RhoDeo 1444 Aetix

Hello, after all complaints of faulty links and mangled zips i've decided to re-up everything since sundaze 1443 this time zipped on a windows system, although not functioning properly anyway lot's of work 16 rezips and re-uploads...go get them..!!

Today an American experimental rock band originally active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in 1982, they employed a shifting lineup of musicians until their dissolution in 1997. Besides Gira, the only other constant members were keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Jarboe from 1984 to 1997, and semi-constant guitarist Norman Westberg. The band became known for its experimental instrumentation and repetitive song structures. In 2010 Gira reformed the band although without Jarboe.....N'Joy

All flacs have been re-upped 2nd December 2014
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Swans were born during the heyday of New York's no wave reaction to punk rock, on the Lower East Side. Led by brainchild, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Michael Gira, the group was formed after the demise of his first New York outfit, Circus Mort. Swans' first lineup consisted of Gira, guitarist Sue Hanel, and drummer Jonathan Kane. The trio played with kindred spirits Sonic Youth and did some rudimentary recordings that showcased the abrasive, percussively assaultive sonics Swans were later identified with. These initial sides surfaced on the Body to Body, Job to Job compilation. A different lineup included Kane, guitarist Bob Pezzola, and Daniel Galli-Duani on saxophone; they released a self-titled EP in 1982. The personnel changed again for the band's powerful debut, Filth, issued in 1983 on Germany's Zensor imprint. It included Gira, Kane, guitarist Norman Westberg, bassist Harry Crosby, and percussionist/drummer Roli Mosimann.

Swans began to garner an audience in Europe. Kane left after Filth was released, and Swans, who were becoming known for their sheer musical brutality as well as Gira's lyrics about violence, extreme sex, power, rage, and the margins of human depravity (sometimes in the same song), began to garner a cult following at home with the release of 1984's Cop. The sound was essentially the same: extreme volume, slower than molasses tempos, detuned guitars, distorted electronics, and overamped drums and percussion, but there were discernible traces of something approaching melody in Gira's compositions and vocalizing. Further evidence of this new "accessibility" was heard on 1985's untitled EP, which featured the provocatively titled "Raping a Slave." It later became the EP's title. Swans' touring was relentless, and while anything even approaching popularity avoided them in the United States, their European audiences grew exponentially.

The band issued the EP Time Is Money (Bastard) and the full-length Greed at the beginning of 1986 and another album, Holy Money, and the A Screw EP later. Holy Money marked a real change in the band's sound, though its tactics were largely the same: the entrance into the band of two new influential presences: vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe and bassist Algis Kizys, who began, albeit subtly at first, to shift the band's attack into something less assaultive sonically yet no less jarring emotionally. Jarboe and Kizys would remain members of Swans until the group's extended hiatus began in 1997. Jarboe, who actually was a member of the band as early as Holy Money, would become a settled, foil-like presence for Gira as co-lead vocalist. Her presence signified the addition of a new set of dynamics and textures to the more brutal soundscapes the band put forth in its past. That said, when called upon to do so, she was no less primal or forceful than Gira as a singer.

In 1987 the band moved to Caroline Records and issued Children of God, a double album that marked the real transition between the two parts of the band’s sound. Gira openly embraced the softer aspects being added to Swans' sonic architecture. Further evidence is provided by the beginning of Gira and Jarboe’s new side project, Skin (World of Skin in the United States), whose first album, Blood, Women, Roses, on which Jarboe was featured on lead vocals, was released. A subsequent album, Shame, Humility, Revenge, with Gira on lead vocals, was also recorded at the same time, but released a year later. The German-only Swans set Real Love, a semi-official bootleg, was issued in 1987. Another double album, Feel Good Now, was issued by Rough Trade Records in 1988. Interestingly, despite Swans gaining attention for their own material (they regularly appeared in the pages of the British weeklies and each new release brought more laudatory ink) and even placing albums on the indie charts' lower rungs, it was ironically a single, a cover of Joy Division's immortal "Love Will Tear Us Apart," that climbed the independent charts in June, and nearly topped them.

Fantastically, Swans were offered -- and signed -- a contract with major label MCA Records. "Saved," their first single for the label, was almost mainstream, given the band’s roots. The subsequent album, The Burning World, produced by Bill Laswell, featured another cover; this one a gorgeous reading of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home." The aggressive, savage brutality of the band’s earlier recorded sound had been almost entirely supplanted by a much more somber, elegiac, and acoustic approach to music-making, with lyrics sung (rather than shouted or screamed) in duet between Gira and Jarboe; Westberg played as much acoustic guitar as electric, Jarboe’s keyboards all but floated through the mix, and Kizys employed the upper ranges of his bass as never before. The record didn't sell enough to please MCA, however, and the band was dropped.

