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SWANS - DISCOGRAPHY (121 VIDEOS)










Swans

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Swans is a band from New York City, active from 1982 to 1997, reformed in 2010, founded & led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira.

Marginally associated with the no wave scene at first, their original sound was slow and extremely heavy, with live performances that were often so brutal and physical that in a number of instances certain audience members were made ill, police were called and venues were shut down. This early physical sound is possibly best heard on the live album Public Castration Is a Good Idea.

Their initial style shifted a little by the time Swans released seminal twin albums Greed and Holy Money. The music had sped up, at times being even more punishing than their earlier output. Drum machines and samples were slightly more prominent. Michael Gira was joined vocally by Jarboe which gave the band a broader sonic range. Tracks featuring Jarboe were often quieter, even pretty, acting as counterpoint to the more harrowing themes on the albums. Over time, this style would come to dominate the Swans’ output, although they somehow seem to have been able to make a strummed acoustic guitar seem as brutal as their earlier amped-up assaults. The lush instrumentation of their albums from the late 1980s and the 1990’s anticipated the birth of post-rock.

Swans eventually broke up in 1997; Gira went on to release some solo work, later forming the band The Angels of Light, who continue many of the themes and styles found in (later) Swans. Jarboe releases solo work and frequently works with other bands and artists; recently she released an album with Neurosis, a group clearly heavily influenced by Swans.

In 2010, Michael Gira re-formed the band. A notable change was post-reunion Swans did not have Jarboe as part of their group, which makes for post-reunion album to have significant tonal differences, and as heard on leaving meaning. (2019), other female voices.More 
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Artist

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Albums

Swans - Filth album artFilth Neutral Records (3)1983
Swans - Cop album artCop K.4221984
Swans - Greed album artGreed K.4221986
Swans - Holy Money album artHoly Money K.4221986
Swans - Real Love album artReal Love Not On Label (Swans)1986
Swans - Public Castration Is A Good Idea album artPublic Castration Is A Good Idea Not On Label (Swans Self-released)1986
Swans - Children Of God album artChildren Of God Caroline Records1987
Swans - Feel Good Now album artFeel Good Now Not On Label (Swans Self-released)1987
Swans - The Burning World album artThe Burning World UNI Records1989
Swans - Anonymous Bodies In An Empty Room album artAnonymous Bodies In An Empty Room Not On Label (Swans Self-released)1990
Swans - White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity album artWhite Light From The Mouth Of Infinity Young God RecordsYoung God Records1991
Swans - Omniscience album artOmniscience Young God RecordsYoung God Records1992
Swans - Love Of Life album artLove Of Life Young God RecordsYoung God Records1992
Swans - The Great Annihilator album artThe Great Annihilator Young God RecordsYoung God Records1994
Swans - Kill The Child - 1985,1986,1987 Live album artKill The Child - 1985,1986,1987 Live Disaster Records1995
Swans - Soundtracks For The Blind album artSoundtracks For The Blind Young God RecordsAtavistic1996
Swans - Swans Are Dead album artSwans Are Dead AtavisticYoung God Records1998
Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky album artMy Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky Young God Records2010
Swans - We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head album artWe Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head Young God Records2012
Swans - The Seer album artThe Seer Young God Records2012
Swans - Not Here / Not Now album artNot Here / Not Now ‎(2xCD, Album, Ltd, Num)Young God RecordsYG69692013
Swans - To Be Kind album artTo Be Kind Young God Records2014
Swans - The Gate album artThe Gate ‎(2xCD, Ltd, Num)Young God RecordsYG19542015
Swans - The Glowing Man album artThe Glowing Man Young God Records2016
Swans - Deliquescence album artDeliquescence ‎(2xCD, Album, Ltd)Young God RecordsYG602017

Reviews Show All 33 Reviews

Anthon40

Anthon40

 September 29, 2019
edited 2 months ago 
The Swans need a break. The current style is getting tedious. Maybe Gira will go back to solo acoustic? That was his best period.
nicksoulsby

nicksoulsby

 August 18, 2018
I've been living with the music of Swans some two decades plus and there's STILL always some new detail that enthralls me or a moment of sound so powerful that it hits me hard as a rock to the side of the head. Love it so much I wound up interviewing 125 people Gira, Jarboe, 30+ ex-Swans, Thurston Moore, Bill Laswell...) and creating the book SWANS: Sacrifice And Transcendence - The Oral History. Whole time I was doing it I wound up using Discogs to plug in some rarities or to hear things in different formats and editions...Swans is one of those bands that rewards obsession.
Halo-rez

