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Monday, November 29, 2021

Swans: Soundtracks for the Blind 1996 - Die Tür Ist Zu 1996 EP (3CD Deluxe Set) 2018

 
One of the most uncompromising rock bands of all time, Michael Gira's Swans are renowned for their

constantly evolving sound, ranging from bleak, brutal noise-rock to spiritual, ethereal folk, as well as their intensely loud, transcendent live performances. Emerging from the downtown New York music scene during the early '80s, the group became notorious for their violent, confrontational shows and dissonant, hypnotically repetitive records such as 1983's Filth.
                                                                                            

Starting with the dirge-like industrial of 1986's Greed, the group's sound became more atmospheric, partially due to the addition of vocalist Jarboe, who gradually became a greater presence within the band.
                                 

Albums such as 1991's White Light from the Mouth of Infinity were significantly more melodic and

elaborately produced than earlier works, even while the band's concerts remained profound spectacles. By the time the group disbanded in 1997, following the previous year's ambitious double album Soundtracks for the Blind, Swans had become an incalculable influence on countless experimental, noise, post-rock, industrial, goth, and metal acts, and their reputation only continued to grow.
                                                                                   

After spending the late '90s and all of the 2000s making apocalyptic folk as the leader of the Angels of Light, Gira re-formed Swans (without Jarboe) in 2010, this time with a largely stable recording and

performing lineup. This incarnation of Swans, while just as intense and uncompromising as previous ones, unexpectedly produced the group's most critically acclaimed and even commercially successful work, with 2014's To Be Kind reaching the Top 40 in both the U.S. and U.K. Gira decided to end Swans' stable lineup in 2017, subsequently working with a revolving cast of participants on 2019's Leaving Meaning.
                                                                            

Soundtracks for the Blind is the tenth studio album by Swans. It was released as a double CD in 1996,

through Young God Records. Soundtracks for the Blind was intended, as suggested by the title, to function as a sort of "soundtrack for a non-existent film." It was the last studio album released by the band until 2010's My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky. A reissue of the album was released on July 20, 2018, marking the first time Soundtracks for the Blind was released on vinyl.
                                                                         

Soundtracks for the Blind has been met with acclaim by critics. Alternative Press wrote that "Swans' out-and-out noise may have receded into quietude and somnolent hypnoscapes, but this monster of an

album will leave ripples pulsing out for many years to come." Nick Terry of Terrorizer magazine wrote, "Gira has painstakingly recorded and produced this magnus opus with a ferocious attention to detail. Above all, it sounds phenomenal". The magazine later included it in their list of the "100 Most Important Albums of the Nineties".
                                                                       

[Choosing to extinguish the band name under which Gira and Jarboe had worked together for so long must not have been an easy step, but when they decided to end Swans with one last studio release as a

prelude to a farewell tour, they did so with what turned out to be their biggest and best album ever. Interestingly, the double-disc, two-and-a-half-hour long Soundtracks makes no pretensions at being a uniform creation like The White Album or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness; Gira's own notes indicate the song sources as being from "hand-held cassette recordings to found sounds, to samples, to loops, to finished multitrack recordings," recorded with ten different musicians.
                                                     

Everything from raging electric music in extreme to the gentlest of acoustic strums can be found here,

ultimately being a perfect encapsulation of Swans' sound -- as much as any greatest-hits anthology could ever have been. "The Helpless Child," the epic-length Gira-sung piece previewed on Die Tür ist Zu, amazingly gets an even more brilliant revision here, while another similarly lengthy track, "The Sound," at once roars and whispers over its length in a way that early Swans -- much less many other bands -- could never have done.
                                                                                  

Other tracks continue Swans' then-recent practice of mixing random taped conversations with exquisitely arranged performances: "I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull" is especially noteworthy as the clear forerunner of Godspeed you Black Emperor!'s entire musical approach.
                                                                      


Jarboe's own tracks are all winners, from the fractured, tempo-shifting techno of "Volcano" to the

howling live version of a solo album track from Sacrificial Cake, "Yum-Yab Killers." Ending on the unexpected yet appropriate "Surrogate Drone," Soundtracks lets Swans bow out from recording on the highest note possible.
Ned Raggett ]
                                                                       

                                                                       

 

