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Swans are the most overrated band on /mu/
Early Swans is literally metal/or hardcore for people who are too pussy, too pretentious, or too ADHD to enjoy those genres. That's why every track just repeats almost the same damn thing with no variation to water heavy music down for plebs.
Children Of God is Industrial for babies who are too scared to get into the much wilder and often harsher experiences of masters like Throbbing Gristle or Einstürzende Neubauten.
Neo-folk era Swans is for people who got too intimidated by the complexities of the arrangements of folk geniuses like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and now Joanna Newsom so instead these people listen to the most repetitive folk songs on the planet. Shit, at least the really old as shit folk songs were not this long even if just as repetitive.
Soundtracks For The Blind is touted as their masterpiece, but it's really just Swans' gimmick record. On the surface it will impress anyone not experienced with a variety of music, because it sure does bring some variety, but a closer look will show just how awful it is. Take a track like Helpless Child for example. In a world where we have bands like Talk Talk and Godspeed You! Black Emperor who make these long dirges with constant changes, we have this track that makes very little changes if at all until later into the song when giant drones start to take over. Or what about Volcano, which, even though it's a dancey electronic track, has none of the percussive intricacy outside the main percussion heard in the beginning to make the track groove better like the best house/techno.
But perhaps the worst is their latest output, which does what potential GOAT krautrock contender band Amon Düül II did on their improv tracks, yet do it with every. Single. Track. Shit, they don't even have actual cool ass riffs to bookend the builds like ADII either, just bland builds.
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Nice pasta
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>>74215766
IMAGINE BEING THIS MAD THAT YOUR ONLY CRITUQE IS CALL EVERYTHING BABYS FIRST ARTIST
LMAO
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>>74215766
One band being compared to such a wide variety of great musicians is hardly much of a criticism.
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kys your fucking self my main man
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>>74215766
>Early Swans is literally metal
Stopped reading right there. You are the dumbest motherfucker I had the displeasure of reading a post from this entire week. Congratulations.
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>>74216017
>>74215834
>>74215799
Its a pasta
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>>74216024
>i-it's a pasta
>being this much of a pussy to refute the facts
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>>74215766
You repeatedly criticize the band for repetitive song structures but this just shows that you have a huge misunderstanding of a huge component in the song structure of a typical Swans song.
Swans typically employ repetition to create either an intense, heavy, crushing effect on their earlier albums, or a hypnotic, psychedelic effect on their later albums. The heaviness of their early music comes not only from the rumbling low end and sludgy textures, but from the way the band will repeatedly beat down on the listener again and again with repetitive chords. To you this may seem "watered down," but to me and many other Swans fans, it produces an intensely thrilling and unique experience. Please note that I am also very familiar with hardcore and metal genres.
On their later albums, repetition is frequently used to suck the listener into a trance like state. Lets talk about Helpless Child since you mentioned it. The songs begins with an absolutely gorgeous ambient texture that blossoms beautifully before transitioning into the acoustic guitar. The progression is repetitive, but that is intentional to enhance the chant-like nature of Gira's brilliant and disturbing lyrics. By this time, the listener is usually completely transfixed in the world of the music, hanging on every word. By the time the texture from the beginning returns, it goes into a pretty keyboard melody, backed by a military drum beat. This segment never fails to leave me completely mesmerized and captured by the world that has been built by the song.
If you want these effects I would suggest trying to listen to the music louder. There is a reason Swans concerts are played at such a notoriously high volume.
As for their later work having no cool riffs, I have to say I think you are simply wrong. I can recall the riff to Screen Shot or a Little God in my Hands instantly.
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>>74216024
Im not op, I just thought id let you know asshat
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>>74215766
i only dont like them because of how loud and obnoxious they are.
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>>74216024
>it's a pasta
nice pasta.
>>74216059
>In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony shitposters blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my own intelligence
This is you.
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>>74215766
Not gonna lie OP, you should probably kill yourself for typing this whole thing out when you clearly misunderstood every Swans album. Which im more than positive you didn't listen to all the way through. So yeah, suicide will prevent you from embarrassing yourself any further.
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