Swans[views:2056][posts:21]____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:23pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] Michael Rolfe Gira (pronounced jeer-AH)[1] (born 1954) is an American musician, author, and artist. He was the main force behind the now dissolved New York City musical group Swans and currently fronts The Angels of Light. He is also the founder of Young God Records. Contents [hide] * 1 Biography o 1.1 Early life o 1.2 Early musical career o 1.3 Swans o 1.4 Solo career and Angels of Light o 1.5 Writings * 2 Equipment * 3 Solo discography * 4 Notes [edit] Biography [edit] Early life Gira lived with his parents in a relatively affluent suburb of Los Angeles, California though they divorced when he was a young teenager. After staying with his alcoholic mother for much of his youth, he was sent to live with his father in Indiana and then Paris. He ran away from home and hitch-hiked across Europe, and was finally arrested for selling drugs in Israel. Although he was only a teenager at the time, he was placed in an adult prison. His father found Gira with the aid of Interpol and sent him back to the United States. [edit] Early musical career Back in Los Angeles, he played in a band called Little Cripples and enrolled in art school and imagined that he would someday be a visual artist (Gira sketched obsessively); however, he soon became disillusioned with the elitism and academia surrounding the art world and dropped out. However, Gira's interest in art is known to have affected his music; The Angels of Light song "Inner Female" is a study of Francis Bacon. In 1979 Gira moved to New York City in order to start a band; he was influenced by No Wave and noise artists like Suicide and Glenn Branca. He played with the band Circus Mort[2] before forming Swans. Before achieving success with his music, Gira was forced to work many tedious, backbreaking jobs in construction and demolition. He also began a short-lived art magazine, No. [edit] Swans Main article: Swans (band) Initially, Swans' focus was raw rhythm and abrasive textures, usually eschewing melody for visceral power. They became known for their abrasive experimental and post-industrial sound. Their commercial success was limited, but Swans earned much critical notice and had a devoted following. The band's lineup and sound evolved over time, and their music became somewhat more conventional. A marked shift in Swans' music came with inclusion of Gira's partner, Jarboe, who added her ethereal voice and synthesizers to the group in 1985. Gira and Swans spent the next twelve years releasing studio, live, and side-project albums. Gira's frustration with the various record labels grew over time, and he disbanded Swans in 1997. [edit] Solo career and Angels of Light After dissolving Swans in 1997 Gira released a solo album under his own name and began a new musical direction with The Angels of Light, which are a quieter, more acoustic-based group than Swans. Nonetheless, The Angels of Light retain much of the intensity of Gira's former project. Gira also spent time experimenting with soundscapes, found sound, and loops with the The Body Lovers project. He has also released several albums under his own name including Drainland (1995), The Somniloquist (2000, a spoken word album), and What We Did (2001), a collaboration with Windsor for the Derby's frontman Dan Matz. Gira founded his own record label, Young God Records, which has released albums from such artists as Devendra Banhart, Mi and L'au, and Akron/Family as well as Swans, The Angels of Light and The Body Lovers' back catalogues. Akron/Family served as Gira's backing band during the recording of and touring for The Angels of Light's 2005 album, Sing "Other People". [edit] Writings Gira's short story collection The Consumer (ISBN 1-880985-26-8) was published in 1995 by Henry Rollins's 2.13.61 publications. It is divided into two parts, the first being "The Consumer", a series of short stories from the early 1990s, the second, "Various Traps, Some Weaknesses", made up mostly of prose-poems and vignettes, all dating from 1983-1986. (Many of these earlier stories had previously been published by SST Records as Selfishness, with illustrations by Raymond Pettibon.) The stories contain many disturbing images and scenes including incest, identity loss, murder, self-hatred, rape, and both mental and physical decay. [edit] Equipment |
| ____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:25pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] Sunn and all those other pretentious assholes ripped this band. Especially Nachtfuckenposersisium, they too ripped this band. Hail the SWANS |
| ___________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:26pm - brian_dc ""] Appreciated |
| _______________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:28pm - the_reverend ""] they are amazing. listening to the live in machester LP and I have no idea how the singer didn't commit suicide. |
| ____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:28pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] Sunn, boris and all other incarnations of asshole, elitist, and wanna be druggies will fail. Sunn was only good with Malefic of Xasthur and when he left they failed and Boris can go fuck their elitist hippie lifestyles and shove it up their asses. Steve o fucking jew is a poser and a waste of life and so are his ideas and wanna be artsy rubbish. |
| ____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:30pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] GRAVESIDESERVICE endorses this band |
| _______________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:30pm - the_reverend ""] what about Khanate? |
| ____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:32pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] I used to have some khanate albums I bought, they were uninspiring and horrible. I put my eggs in different baskets. |
| _________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:34pm - beleth ""] Swans all the way. Major ground breakers. |
| ___________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:34pm - DYA NLI ""] What's that, Rev? Listen to Khanate right now? Don't mind if I do. |
| _______________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:41pm - the_reverend ""] fact: no one on this board is a bigger fan of the swans then inject-now. |
| ____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 12:54pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] If you dont like this then you can go fuck yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQeWvFPb5zA&feature=related GRAVESIDESERVICE opened up for Klaus way back when |
| ______________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 4:44pm - quintessence ""] I'm only missing a couple hard to find rare albums from my collection. One of the best bands EVER. |
| ___________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 4:52pm - barbeloh ""] fave band ever, or, as Moynihan said, "the only band that ever mattered." Jarboe is a really cool girlfriend I hear. She'll let you "mow her lawn." Feel Good Now is probably the heaviest thing I've ever heard, but White Light from the Mouth of Infinity is my fave. |
| __________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 4:54pm - BOBDEAD ""] Swans are to this day one of my favorite bands...was lucky enough to see them on the"Children of God" tour back in the day...and I literally stood there with my fucking mouth hanging open the entire set. AMAZING. |
| _______________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 5:17pm - thuringwethil ""] the_reverend said:fact: no one on this board is a bigger fan of the swans then inject-now. i will answer that challenge, damn it |
| ___________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 6:10pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] No noone is a bigger fan than me, that is why I posted this thread and GRAVESIDESERVICE loves this band I assure you. |
| ________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 6:11pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] NO I AM A BIGGER FAN |
| _______________________________ [Mar 25,2009 6:14pm - ANON ""] it looks to ANON like someone copypasta'd a wiki article. ANON edited that whole thing -none of that shit is true. |
| _______________________________ [Mar 25,2009 6:14pm - ANON ""] The above statement is false. |
| ___________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 6:19pm - Black Metal Kvlt ""] OP, HERE! DISREGARD THAT, I SUCK COCKS |
| _____________________________________________ [Mar 25,2009 7:07pm - vince from shamwow ""] gayer than a pink 3 dollar bill on Richard Simmons birthday,kid... |