Michael Gira - vocals, guitar, samples, sounds, loops, producer (all tracks except "Volcano")
Jarboe - vocals, sounds, loops, producer (on "Volcano")
Norman Westberg - additional musician
Algis Kizys - additional musician
Bill Rieflin - additional musician
Christoph Hahn - additional musician
Clinton Steele - additional musician
Larry Lame - additional musician, mixing and recording
                                                                 


Guest Musicians

                                                         


Joe Goldring - electric guitar, bass guitar (on tracks 3, 5, 9, 12, 14, 19, 24, and 25)
Vudi - electric guitar, acoustic guitar (on tracks 3, 5, 9, 12, 14, 19, 24, and 25)
Larry Mullins - drums, percussion, vibraphone (on tracks 3, 5, 9, 12, 14, 19, 24, and 25)
Cris Force - viola (on "Animus" and "YRP")
                                                          

Swans / Soundtracks for the Blind/Die Tür Ist Zu 3CD Deluxe Set
Label: Mute – CDSTUMM421, Young God Records – YG61
Format:    2 x CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered
CD, EP, Reissue, Remastered
All Media, Compilation, Digipak Aug 3, 2018
Country: Europe
Released: 1996    
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Industrial, Post Rock, Experimental, Ambient


CD1. Silver Disc

                                                                  

  
01. Red Velvet Corridor    3:04
02. I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull    6:39
03. Helpless Child    15:47
04. Live Through Me    2:31
05. Yum-Yab Killers    5:07
06. The Beautiful Days    7:49
07. Volcano    5:19
08. Mellothumb    2:45
09. All Lined Up    4:48
10. Surrogate 2    1:51
11. How They Suffer    5:52
12. Animus    10:42

MP3 @ 320 Size: 172  MB
FLAC  Size: 404 MB


CD2. Copper Disc

                                                           

  
01. Red Velvet Wound    2:02
02. The Sound    13:11
03. Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey    3:18
04. Blood Section    2:39
05. Hypogirl    2:44
06. Minus Something    4:14
07. Empathy    6:45
08. I Love You This Much    7:23
09. YRP    7:46
10. Fan's Lament    1:28
11. Secret Friends    3:08
12. The Final Sacrifice    10:27
13. YRP 2    2:09
14. Surrogate Drone    2:09

MP3 @ 320 Size: 165 MB
FLAC  Size: 380 MB


CD3. Die Tür Ist Zu 1996

                                                


Die Tür ist zu (German for The Door Is Closed) is the fifth EP by the American rock band Swans, initially released in 1996 only in Germany as a CD, and later released worldwide on vinyl on Record Store Day 2018.
                                                      

It is particularly notable for its unusual combination of both studio and live recordings in a wide variety of contexts. Specifically, it contains early, German-language versions of two songs on the then

unreleased Soundtracks for the Blind album, two studio outtakes ("Surrogate Drones" which would also appear later on Soundtracks for the Blind, and "You Know Everything (reprise 1991)" recorded for White Light From the Mouth of Infinity and already released on the "Celebrity Lifestyle" CD single), a radio performance excerpt from the VPRO session on 14 December 1994, and two live songs from the Astoria, London, 1995.
                                           
  
01. Ligeti's Breath / Hilflos Kind    22:16
02. Ich Sehe Die Alle In Einer Reihe    4:47
03. Surrogate Drones    2:56
04. YRP    8:51
05. You Know Everything (Reprise 1991)    4:26
06. M/F    3:52
07. Soundsection    7:56

FLAC  Size: 315 MB

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Ghosts Of Jupiter: Ghosts Of Jupiter 2011 + The Great Bright Horses 2016

 

Ghosts of Jupiter is a psychedelic Prog-rock band based out of the Boston area, previously known as


the Nate Wilson Group. Led by former Percy Hill keyboardist Nate Wilson, the band features a loud, riff-heavy sound inspired by classic rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Cream.
                                                                                                      

Ghosts Of Jupiter features Adam Terrell (also of Assembly of Dust) and Jason Cohen (formerly of the

Ryan Montbleau Band), while MIT graduate bassist Tommy Lada and drummer Tom Arey (also touring with J. Geils Band) hold down the band's rhythm section.
                                                                         

Band leader, Wilson, a New England Conservatory of Music graduate, has also worked as a freelance

and session musician, appearing on stage and in the studio with artists such as Chuck Berry, John Scofield, Peter Bernstein, Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, and members of Phish and the Allman Brothers Band.
                                                                        