Halo-rez

 July 31, 2018
New To SWANS...
So I've been aware that Swans existed for close to 30 years. I was always curious about them, considering references I'd come across and things I'd read over the years. Always thought I might check them out one day. So about 3 months ago I decided to dive in, and ever since I've been drowning in Swans! I specifically decided to start with the output from the original period (1982-1997) first, with the intention to go to "Angels of Light" next, and then after that dive into the modern era material ("My Father" through "Glowing Man".) To date I have acquired all the albums from the original era, and here are my thoughts so far (keep in mind that I'm still just getting to know some of it)
Swans / Filth / Cop / Young God - OK - Interesting, but I don't love it.
Greed / Holy Money / Children of God- Very good, like it a lot!
Burning World - different, good.
White Light / Love Of Life / Great Annihilator - Love it!
Soundtracks for the Blind - Good, though somewhat disappointed in the lack of "songs" - my most recent purchase, still just getting to know it (2 listens so far)
So based on all that, I ask you... Do I go to Angels of Light next? Or skip straight to the modern era Swans albums?
robert.huffman.311

robert.huffman.311

 October 5, 2017
edited over 2 years ago 
I never knew SWANS but after hearing Gira's I'm Singing To You From My Room I became a huge fan of anything he's involved with. I like it dark and crazy and he delivers the good!
Bradx

Bradx

 May 13, 2017
Saw them in a tiny club in '86 where they filled the room with their own PA so there was hardly any room for an audience. Proceeded to play THEE heaviest skull-crushing noise for about an hour. At points I felt myself moving backwards with the force of the pulverising attack.
My trousers were flapping in the breeze and my face felt like it was melting. The best bit was the near-silence in between each downward smash of brute-force bass. The nearest thing for comparison would be a very scary fairground ride where you don't know if you're going to survive.
I heard later that structural damage was done to the club that night. My ears rang for 3 days.
Nicolas112

Nicolas112

 February 22, 2017
The Best band that ever came out and remains the best after these decades!!
rpremi

rpremi

 September 25, 2016
A fantastic band that has made some incredible 2-3 hour epics, really hope they will reissue "Soundtracks for the Blind" on Vinyl.
poneromusikologist

poneromusikologist

 November 3, 2014
edited over 4 years ago 
SWANS were the best and ONLY doomish NO-WAVE band in all of heroindom.
Their integral no-wave-ishness is usually lost on listeners who haven't heard the screaming saxophone and churlish Lower East Side freight-elevator grit of the first EP, but in any incarnation there is a predominantly non-idiomatic quality that results from independent thought and auteurship; the SWANS molted thru several skins but always remained their own unique style underneath. If, like me, it's their amoral power that you're after, "YOUNG GOD" ep was their best by a wide margin with the EPs dominating over the LPs generally and, for me, the ass fell out after "CHILDREN.." which was the favorite of masochistic Catholics in colleges everywhere.
That being said, Gira is a real artist and doesn't adhere to phases.
Prime SWANS was:
1. The whole band strung out on Heroin, frowning AT YOU.
2. Gira STARING DOWN Audience members HATEFULLY from behind his suspenders as he set up.
3. Al Kizys BREAKING HIS BASS STRING by pulling it way too hard.
4. Dust and debris from the rafters drifting down like a filthy snowfall because ov the band's sub bass disturbances.
"Open your mouth."
666monkeyboy

666monkeyboy

 September 19, 2014
There's nothing quite like the brutal, aural raping one receives at a live Swans show.

Nothing...

Long may it continue.
BoBsPfhorever

BoBsPfhorever

 June 2, 2014
edited over 5 years ago 
An impressive multi-genre band, tackling and succeeding at different genres of music, such as post-punk, industrial, metal, neofolk, instrumental rock, and progressive rock. Favorite album: 1996's Soundtracks for the Blind.

Lists Add to List

Live by diodes
Seen by LucaFF

Videos (121) Edit

Swans - Avatar (new song)
9:53
Swans ‎– ( - )
0:19
Swans - The Burning World
44:08
Swans - Better Than You
5:52
SWANS - We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head (FULL LIVE ALBUM)
122:32
Swans - The Seer (2012) [Full Album]
119:18
Swans-My Father Will Gide Me up a Rope to the Sky
44:21
Swans - Cloud of Forgetting
12:44
Swans - To Be Kind (Full Album)
121:19
Swans - Song for Dead Time
5:00
Swans - People Like Us
4:34
Swans - Where Does A Body End?
3:46
Swans - Hums
2:01
Swans - Cop (FULL ALBUM)
40:46
Nora - Children of God [Swans cover]
7:17
Swans ‎– ( - )
2:08
Swans - Will We Survive
5:59
Swans - Frankie M
21:00
Swans/I Am the Sun (Live 1996) (audio)
5:49
Swans - Her (Omniscience version)
8:44
Swans - Real Love [FULL ALBUM]
44:44
Swans - New Mind
4:00
Swans - Body To Body, Job To Job (FULL ALBUM) [Original CD 1991]
64:50
Swans - Real Love
6:21
SWANS OXYGEN (TO BE KIND)
8:00
Swans: Hypogirl (Live)
3:24
swans saved
4:02
Swans - Screen Shot
8:06
Swans Love Will Save You (White Light from the Mouth of Infinity)
6:07
Swans - Mind/Body/Light/Sound
4:42
Swans - She Lives!
7:04
SWANS - New Mind [Acoustic Version]
3:26
swans - time is money [bastard] (1986)
6:24
Greed
6:13
Swans - Feel Happiness
14:59
Swans - Soundtracks For The Blind [CLASSIC / 1996 REVIEW]
7:15
Swans - Young God (FULL EP) 

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