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khaos

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Swans/Various Failures 1988-9192

Swans-White Light from the Mouth of Infinity/ Love of Life

So, as I wrote earlier, I ordered two comps with some overlap of material that I didn't realize. Still both albums cover quite a bit of material that are separate. FA can correct me but my understanding is that Gira was ambivalent about this work. It seemed to be a transition from their earlier albums and their 2000's drone experiments that first fascinated me starting in 2012 with The Seer and continue to be some of my favorite non metal rock/experimental rock albums. 

Gira said in an interview that that their earlier experiments in volume were attracting a macho rock audience he didn't care for (uh, like the guys in Neurosis maybe) and wanted to move in other directions. He also said he thought there was some good material but he was still  learning to write a song. 

One thing I'll say about most of the Swans albums I have between the their new millennium output and their classic reissues and comps is that Gira likes to put out a shit ton of volume of music. Most of these collections are 2-3 discs and there's just an enormous amount of material.

I'm impressed by Various Failures and White Light....Gira and co. were embracing shimmering sounds that you could call "pleasant" or pretty to listen  and include a lot of acoustic or bullshit terms like dark folk of folk noir (all those descriptors for artists like Chelsea Wolfe). There are elements of volume, and weird samples as Gira fans are accustomed to and a lot of experimental sound and taken as a whole the albums is certainly pretty hushed and mellow. Much of it would fit at home on a surreal David Lynch  film soundtrack .

It's all very eclectic. And Gira's inclusion of Jarboe 's amazing voice and solo tracks are a big draw for me. I was wrong about any Joy Division comparisons. I think I often paste on post punk onto idiosyncratic albums that have some level of experimentation or alternative sound that I can't quite put my finger on. 

 

 

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Morphosis - Rise of the Bastard Deities Ireland 2009

 

Morbid Flesh - Reborn In Death, Spain 2011

 

20 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

HOLY FAWN - Dimensional Bleed. I haven't done the wife test yet, but I think this is shoegaze.

REBAELLIUN - Annihilation. This is not shoegaze. It is good.

FALLUJAH - Empyrean. On first listen a bit bland and no standout song. We'll see how it goes after a few more listens.

Fallujah? Really? Drek. That other 20 year old album was pretty good though. Not gonna bother with the gaze right now because I'm in death mode tonight.

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3 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

My Dying Bride - A Map of All Our Failures

Fantastic choice!  I've been a huge fan of My Dying Bride for several years now.  Aaron Stainthorpe is a mastermind.  "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" was the album on which I discovered the band, and I've never looked back!  If I had to pick a favorite album, it would probably be "The Dreadful Hours", but there really aren't any albums that I dislike.  

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