Brian Parker, in case you don't know, started a couple months ago helping me with some larger posts, as well as contributing large (and very good) posts on comedy and film soundtracks, areas of which I have little knowledge, to help the blog become more versatile.......he also posts this stuff, as well as some of his other posts, on his own blog
Howdthehellyougethere.blogspot.com
Which, if you enjoy this blog might interest you as well, please check it out.......anyway, this Swans thing (there will also be a part 5) has been a huge labor of love for him, he's worked tirelessly (God knows how many hours he's put in on it), but Swans are kind of different in that they had a HUGE discography in thier long career, as well as a lot of side-projects etc........if you've been following the Swans stuff up until now, obviously this stuff will be of interest to you....it focuses primarily on some pretty rare solo stuff from Swans main man Michael Gira, some of which I had never even heard of.......as I said, Swans had a HUGE recorded output, this is NOT where one would want to start (go back to part 1), but if you are SERIOUSLY into the band's slow, tortured brand of minimalism, you'll want to clear a bit of space for these as well........that being said, and since it's HIS post anyway, here's Brian to tell you all about it....enjoy, and be sure and thank him (as well as visit him on his site) should this be of interest to you!
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Don't you just love the internet? You're 8 or 9 pages into a Google search, and you come across a blog/search engine/mp3 site that has awesome stuff, and you can't even remember how you got there?
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Anyway, without my planning - I thought I had found everything I could - here is Swans Part 4! I've discovered this as I've assembled it, so I'll only provide the briefest of opinions on each.
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A SPECIAL NOTE - the music site I found had all these songs singly, so one by one they had to be downloaded, tagged, given cover art and relevant info, and then zipped. And it's just me and my iPhone 4, folks....so I want comments, adoration, etc.
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Chasing down this stuff, I heard about a spoken word cassette Gira released with Lydia Lunch in 1984 called "Hard Rock". Despite me and BigScott's best efforts, I could not chase down an mp3 of Gira's half of it. So, I uploaded an mp4 video of Gira's side. It's an intense listen! I also uploaded a PDF file of Gira's book "The Consumer". There's an interesting read! So, except for the Body Lovers/Body Haters album, I believe this'll be everything Gira and Jarboe released outside of Swans. I know, there's two Angels of Light albums missing. I'll put them in the next post.
And since it took this much digging to find, needless to say you won't see all this together anywhere else!
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Gira "I'm an Infant, I Worship Him" Video Download
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I AM NOT INSANE Download
Another good solo gig. Don't know what else to say.
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LIVING '02 Download
An audience recording of a solo acoustic gig in Portugal. The sound isn't the best, but it's a great, intimate gig.
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JARBOE EMERGENCY MEDICAL FUND (LIVE) Download
Recorded at Tonic in NY in '99. A mostly solo set, with some guests.
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SOMNILOQUIST Download
Gira does spoken word! This has got to be the most amazing find of all this stuff. Gira reads from his
writings, circa 2000. His voice is as suited to live speaking as it is for singing. A very eloquent man, to say the least. Amazing stuff.
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WHAT WE DID Download
An album Gira recorded with D. Matz. Don't know anything about him, but I like the album. Similar in feel to some of the Angels and solo stuff, but with a different instrumental texture.
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SOLO RECORDINGS AT HOME Download
Wow, this is a stark one. An utterly naked recording, like a cross between early Jandek and Springsteen's "Nebraska".
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SONGS FOR A DOG Download
Another great Gira and a guitar recording. He does several songs from "Sings Other People" as well as a few I'm not familiar with.
