I actually think "It doesn't bring anything new to the table" is a pretty weak argument against this album...

I actually think "It doesn't bring anything new to the table" is a pretty weak argument against this album. Sure it's not as ground breaking as the seer or even tbk but imo it manages to take the qualities from both albums and combine them and end the trilogy in a very enjoyable way. Especially knowing this is the last album in this style I don't see how it not changing sound a lot from the other two is such a bad thing. Nothing sounds too similar, to me anyway.

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I couldn't agree more. It was a lot more subtle than TBK in many parts. It had a similar vibe but different approach. It's a great end to a great trilogy.

I never listened to Swans. Is it a good place to start?

this flow chart is really good, but for me personally, I would say no. Start with The Great Annihilator

Someone will need to update this with TGM

I would say move TGM into the spot where My Father is, move my father down as "lighter still" and then even more lighter for post-punk

That seems like a good place

I wouldn't say TGM is lighter than The Seer

>Sure it's not as ground breaking as the seer or even tbk but imo it manages to take the qualities from both albums and combine them
This is straight up false.

The crushing locked grooves and folk / atonal sections that characterized TBK and The Seer respectively are gone from this iteration.

This is just a re-emphasis the Swans brand.

It's the best Swans album from this incarnation, I honestly thought "rock" music was well and truly dead --has been for almost a decade now-- then along comes the fucking title track, completely pummels you over the head, revives the sound, then dedtroys it again by the end of the album. 10/10 the whole album is perfect, it flows more naturally, it grooves harder rather than relying on big walls of noise, the production feels more organic, guitars moved up in the mix, same with pianos and other instruments. I love the seer and to be kind, but this is just better imo.

I got into Swans through Soundtracks for the Blind and the reformation Swans, and I always wish I would have made my way through chronologically.

The Seer and TBK focussed more on that "locked/atonal folky" sound, The Glowing Man, at its core is a rock album deconstructed and put back together again by a metaphorical "Glowing Man" for his own ritualistic pleasure and catharsis.

>grooves harder
Harder than an album specifically recorded for exploring grooves within the Swans sonic landscape?
>rather than relying on big walls of noise
dude...what...?
>guitars moved up in the mix
DUDE, WHAT

>for his own ritualistic pleasure and catharsis
You're trying to be eloquent but all you've accomplished is stating that Gira is just writing from a completely routine, self-indulgent emotional character (and I 100% agree).

This album is just the same old same old for Swans 2.0 and turned up to eleven in Spinal Tap style.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, but to say it's any better than the previous three or any less of an abstraction is just daft.

I don't think what he did on this album was in anyway routine or self indulgent, you could argue he was doing a similar thing in tracks like The Seer and Bring The Sun where he casts himself as some detached conductor of an impending disaster or ritual, and you don't seem to have a problem with it there. Music is at its core concerned with the interiority of the artist crafting it (unless you're writing some cheesy concept album, but even then you get the artist putting in a self insert into the "rock opera") and while writing with an abstract deity that is the personification of a hidden part or extention of the artists psyche or whatever isn't "new" what Gira has done here is refreshing to me. It is the paragon of a true "post-rock" album, but it is aesthetically and sonically very different from any other album in that genre, it deconstructs rock n roll tropes and rearranges their form to create something new entirely, it isn't some "sad, mellow, heart breaking mournful" take on post rock like acts like Sigur Ros or Godspeed you! black emperor, it's an in your face assault. You probably don't see it this way, but that's just how I feel about the album. I love the seer and to be kind, but I think this one will grow on people and they will find themselves revisiting it more than the previous two.

After a few listens I've realized this sort of combines The Seer and To Be Kind while bringing in some of the no wave influence from Swans of a bygone era. TGM differentiates itself from other modern Swans records due to its relative lack of melodies, and while many critics of the album say it is simply not as attractive as the prior two projects, I think this is a successful combination of the no wave and transcendental crescendo eras. Importantly, I was unimpressed with the album after the first listen or two. Give this one some careful attention.

