The Seer (Swans Album)
''The Seer'' is the twelfth studio album by American experimental music, experimental rock band Swans (band), Swans and was released on August 28, 2012 by Gira's own record label Young God Records. Producer and frontman Michael Gira funded the recording of the album with the sales of ''We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head''. While the previous studio album ''My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky'' was seen as a cross between Gira's solo project Angels of Light and Swans discography, late Swans, ''The Seer'' strayed away from Angels of Light's more accessible songs and lyricism, focusing more around sonic landscapes. The album features a variety of instrumentation and guest musicians, including the post-punk band Yeah Yeah Yeahs vocalist Karen O and former Swans member Jarboe. The album is noteworthy due to its extended song lengths, particularly its over thirty minute title track, as well as its frequent experimentation with drone music, drone and noise music, noise ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Swans (band)
Swans is an American experimental rock band formed in 1982 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have become recognized for an ever-changing sound, exploring genres such as noise rock, post-punk, industrial music, industrial and post-rock. Initially, their music was known for its sonic brutality and misanthropic lyrics. Following the addition of singer, songwriter and keyboardist Jarboe in 1986, Swans began to incorporate melody and intricacy into their music. Jarboe remained the band's only constant member except Gira and semi-constant guitarist Norman Westberg until their dissolution in 1997. In 2010, Gira re-formed the band without Jarboe, establishing a stable lineup of musicians which has toured worldwide and released four albums to critical acclaim. This iteration of the group performed its last shows in November 2017, ending the tour ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Experimental Music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, institutionalized compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions in music. Elements of experimental music include Indeterminacy in music, indeterminate music, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. Artists may also approach a hybrid of disparate styles or incorporate unorthodox and unique elements. The practice became prominent in the mid-20th century, particularly in Europe and North America. John Cage was one of the earliest composers to use the term and one of experimental music's primary innovators, utilizing Indeterminacy (music), indeterminacy techniques and seeking unknown outcomes. In France, as early as 1953, Pierre Schaeffer had ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Simon Henwood
Simon Henwood (born, 31 March 1965 in Portsmouth, England) is a British artist, author, film director, and music video director. Henwood first gained attention as a children's writer and later on for his paintings inspired by adolescence, as well as combining "darkness and hip together". He is best known for directing Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" and being the creative force behind Rihanna's ''Rated R'' album campaign. Henwood was in a relationship with Irish singer-songwriter Róisín Murphy. Career In 1986, Henwood received his Bachelor of Arts from Exeter College of Art and Design in Devon. Many of Henwood's paintings focus on the experiences and consequences of youth. His work has been showcased by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and Asprey Jacques, Manhattan's envoy enterprises, New York's Bronwyn Keenan Gallery, and Santa Monica's Richard Heller Gallery. Henwood authored and illustrated a series of children's books that were published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater, visual arts, travel, and the Internet. History ''PopMatters'' was founded by Sarah Zupko, who had previously established the cultural studies academic resource site PopCultures. ''PopMatters'' launched in late 1999 as a sister site providing original essays, reviews and criticism of various media products. Over time, the site went from a weekly publication schedule to a five-day-a-week magazine format, expanding into regular reviews, features, and columns. In the fall of 2005, monthly readership exceeded one million. From 2006 onward, ''PopMatters'' produced several syndicated newspaper columns for McClatchy-Tribune News Service. By 2009 there were four different pop culture related col ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Glowing Man
''The Glowing Man'' is the fourteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans, released on June 17, 2016 on Young God and Mute. It is considered the third and final part of a three-album "trilogy", the other two parts being ''The Seer'' and ''To Be Kind''. The song "The World Looks Red/The World Looks Black" contains lyrics written by frontman Michael Gira that were used in the Sonic Youth song "The World Looks Red" in 1983; the music is new, with no relation to the earlier version. Swans and Sonic Youth both developed in the early 1980s post-punk/ no wave scene of New York City, and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore was an early member of Swans appearing on the live album ''Body to Body, Job to Job'' (recorded 1982–85, released 1991). The title track for ''The Glowing Man'' has previously been referred to as "Black Hole Man" and " Black-Eyed Man" and includes a section of "Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture" from the 2014 album ''To Be Kind''. The song "When Will ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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To Be Kind