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GIRA MISCELLANEOUS Download
I came across a few scraps that I just had to put together. First is a live duet between Gira and Xiu Xiu of Queen's "Under Pressure"! It's not quite Annie Lennox/David Bowie, but hearing Gira sing that whole "Love's just an old fashioned word" verse is something I never thought I'd hear. Then comes an audience recording of a solo acoustic "Helpless Child" from 2014. The mp3 file said "Tascam DR-40". Then is a live recording from Primavera Sound on WFMU. My brain is too fried to tell what song he's doing. Then is what sounds like the audio part of a video interview. Skip to the 3:30 mark. Gira tells some interesting stories about backpacking. The interviewer sounds like he's 12 though. Lastly, there is an interview with him on "Thelema Now!", an Aleister Crowley-related podcast. This is an interesting one: Gira talks about the intensity and transcendence of live
performance. He also talks about the beginning of Angels of Light. Intensive interview. Hope someone likes this grab bag.
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I'm also putting a link back up here for the Angels of Light's "We Are Him", since it didn't get any downloads in Post 3! DOWNLOAD
Jarboe's solo material will be covered in the next (and last?) Swans post, in about a week. And then I'm gonna tuck all my Swans away for quite a long time. Immersion gets tiring!
Howdthehellyougethere.blogspot.com
Which, if you enjoy this blog might interest you as well, please check it out.......anyway, this Swans thing (there will also be a part 5) has been a huge labor of love for him, he's worked tirelessly (God knows how many hours he's put in on it), but Swans are kind of different in that they had a HUGE discography in thier long career, as well as a lot of side-projects etc........if you've been following the Swans stuff up until now, obviously this stuff will be of interest to you....it focuses primarily on some pretty rare solo stuff from Swans main man Michael Gira, some of which I had never even heard of.......as I said, Swans had a HUGE recorded output, this is NOT where one would want to start (go back to part 1), but if you are SERIOUSLY into the band's slow, tortured brand of minimalism, you'll want to clear a bit of space for these as well........that being said, and since it's HIS post anyway, here's Brian to tell you all about it....enjoy, and be sure and thank him (as well as visit him on his site) should this be of interest to you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SWANS Part 4! Rare Gira Solo Stuff
Don't you just love the internet? You're 8 or 9 pages into a Google search, and you come across a blog/search engine/mp3 site that has awesome stuff, and you can't even remember how you got there?
Anyway, without my planning - I thought I had found everything I could - here is Swans Part 4! I've discovered this as I've assembled it, so I'll only provide the briefest of opinions on each.
A SPECIAL NOTE - the music site I found had all these songs singly, so one by one they had to be downloaded, tagged, given cover art and relevant info, and then zipped. And it's just me and my iPhone 4, folks....so I want comments, adoration, etc.
Chasing down this stuff, I heard about a spoken word cassette Gira released with Lydia Lunch in 1984 called "Hard Rock". Despite me and BigScott's best efforts, I could not chase down an mp3 of Gira's half of it. So, I uploaded an mp4 video of Gira's side. It's an intense listen! I also uploaded a PDF file of Gira's book "The Consumer". There's an interesting read! So, except for the Body Lovers/Body Haters album, I believe this'll be everything Gira and Jarboe released outside of Swans. I know, there's two Angels of Light albums missing. I'll put them in the next post.
And since it took this much digging to find, needless to say you won't see all this together anywhere else!
Gira "I'm an Infant, I Worship Him" Video Download
I AM NOT INSANE Download
Another good solo gig. Don't know what else to say.
LIVING '02 Download
An audience recording of a solo acoustic gig in Portugal. The sound isn't the best, but it's a great, intimate gig.
THE CONSUMER (Book) Download
JARBOE EMERGENCY MEDICAL FUND (LIVE) Download
Recorded at Tonic in NY in '99. A mostly solo set, with some guests.
SOMNILOQUIST Download
Gira does spoken word! This has got to be the most amazing find of all this stuff. Gira reads from his
writings, circa 2000. His voice is as suited to live speaking as it is for singing. A very eloquent man, to say the least. Amazing stuff.
WHAT WE DID Download
An album Gira recorded with D. Matz. Don't know anything about him, but I like the album. Similar in feel to some of the Angels and solo stuff, but with a different instrumental texture.