Live performances from Swans were another story. The group continued to play violent music at outrageous volumes that were punishing for audience members, and sometimes displayed shocking and provocative stage antics. Crowds only grew. With critical backlash mounting and the band faced with new listeners, Gira gambled -- or reacted, depending on whose point of view one listens to. Instead of following up The Burning World with another album, he formed his own label, Young God, and spent the next few years reissuing earlier Swans material. Gira and Jarboe issued their final World of Skin album, Ten Songs for Another World, in 1990, but Swans didn’t release another album until the stellar White Light from the Mouth of Infinity appeared in 1991. It was their most commercially viable yet adventurously experimental set to date, with a myriad of textures, dynamics, and sophisticated production techniques. Various forms of electronics were added to the other instruments, creating depth and dimension in the band’s sound. The band toured the album in front of its largest audiences. In 1992 Swans issued the full-length Love of Life and the live set Omniscience.

In 1993 Jarboe released her first solo project, Beautiful People Ltd., in collaboration with keyboardist Lary Seven, offering an entirely different side of her mysterious multi-octave vocal persona in Swans -- it was a collection of neo-psychedelic pop songs. Gira, meanwhile, wrote fiction in earnest, resulting in the publication of his first book, The Consumer and Other Stories, published by Henry Rollins' 2.13.61 Press in 1995. Swans also resurfaced with the lauded The Great Annihilator. Jarboe issued her second solo offering, Sacrificial Cake, and Gira released his first solo album, Drainland, to boot. After touring with all the new material, the band reconvened later in the year to begin recording Soundtracks for the Blind, which was issued by Young God in 1996. The band did a final tour before Gira announced in early 1997 that Swans were finished. He began a new recording project that focused on his songwriting called the Angels of Light, and continued running Young God, a label that became an innovative force in independent music. Jarboe pursued a successful solo career, often employing former members of Swans as well as collaborating with artists including Tool's Maynard James Keenan and Jesu's Justin Broadrick, to name just two of the dozens. Gira also continued writing and publishing fiction.

In 2009, news surfaced via the Young God home page that Gira might reconvene Swans for a set of songs he had written. In early 2010 the words "SWANS ARE NOT DEAD" appeared on his MySpace page. The new version of the band consisted of former as well as new members including guitarists Westberg and Christoph Hahn, drummer/percussionist Phil Puleo and drummer Thor Harris, and bassist Chris Pravdica. The band recorded the album My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, which was released in September of 2010 on Young God. The live album We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head followed in 2012. In August of that year, Swans released the sprawling double album The Seer, an album that Gira claimed was 30 years in the making. Gira and his collaborators were hardly short on ideas by this point, and in 2014 they released another double album, To Be Kind, which featured guest vocals from St. Vincent.

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With only Gira and Kane carrying over from the first EP's lineup, the truly bizarre thing about Swans' first full release is that, in its own angry beyond all anger way, you can actually dance to it at very brief points. Admittedly, spasmodic jerking-around might be the more expected response (and given that Gira physically attacked an audience member at a show around the time of this album's release for "getting into it too much," maybe the safer one). But the point remains that the overwhelming angst-and-death on songs like "Big Strong Boss," with lyrics like "Cut my throat, kill me snake, do what I say, you're the boss, " sometimes gets married close enough to a groove that it's almost surprising. For the most part, though, the drums (courtesy in part of future Young Gods producer Roli Mosimann) pound away almost like a ritual, doomy bass and grinding guitars sound like prime Black Sabbath at even danker levels of destruction, and Gira sounds like he's ripping his soul from his throat every time another lyric is half-barked, half-wailed, sometimes with a little electronic distortion help. As might be guessed, the only light in the lyrical tunnels comes from an oncoming train, as song titles like "Power for Power" and "Weakling" would indicate; even "Thank You" has lines such as "This smells sour, burn my face." Norman Westberg's guitar work has a definite power to it, and occasional studio manipulations like the chopped up/sped up "Freak" keep things interesting, but by the end it all gets a bit much. In small doses, though, it's great, and early Swans really is like little else on the planet before or since.

