Glenn Branca's stuff is awesome.
On a somewhat related note, Swans' live album
We Rose From Our Beds With the Sun In Our Heads isn't bad. I've had it now for several weeks, but I couldn't really figure out what to say about it until this morning. It's lacking a lot of the punch that made their last live album bloody incredible, but given that Gira's in his fifties now, I guess that can't be helped. One reviewer remarked that he sounded tired, and I agree with that--at least for "No Words/No Thoughts" (which sounds downright tranquilized compared to the album cut, though part of that may be due to the higher pitch) and, to a lesser extent, "Jim". Both "Jim" and "No Words/No Thoughts" are performed at faster tempos than their studio counterparts, which adds a particular energy that the studio lacks, but also removes a sense of looming ferociousness that Gira's usually able to generate with slow or moderate paces. If I compare them to their studio versions, I find myself disappointed in that regard. However, as live takes, they have their own flavor that is only accentuated by some of the improvisational work. The guitar work especially has some pretty interesting pieces going on.
If Gira sounds a little tired on the first two tracks, his presence is back pretty near full-strength for the old "Beautiful Child", however, this time with a reworked opening four minutes that make a heck of a drive into the infancidal death-march. It remains pretty strong throughout the rest of the performances, but it's still hard to shake that somewhat weak-sounding opening cut.
The tracks culled from the upcoming album sound very promising; "The Apostate" and "The Seer" sound like they'll be cornerstones of the double-album, but given that Gira promised some two more full hours of music with Swans' next installment, it's hard to say. Plus, seeing as how much I've come to love the pulsing, rhythmic time of "The Apostate" (aided by Gira's signature cathartic yelling and "Blind Love"-esque wailing), I really can't wait to hear what he does with it in the studio. I'm curious as to what the lyrics are referring to, as well. Something about ladders to god, I think...
Aside from that stellar bit, the album's only other real highlight seems to be a nearly twelve-minute long cacophonous take on "Eden Prison", which the group performs spectacularly.
Overall, the live album is littered with guitar feedback and droning, speaker-destroying noise, and various acoustic accoutrements that make it come across as an interesting blend of
Children of God-era material mixing with
The Body Lovers and some of the noisier aspects of his work with the Angels of Light project, but somehow more developed and, as pretentious as it probably sounds, more nuanced that these comparisons suggest. Unfortunately, the nuances seem few and far between, as the intro and build-up for "No Words/No Thoughts" opening cut don't deliver these developments any better than the studio did in 2010. The instrumentation on "Jim" comes closer to this, but I really think "The Seer" and the second half of the first disc embody it more.
Somehow, it feels incomplete. It's probably because it wasn't initially intended for wide release, and as a result, is more or less just a collection of favorites taken from shows over the last two years. And it doesn't help that it was released not too long after an announcement that Swans has another fairly large album due out at the end of summer, either. Between that news and this installation's inclusion of new material, it's hard to listen to this album without either comparing it to "Old Swans", his last album, or the anticipation of what's to come. It simply doesn't stand on its own, because the tracks seem to sound their best when they're held in that context.
I like it a lot, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who hadn't already at least listened to
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to the Sky--itself an album that wouldn't be first on my list of things to introduce someone to Swans with. But for fans... well, actually, fans of Swans probably already have their hands on it.
Asami Sato wrote:My last album was Dark Passion Play, and I haven't listened to it since about a year after it did came out. I think it was epic, although my favorite will always be Once.