SOLO RECORDINGS AT HOME Download
Wow, this is a stark one. An utterly naked recording, like a cross between early Jandek and Springsteen's "Nebraska".
SONGS FOR A DOG Download
Another great Gira and a guitar recording. He does several songs from "Sings Other People" as well as a few I'm not familiar with.
GIRA MISCELLANEOUS Download
I came across a few scraps that I just had to put together. First is a live duet between Gira and Xiu Xiu of Queen's "Under Pressure"! It's not quite Annie Lennox/David Bowie, but hearing Gira sing that whole "Love's just an old fashioned word" verse is something I never thought I'd hear. Then comes an audience recording of a solo acoustic "Helpless Child" from 2014. The mp3 file said "Tascam DR-40". Then is a live recording from Primavera Sound on WFMU. My brain is too fried to tell what song he's doing. Then is what sounds like the audio part of a video interview. Skip to the 3:30 mark. Gira tells some interesting stories about backpacking. The interviewer sounds like he's 12 though. Lastly, there is an interview with him on "Thelema Now!", an Aleister Crowley-related podcast. This is an interesting one: Gira talks about the intensity and transcendence of live
performance. He also talks about the beginning of Angels of Light. Intensive interview. Hope someone likes this grab bag.
I'm also putting a link back up here for the Angels of Light's "We Are Him", since it didn't get any downloads in Post 3! DOWNLOAD
Jarboe's solo material will be covered in the next (and last?) Swans post, in about a week. And then I'm gonna tuck all my Swans away for quite a long time. Immersion gets tiring!
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So there we have it, another fine aned comprehensive post from one of my blogging friends, all of whom have helped develop the blog into what I want it to be (the MORE who contribute stuff the BETTER and i TRULY mean that.......all of us bloggers (for the most part anyway, there are a few weird exceptions) truly ARE about sharing, and to me it is 1000% of the game.....I want EVERYONE IN THE WORLD to have what they consider their "perfect" music collection (as well, of course as printed word, comics, photography, whatever is cool and shareable).....the more of you great folks that I can get involved in the process, the better for ALL of us........thanks to brian, and, of course to Apantabapanta, Dave Sez, Cliff, Andie James, and a score more who do so much to help keep things flowing and keep the sharing at maximum level......as long as you guys (and the more add-ons, the better) continue to help me out, i vow I will NEVER let you or the rest of the blogosphere down, I will continue to do this as long as there is life in my lungs. Honestly, it is important to me, and I want as much participation as possible.....it's not "my" blog, it's "ours" and let's ALL do our best to make sure that EVERYONE is accomodated.
This might be a good time to ONCE AGAIN state my policy on re-upping dead links......I get requests EVERY DAY for them, several a day......there is NO WAY IN HELL I can honor them all, as much as I'd like to........my policy is, and will continue to be, if you wish for a dead link to be re-upped (and it is a BIT of work, to be honest), please, please, please, please.....FIRST offer to do something FOR THE OVERALL GOOD OF THE BLOG.....not for "me", that's NOT the idea......the idea is that we ARE "sharing", certainly you have SOMETHING to offer everyone else out there....I LOVE to recieve stuff like tapes of bar bands, amatuer demos, homemade compilations, audience recorded bootlegs, ANYTHING that COULD BE of interest to someone else (not necessarily ME)......it DOES NOT have even to be music.....I love novels, comic books, photography collections.....hell, send recipes, your own short stories/essays, film/music/TV reviews, editorial views.....I don't care WHAT, I don't even especially care about the quality (although I do to a degree, let's not be ridiculous), what I care about is that if you contact me and ask me to do extra work to provide you with something, that YOU care enough to offer something in return, NOT to ME, but to EVERYONE who spends time here........please think, if you want one of my old dead links, CERTAINLY you have SOMETHING that the rest of the audience, or a portion of, at least, will appreciate. Sharing, your Mom told you it was the right thing to do. She was right.