Swans - Fllth  (flac 364mb)

01 Stay Here 5:35
02 Big Strong Boss 3:01
03 Blackout 3:40
04 Power For Power 5:52
05 Freak 1:13
06 Right Wrong 4:40
07 Thank You 3:45
08 Weakling 5:18
09 Gang 3:14
E.P. 1982
10 Speak 4:28
11 Laugh 4:04
12 Sensitive Skin 6:05
13 Take Advantage 4:30

Swans - Fllth   (ogg 134mb)

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Consisting of a four-piece lineup -- Mosimann on drums, Westberg on guitar, Harry Crosby on bass, and naturally Gira on vocals -- on their second full album Swans add even more vicious crunch to their basic approach, resulting in quite possibly one of the darkest recordings ever done. Gira's words come across a little more forcefully and cleanly than before, and the existential horror shows that he details, almost always phrased in confessional/accusatory "I - you" terms, make up in sheer power what they lack in any kind of subtlety. For example, typical lyrics, from the snarling "Your Property" state: "I give you money -- you're superior. I don't exist. You control me." Matching his at-times unearthly moans and cries perfectly, the pounding music mostly consists of one slow, descending chord progression or a repetitive series of one or two notes after another, extending the power of loud feedback and amped drums to indescribably forceful effect. The opening grind alone on "Why Hide," as Westberg stretches out his strings behind Mosimann and Crosby's pummeling, is crushing enough before Gira delivers a harrowing vocal. The most legendary track from the album is the title cut; as a vicious anti-boys-in-blue rant finds its equal only in N.W.A.'s "Fuck Da Police." With such thoroughly bilious Gira lines as "Nobody rapes you like a cop in jail" providing the mental pictures, a slow, steady punch of music gets slowly but surely more aggressive and destructive as the song unfolds to its raging conclusion. Jim Thirlwell, aka Foetus, helps contribute to the apocalyptic noise on the release, but you somehow figure that Swans would have reached this state quite well on their own regardless. Ugly, compelling, and overpowering, Cop remains the pinnacle of Swans' brutal early days.

From the same sessions that produced the Cop album come these four numbers (collectively called, after the fact, the Young God EP), which understandably approach the level of total intensity in that release. Though there's not much in the way of difference from the Cop sound, a few interesting turns surface, showing that the band grew even more creative and powerful as they went. "I Crawled," the first song, has Gira initially huskily singing rather than raging or declaiming, which leads to an ominous, wordless, overdubbed choir effect; the contrast of his haunted vocals with the music (especially Mosimann's percussion, even more pinpoint-pounding and ominously echoed here) takes no prisoners, especially when everything goes completely haywire towards the end. "Raping a Slave," possibly the definitive Swans songtitle, and "This Is Mine" both contribute well, as expected, to the aura of destruction lingering over the release, but "Young God" is another main winner, with crushing drum/bass hits counterpointed by an at-times oddly gentle guitar and Gira's near-wordless wails. An excellent four-song précis of Swans at that time.

This initial reissue of the Cop album and the initially untitled 1984 EP benefits from a full remastering overseen by Gira; no new or otherwise unavailable tracks were included beyond the original contents. At the time of its release, this double album was quite important given the out-of-print status of the original releases; however, this particular pairing has since been superseded by the Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money release in 1999.

Swans - Cop + Young God  (flac 488mb)

Cop
01 Half Life 4:18
02 Job 4:45
03 Why Hide 5:50
04 Clay Man 5:05
05 Your Property 4:46
06 Cop 6:47
07 Butcher 4:00
08 Thug 5:10
Young God
09 I Crawled 5:39
10 Raping A Slave 6:22
11 Young God 7:03
12 This Is Mine 5:24

Swans - Cop + Young God   (ogg 171mb)

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This re-release, from the original series of Swans reissues done in the early 1990s, is at once less and more than the title indicates, following the pattern established by the 1988 American release of the material by the Skin side project. Rather than being a straight collection of these two albums, in fact the disc also collects the A-sides from the "Time Is Money (Bastard)" and "A Screw" singles, along with the A Screw B-side "Blackmail," while subtracting the original version of "Fool" from Greed and the second version of "Money is Flesh" from Holy Money. To top it all off, the running order of all the tracks has been completely rearranged. Given that all the songs were essentially recorded at the same session and that the two albums were complementary releases, no noticeable difference in style from song to song is apparent. The sequencing works quite well in any event, and Gira's choice of songs really can't be argued with, only leaving off as he does alternate takes of album tracks rather than wholly unique songs. Still, it can be a bit distracting to the hardcore fan or collector. Those simply interested in the excellent music won't be disappointed, but this release has since been fully superseded by the Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money re-release from 1999.

Swans - Greed + Holy Money (flac 493mb)

01 Time Is Money (Bastard) 6:19
02 Money Is Flesh 4:57
03 Another You 7:47
04 Blackmail 4:42
05 A Screw (Holy Money) 5:04
06 Fool 5:51
07 Stupid Child 5:21
08 Anything For You 4:22
09 Nobody 4:41
10 A Screw 5:39
11 Heaven 4:54
12 Coward 5:08
13 A Hanging 5:48
14 You Need Me 1:22
15 Greed 6:13

Swans - Greed + Holy Money  (ogg 177mb)

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