Ghosts of Jupiter’s self-titled album was released in November, 2011. With its blues inspired heavy

guitar riffs, and showing fledgling signs of heading toward the psych-era rock of the late 60’s and 70’s,
Ghosts Of Jupiter received positive reviews and would experience immediate success.
                                                   

In the spring of 2012, Ghosts of Jupiter competed in the 23rd annual WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble . In the fall of 2016, Ghosts of Jupiter released their sophomore album, Great Bright Horses.
                                                    

In the fall of 2021, Ghosts of Jupiter released their follow up to “Great Bright Horses” album with the astonishing “Keepers of the Newborn Green”.
                                              


Working separately through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it was all brought together and produced

by lead vocal and pianist Nate Wilson as well as bassist Tommy Lada. It was also engineered, mixed, and mastered by Tommy Lada.
                                                        

Discography

                                                               


Unbound (2008), as Nate Wilson Group
Ghosts of Jupiter (2011)
Green Is Gold Vol. 1 (2013)
The Great Bright Horses (2016)
Keepers of the Newborn Green (2021)

                                          


Members   

                                                           


Nate Wilson - Keyboard/Vocals/Guitar
Adam Terrell - Guitar
Jason Cohen - keyboards
Tommy Lada - Bass
Tom Arey - Drums


Past members    Johnny Trama - Guitar

                                                         


GHOSTS OF JUPITER 2011

                                                 


Led by singer/composer and multi-instrumentalist Nate Wilson, GHOSTS OF JUPITER achieved regional success with their self-titled debut release. The album was received with critical acclaim and was followed by live appearances with Blue Öyster Cult, moe., Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Buffalo Killers and Dead Meadow.
                                             

Self-titled debut delivering a fresh spin on hard-swinging psychedelic rock while invariably taking the listener back to a familiar era. The fuzz and fire of the double-guitar attack fuels this vessel while Wilson’s melodic songcraft and gifted traversal of light & dark imagery makes this voyage accessible to a mass audience.
                                                                   

Ghosts Of Jupiter can jump course and play some damn tight space rock whenever the mood arises.

TRACKS

                                                      



01. Thieves (3:26)
02. Shelter (5:52)
03. Paper Roses (3:34)
04. Play It Blind (5:20)
05. Trample on Daisies (5:17)
06. Yellow Woman (3:49)
07. Wandering High (3:07)
08. Colors of the Queen (4:18)
09. Ghosts of Jupiter (3:12)
10. Passengers (5:59)


Total Time 43:54


MP3 @ 320 Size:  MB
Flac  Size:  MB


THE GREAT BRIGHT HORSES 2016

                                                


Boston based neo-psychedelic rock band Ghosts of Jupiter released their second album  on October

11th, 2016. The release will be accompanied by a run of live dates around New England, with appearances in Worcester MA, Cambridge MA, Portland ME, and Dover NH.
                                              

On their second independent full-length release 'The Great Bright Horses', due out in October of 2016,

The New England-based quintet?s latest effort draws upon the experimental flute-prog of Traffic and King Crimson, the exploratory elements of Meddle-era Pink Floyd, and the modern psychedelia of Tame Impala, Midlake, and Dungen.
                                                     

The ethereal vocals, the light aura filled and playful riffs ensured that GoJ was well on their way to a

solid revival of classic tones and sounds that make you feel nostalgia for the age of classic rock.
                                                    

The band's singer/composer and multi-instrumentalist Nate Wilson (Percy Hill, Assembly of Dust) is a

master keyboardist, but on this ensemble, Wilson brings emotive vocals atop an airy and the flute plays as much a role as his keyboards.
                                              

A Rock and Roll Journey through space and time, a psychedelic Prog experience from one of the best bands of Boston area.
                                               

TRACKS

                                         


01. The Great Bright Horses (6:45)
02. Boundless Time I (4:12)
03. Lyra (5:18)
04. Toward the Silent Sun (5:18)
05. The Golden Age (5:08)
06. Equuleus (2:33)
07. Towers (3:38)
08. Boundless Time II (6:32)
09. The Eastern Glow (8:52)

MP3 @ 320 Size:  MB

Flac  Size:  MB