''To Be Kind'' is the thirteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans, released on May 12, 2014. It was released as a triple LP, a double CD, and a two-CD deluxe edition that includes a live DVD of performances from Hellfest Open Air Festival, Pitchfork Music Festival and Primavera Sound Festival, as well as a digital download. Critical reception of the album was very positive, continuing a string of well-received albums from the band. The album peaked at number 37 on US ''Billboard'' 200, and debuted at number 38 on the UK Albums Chart. Both are the highest chartings that Swans had ever achieved on a studio album and it is the first time that the band cracked the top 40 in both countries. Background ''To Be Kind'' was produced by frontman Michael Gira and recorded by John Congleton at Sonic Ranch and at Congleton's studio in Dallas. Rehearsing commenced at Sonic Ranch in October 2013 and recording began soon after. Mixing was completed with Congleton in Decem ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Noise Music
Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music includes a wide range of musical styles and sound-based creative practices that feature noise as a primary aspect. Noise music can feature acoustically or electronically generated noise, and both traditional and unconventional musical instruments. It may incorporate live machine sounds, non-musical vocal techniques, physically manipulated audio media, processed sound recordings, field recording, computer-generated noise, stochastic process, and other randomly produced electronic signals such as distortion, feedback, static, hiss and hum. There may also be emphasis on high volume levels and lengthy, continuous pieces. More generally noise music may contain aspects such as improvisation, extended technique, cacophony ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drone Music
Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece. La Monte Young, one of its 1960s originators, defined it in 2000 as "the sustained tone branch of minimalism". Overview Music which contains drones and is rhythmically still or very slow, called "drone music",For information on early and other uses of drones in music around the world, see for example (American Musicological Society, ''JAMS'' (''Journal of the American Musicological Society''), 1959, p255 "Remarks such as those on drone effects produced by double pipes with an unequal number of holes provoke thoughts about the mystery of drone music in antiquity and about primitive polyphony.") or (Barry S. Brook & al., ''Perspectives in Musicology'', W. W. Norton, 1972, , p85 "My third example of the f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jarboe
Jarboe Devereaux, known mononymously as Jarboe (), is an American singer and musician who came to prominence as a member of the New York City experimental rock band Swans in 1985. Jarboe and Michael Gira, the founder of Swans, were the two constant members of the group until it broke up in 1997. Although absent from the group's lineup when the band reformed in 2010, Jarboe contributed background vocals and voice collage for the band's 2012 album, ''The Seer''. She has released numerous solo albums and collaborations, many of which have been self-published. She also co-composed the soundtrack of the 2009 psychological horror game '' The Path''. Life and career Jarboe was born in Mississippi and raised in the Southern United States, primarily in New Orleans and Atlanta. Her father was a police detective who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and whom she has described as "the ultimate law-enforcement man".Chonin, Nieva (1995).Birds of Prey," San Francisco Bay G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Karen O
Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978) is a South Korean-born American singer, musician, and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist for the indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Early life She was born in Seoul, South Korea, the daughter of a Korean mother and a Polish father. The family eventually moved to Englewood, New Jersey, where she grew up and graduated from The Elisabeth Morrow School and Dwight-Englewood School. About her childhood, she stated that "it's almost embarrassing how well-behaved I was, which is probably why I do things like spit water on myself on stage as an adult". She attended Oberlin College before transferring to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Career O is known as the lead vocalist for the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She has also been noted for her sense of fashion, wearing ostentatious outfits made by her friend, fashion designer Christian Joy. In the early days of the band, she became well-known for her outrageous antics during live shows ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo (formerly of Slint and Tortoise), who joined as a touring member in 2009 and replaced Imaad Wasif, who had previously held the role. According to an interview that aired during ABC's ''Live from Central Park SummerStage'' series, the band's name was taken from modern New York City vernacular. The band has recorded five studio albums; the first, ''Fever to Tell'', was released in 2003. The second, ''Show Your Bones'', was released in 2006 and was named the second best album of the year by ''NME''. Their third studio album, '' It's Blitz!'', was released in March 2009. All three albums earned the band Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Music Album. Their fourth album, ''Mosquito' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines. The early post-punk vanguard was represented by groups including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire, Public Image Ltd, the Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, Magazine, Pere Ubu, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Devo, Gang of Four, the Slits, the Cure, and the Fall. The movement was closely related to the development of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |