Quote:
|
Originally Posted by guest
again it's not a matter of resenting bandwagoning, but rather that gira has ostensibly divorced himself entirely from the patented brute honesty which so endeared me to swans in favour of presenting something less visceral or actually intense by reducing it to mere caricature, quite likely so as to attain a more sizable audience. so it's not the sound, the sound isn't what I'm bitching about at all, indeed the less song-based elements of their recent work (the karen o shit is a fucking death wish for me) are some of my favourite stuff of theirs, but rather that gira is belying what was once the bedrock of swans, its crux. regardless of the stylistic approach he took with each record they all were characterised by this indefinable, soul purging quality which aligned it with say haino in how fucking uncomfortable it was. now he's a veritable pop star figure (bear with me) in how he flits between personas ad nauseam, and to me it seems as if it's merely for dramatic effect as the illusion of theatre is far less alienating than a man spiritually disemboweling himself onstage.
so ANYWAY I quite like the record, but it's like patchy as fuck. screenshot's lyrics were pretty blatantly an afterthought, literally just gira reciting every single swans buzzword you can think of, things we do is pure unadulterated shit, the same cliche rubbish lyrics as screenshot but without a mad groove, and the title track isn't half as good as it sounded live, a context wherein it was one of the few times a live band has really horrified me, like being in the middle of a storm. a little god in my hands I'm not too big a fan of either. the rest of it is fantastic, with just a little boy being the standout for me. really good record, but not the work of a godlike genius as it has been presented to be.
|
im the guy who was disagreeing with you earlier but now, i dont know.
the new record is ok but it is NOT what its being made out to be. the hype is getting sickening. this is hardly an incredibly dark record like people seem to think. it is really hard to like this album when you read this stuff.
you just know its all middle of the road indie dickheads who are getting way into this, as if its so dark and fucked up. it maybe is to those douches.
dont get me wrong, im glad gira is doing well for himself. he's in his 60's. it's all cool.
but still man, i kind of totally agree with you.
maybe gira took the early stuff as far as he could, if you read his book "the consumer" you'll see what i mean. i think the psychological space he was in was brought to its absolute limits in that book, which IMO would probably be made illegal in many places if it wasnt so obscure.
the points you make about gira the popstar - i'd argue he was already doing that back in the 90's. stuff like love of life and killing for company is borderline adult contemporary easy listening alternative rock. granted he's singing about about dennis nilsin talking to the corpses of young male prostitutes he's just murdered, but it's still pretty radio friendly.
its hard to condemn him for this because its still quality music and the guy has to make a fucking living somehow. also, after what he did in the 80's - there's only so far you can push yourself into that intensity.
glad they are touring with xiu xiu, hope jamie stewart electrocutes some of the new dudebro swans fans.