>It is the paragon of a true "post-rock" album, but it is aesthetically and sonically very different from any other album in that genre
Mostly fair conjecture, so long as we're willing to ignore Swans output that follows a similar compositional structure but taken to a lighter extent.
>it deconstructs rock n roll tropes and rearranges their form to create something new entirely
Again, not really new for Swans. This approach to songwriting has played a central role in their more lengthy compositions since Soundtracks.
>it isn't some "sad, mellow, heart breaking mournful" take on post rock like acts like Sigur Ros or Godspeed you! black emperor, it's an in your face assault. You probably don't see it this way
Nah, this is agreeable, and I quite enjoy Godspeed. It's very drama filled, but Gira isn't breaking new ground in this regard.

We can attribute that to his mentor, Glenn Branca, and I suppose it's befitting that the final Swans 2.0 album is them more Brancaesque than ever.

I just had different expectations for it is all. Nonetheless, I saw them on the TBK world tour last year (and performing a lot of this material), I'm seeing them in September, and I'm excited to see where the Swans brand goes from here.

Pic related is one of my favorites and I think Gira is in his element when he's free to do whatever he wants.

>this sort of combines The Seer and To Be Kind
>combination of the no wave and transcendental crescendo eras
uhh

it combines the two new albums with the old new wave stuff. it's not overt, but the influence is there. sorry I didn't word that too well.

This album feels like the true album that should have happened after Soundtracks for the Blind to me, while soundtracks does break down rock music in a similar way, I think TGM just takes it to its logical conclusion, the second half of the title track sounds like something that could have been recorded in the 70's at the height of the Zeppelin/Sabbath/Deep Purple hysteria; the thumping bass line, the drum beat, and Gira's vocals just add up to something more I can't put my finger on yet. I think as an album, TGM flows the best out of it's predecessors, and the production feels warmer, more organic and less sterile than The Seer and TBK (although I love those albums too).

> (You)
>This album feels like the true album that should have happened after Soundtracks for the Blind to me, while soundtracks does break down rock music in a similar way, I think TGM just takes it to its logical conclusion
You're looking for this.

That doesn't look like a studio album to me. Swans are Dead is very very good though.

Only newfags like TGM

don't do flowcharts, go chronologically. It's the only proper way to listen to swans and listen how they progressed as a band over the many years

Ready to get BTFO again?

You're right; it's not. It's even better.

Every single reprise and live recording on Swans Are Dead blows its parallel studio recording out of the fucking water. You ever to some of the longer tracks on Soundtracks and just
>Fuck, it sounds good but the production boils it down to its most sterile and basic digestible components.
This is the kick it was missing.

The Black CD with recordings from their final 1997 tour is one of the most contingent, multi-faceted, emotionally complex albums ever produced by a rock band, and I've listened to a bit of rock music.

It might not be the more cinematic or atmospheric or conceptually rich as compared to Soundtracks, but if you want an album that resounds with gravitas of the death of an entire genre, listen to Swans Are Dead.

My only real complaint about the album is that I think that they could have done more with the packaging/album art, the physical vinyl and cd versions of the album have essentially the same packaging as To Be Kind, and the cover itself isn't as striking as the previous two either. The album itself is great though

I've listened to Swans are dead, I own a copy of it on CD, you're over romanticizing it a bit, it's a terrific live CD, and one of my favorite Swans recordings, but you can't compare it to the new era of swans, it's completely different.

Just for other people reading.

They're different but it follows a linear path from where they are now.

If I need to start posting tracks for analysis, I will. Swans Are Dead is more important than any one of the reunion albums.

do it

Alright, so you start out with the Black CD and the first track is Feel Happiness, one of the only arrangements on either disc that never got a studio recording.

youtu.be/Nzkw03GRAFI

The track enters with some tonal dissonance and an unsettling bassline that dangles like a pendulum over this withdrawn, disintegrating drone loop interspersed with some chimes, dulcimer, and atonal squeals that introduce the drum section and withstanding atmosphere Christoph Hahn's pedal steel guitar that segways into a kind of call and answer from the drum and guitars.

