Why are we alive?

[J.]

listening to the Great Annihilator now, thanks to the CD-r npearce sent me.

OK, first couple of songs are kinda meh, borderline annoying. By song #6, things definitely got better, and I'm actually enjoying this now. If only all the songs could like #9

 

[Nate The Great]

Dreamlord: That album is one of the "deep" albums, and songs kind of build on each other. Plus the Swans style is kind either hit or miss. It doesn't exactly fit in with any one genre/style of music.

NAD - Love of Life and White Light from the Mouth of Infinity are two companion albums . . . basically. They are also pretty expensive to find. I wouldn't say one is better than the other, and they sound pretty similar in style. I could send a copy of one of those and probably Filth for some early stuff. Email me your address again. I lost if from the last time. npearce@ultimatemetal.com

 

[NAD]

DAmmit, just got home from my bro's pad, his woman coated my drunken passed out ass with a blankey so I tossed my shoes off, put them back on, came home, left the Great Annhilater at his place;...... hpe he apperecaties it.

 

[Nate The Great]

I think the albums most related to the Swans stuff that Dreamlord likes are:

Love of Life
White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
Various Failures (not a real "album", just a compilation)
Soundtracks for the Blind (the easiest/cheapest to find)

 

[J.]

OK. THe Great Annihilator.

Much better than Cop/Young God. In fact, I really dig a lot of the songs. "Blood Promise", "Warm", and the totally awesome "Mind/Body/Light/Sound" are the best on the album. If they have a CD full of songs like these, I would get it without hesitation. But this album is not perfect. There is some filler, which is expected with 16 songs, I guess. "Celebrity Lifestyle" is just plain annoying, as are all of the first 5 songs, except the one with the hand-clapping which is nifty.

Gira has a cool ass voice. Again, much better than Cop/Young God. The guy definitely improved to the nth degree. Jarboe gets on my nerves. I didn't like her voice on Neurosis & Jarboe, and I don't like it now. I can tolerate her for a while, but it gets to be too much.

Final assessment: Much better than I expected. Pleasantly surprised.

 

[NAD]

I asked for my Swans CD back from my bro, and he said "NO! It RULES!!!" So there's another convert.

 

[Nate The Great]

OK. THe Great Annihilator.

Much better than Cop/Young God. In fact, I really dig a lot of the songs. "Blood Promise", "Warm", and the totally awesome "Mind/Body/Light/Sound" are the best on the album. If they have a CD full of songs like these, I would get it without hesitation. But this album is not perfect. There is some filler, which is expected with 16 songs, I guess. "Celebrity Lifestyle" is just plain annoying, as are all of the first 5 songs, except the one with the hand-clapping which is nifty.

Gira has a cool ass voice. Again, much better than Cop/Young God. The guy definitely improved to the nth degree. Jarboe gets on my nerves. I didn't like her voice on Neurosis & Jarboe, and I don't like it now. I can tolerate her for a while, but it gets to be too much.

Final assessment: Much better than I expected. Pleasantly surprised.

J. (whoever you are ) you might think about getting Various Failures. It is a swell comiplation of slightly different versions of songs from Children of God era, and White Light/Love of Life era Swans. Chedsey has a good review of it. Or you could just dish out about $50 for White Light and Love of Life.

Oh . . . and you might as well buy The Great Annihilator. That way you can have the excellent lyrics. It goes pretty cheap on ebay.

 

[NAD]

What the shit? Dude Dreamlord is going through a mid-UM-life crisis or something, avatars flying around the room, names being dropped left and right...

Got my Swans CD back.

 

[Black Winter Day]

J.?!? hell no, that shit ain't working. "the poster formerly known as dreamlord" is fucking better than "J."

 

[JayKeeley]

Is Dreamlord in a fucking Witness Protection Program or something? What did you do man, shag the bosses wife?

 

[Demonspell]

Unless he's trying to be anonymous on the GMD (not 2001), I can't see the logic behind this...

 

[Nate The Great]

I kind of want to change my name . . . to remove my last name. But then my name is all over the front of UM anyway.

How did you get your name changed Dreamlord . . . I mean J.? I thought you had to get Mark to allow it or something. I guess I've never looked into it.

 

[Black Winter Day]

phyre ---> Erik made sense since he goes by Erik at RC
Dreamlord ---> J. why?
Black Winter Day ---> Pretentious Asshole makes sense

 

[JayKeeley]

Oh god.

So npearce --> n.

 

[NAD]

There's a name change forum here, I've considered changing mine to ARES (my initials) or just Adrian, but then how am I supposed to yell "I AM GONAD THE BARBARIAN!!!" while drunk?

 

[J.]

Geez, people. J is short for Jeff. Nothing fancy. No logic behind it, Just got tired of the dumb pseudonym. After almost two years with the same stuff, I thought it was time to graduate to something else.

Nathan, I just PM'd Russell, and he was cool enough to change it for me.

 

[Nate The Great]

So Russell has that authority? I wonder if I do?

 

[Nate The Great]

So I've been listening to Swans stuff that none of you have . . . and stuff that some of you have.

Is it just me, or does the song "Her" make you cry like a little girl?

White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Love of Life are two of the best CDs ever. EVER!

For the totally sorrowful and melancholic effect of Michael Gira and his acoustic guitar, check out The Angels of Light. Especially 'How I Loved You' . . . a reference to his parents. Quite touching.

 

[Furious B]

I actually just bought The Great Annihilator today on a whim for 8 dollars. So far, it has some neat moments while others are fairly lame. I think the procduction is a little shabby, but not too bad. I could see myself getting into it though, as some of it seems very interesting.

 

[Russell]

There's a name change forum here, I've considered changing mine to ARES (my initials) or just Adrian, but then how am I supposed to yell "I AM GONAD THE BARBARIAN!!!" while drunk?

You know, if you ever ask for a name change it is going to be "I AM GONAD THE BARBARIAN!!!" for several days before going to what you want?

Yeah, there's a name changes forum if peeps want a name changed they can just post there, or PM/mail me.. But I'll still post the name change in the forum as a reference so people don't get lost