate! What is Michael Gira doing now, after the Swans dis-bandment?
@@paulsenkans3401 It was more of a reshuffling of that 'incarnation' of Swans. Gira has finished writing the songs for the new album, and there's a CD that's been released recently by his label Young God Records titled 'What Is This?' that is made up of acoustic versions of the songs, which I presume at least some will be on the next studio album, albeit in a different composition. The releases in between studio albums always signal the recording of a studio album as that is how they fund the recording. I believe a new Swans record with a new line up and sound is imminent.
@@el_mal_de_ojo That's great news. Thanks Diego S.
nie ma tego czegos, nawet MICHAEL jest zagubiony
Vine por dros, a chch me confundí de vidro
Is Norman Westberg even plugged in?
he's doing the stuff that sounds like lowing cattle, often played before the beat and brought in with a volume pedal... he's very much plugged in, but often it's not at all obvious what he's doing, one of the most subtle and original guitarists I've ever heard
I also noticed last time I saw them that where you were standing really made the difference as to which guitarist you could specifically pick out. It's easiest to distinguish Hahn because of how steel guitar sounds to begin with, but with Westberg, his more obvious work merges into Gira's parts if you're not standing to either the centre or somewhere stage-left, and his less obvious contributions are all controlled with volume pedals or delays. So saying what he's doing at any given time is frequently difficult. Take the end of "The Knot" here: Those backwards-sounding bits are definitely Westberg, the high strummy bits are Gira, and the leads are Hahn. Halfway into the track though? Very hard to tell at this angle.
(And this is not even talking about Chris Pravdica's contributions, which are frequently buried in recordings like this.)
I agree, when I saw these guys a couple of years ago I was front row and about 7 or 8 people across from Westberg, and my GOD...the sound! This was when they played The Apostate before it morphed into Cloud Of Unknowing. The groaning volume-swelled riff was vibrating the hair on my forearms, but that high octave-type chord he also plays just fricking screamed out of the amplifiers. Unbelievable sound.
Nick Cave has lost it
brak mi jednej osoby , niby ok , ale cos nie tak
This band should be called Televangelists... They do the same product, same lie as televangelist and people believe them.
everything else
Sorry I just don´t believe them. They are making some random noises and act like they are making good music.
Michael Gira is the real deal. Start with their nineties material like "Love of Life" and "White light in the Mouth of Infinity". Those are more song based albums and more accessible than this material.
This current incarnation's material is more based off of movements and pieces that are worked out organically.
I can understand how this music comes off as long winded and redundant at times but there are some brilliant moments in this latest version of Swans. You kind of have to work for it and that's not for everyone.
This is not music you tap your toes and dance to.
It's confrontational.
It's bleak and psychedelic.
This is the sound at the end of history.