Does this sound like something to you yet?

Because it clearly parallels the tail end of The Seer title track, the difference is this is accelerating in a finite direction rather than serving as a doorway for the section that precedes it.

More call and answer / emphasized downbeat that bridges into a tumultuous tonal harmony of coalescing guitar wall sounds, fleshed out in songs like The Sound, and the reprise of Blood Promise, and then?

TIME CHANGE

9:10, the drums switch to a cut time section from which the middle section of Cloud of Unknowing borrows a direct note from.

This shifts into a spacious interlude in which Gira chimes the final withdrawal of this fucking beast of a piece into the audience's applause.

And this is just one track.

Every fleeting musical idea that sees itself fleshed out in the reunion albums makes some form of appearance on this album.

Jesus christ, swans are dead is a fantastic live album, but this is some serious redditcore "serious pipes" tier posting. Saying a live album is "more important than all three reunion albums" is fucking ridiculous. Swans sound and evolution is fleshed out in a live setting so it's not some great revelation that there are some parallels between their final tours live album and the new incarnation of the band. If anything swans are dead reminds me more of "my father will guide me..." than anything else.

>Saying a live album is "more important than all three reunion albums" is fucking ridiculous.
No, it's better in every conceivable facet regardless of how hard you to devolve this into an angry exchange of Freddie Mercury memes.

I honestly don't think it is, just because the sound is the precursor to swans new incarnation doesn't make it better. It's the middle ground between 90's swans and 2010's swans, the new albums are more fleshed out and come together better as fully realized compositions as part of a conceptualized whole, rather than on the fly live improvisation and experimentation. If you like swans are dead better, that's fine, it's a beautiful live album, but I don't think it's better than the 6+ hours of music they have given us this decade.

>just because the sound is the precursor to swans new incarnation
That's not the argument I'm making.

Swans are dead is the amalgamation of the last six years of Swans, or what a lot of people were expecting out of TGM

I've enjoyed the reunion as much as any Swans fan, but there's a certain magic I feel Gira will never recapture the way he framed Swans first iteration.

It is an amalgamation of the last 6 years of swans, with a little bit of 90's swans thrown in, keep listening to it, it will grow on you. I think as a whole, this album is the best of the new swans albums.

Hope to see them live again, was an amazing experience. Pic related.

Imo the glowing man is at its best when it shows its reserved side. The ambient stuff is way better than the riffy aggressive side.

First album I listened to was To Be Kind. I found it fairly accessible (as long as you've got a couple free hours).

fuck me, my LP hasn't turned up in the mail yet. anyone got a torrent for it?

yes

You know what? I'm sick of your fucking attitude. Don't ever say that kind of shit to me ever again or you'll be sorry, cunt.

To Be Kind was what got me into them as well. It's their most dynamic and explosive album and has something for everyone I think

It is. Some of the guitar parts of the title track etc. are pretty crushing but The Seer is outright hostile to newcomers in its composition. Mother of the World's 4 minute unnerving intro, The Seer's second half, whole 93 Ave Blues etc. make it more challenging as a whole.

Update probably coming next week.

same, said it would be shipped yesterday but it wasn't wtf

>Every single reprise and live recording on Swans Are Dead blows its parallel studio recording out of the fucking water. You ever to some of the longer tracks on Soundtracks and just
SAD Yum Yab sounds like shit.

YumYab is just a bad song desu

Add Body To Body Job To Job to the chart too please

the SAD version of i crawled is the best thing they've ever done

Jarboe is fucking insane on that track

When I first listened to swans are dead I was surprised how similar it sounded to the seer in some parts. You can definitely see a through line from there to new swans

i'm sick of hearing about this fucking record now jesus christ almighty

What would you rate The Glowing Man out of 10?

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I liked it, listened to the album while on a nature trail yesterday and it felt more like a folkier, even bluesier version of To Be Kind

Gira fucked up and sent me two copies, so I might give one to a pleb friend to get them into the band since it's fairly accessible

Dude, it hasn't even begun. Most fans still haven't listened to the record.