photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Swans @ Paramount Theater

You saw pictures from Friday and Portishead from Saturday (and Portishead Sunday). Here are the rest from that 2nd day in Asbury Park. They continue below...

Continue reading "I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 -- pics from ATP Saturday (Swans, Ultramagnetic MCs, Battles, Beak, Horrors & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

"Swans at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The most punishingly hot and loud show I've been to for a while. But pleasurably so, and they have a shirtless drummer named Thor. My brain is now a soft scrambled egg. Good night!" -snackish

"Watching the drummer from cop shoot cop be awesome w the swans reminds me how much I want a cop shoot cop reunion." -sethcdiamond

The Aquarian: You already recorded part of the new album in Berlin?

Michael Gira: We recorded the songs that we're playing live in Berlin, and also a portion of one that is built up from my guitar, my acoustic guitar. Now we have, at the end of this month's tour, we have another five days here in Upstate New York, we're going to record a bunch of new songs that I have written, and just build them up from the bottom up.

The album's going to be sprawling. I don't even know if you can call it an album--it's just a collection of music happening at the time. It can't be contained on vinyl, almost. It'd be like a six-vinyl set or something (laughs). So, I don't know how it's gonna be available, but we're just gonna do it and put it out later.

More pictures from last night are below...

Continue reading "Swans & Sir Richard Bishop played MHOW (pics), do again tonight (tix still available)"

by BBG

Wovenhand at Knitting Factory (more by Greg Cristman)

Though tickets for both Swans/Sir Richard Bishop shows are still available, the second night got a little more attractive with the addition of a third act - David Eugene Edwards, aka Wovenhand has been added to the bill! Wovenhand, who will also open for Swans in Boston on 9/29, will join the already awesome show on 9/28. The 9/27 will reportedly not get any extra bands. Get your tickets for either 9/27 or 9/28, or both. All Swans dates HERE.

Swans at Roadburn 2011 (more by Stefan Raduta)

Swans will now play two shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Sir Richard Bishop as part of a larger tour that leads up to Swans' appearance at ATP NJ. The first Brooklyn show, as previously announced, is on September 27. The new show will happen the next night (9/28). Tickets are still available for the 9/27 show and will go on sale for the 9/28 show on Friday (8/5) at noon with an AmEx pre-sale starting Wednesday (8/3) at noon.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Swans & Sir Richard Bishop expand tour, add 2nd Brooklyn show (updated dates)"

All Tomorrow's Parties returns to the USA this September in the new location of Asbury Park, N.J. bringing an I'll Be Your Mirror event to the iconic waterfront. For the inaugural U.S. I'll Be Your Mirror, Portishead will curate and headline their firrst East Coast shows since 1998 on the Saturday & Sunday.

As well as Day Tickets, ATP have to date been selling two types of weekend pass - "Three Day Jeff Mangum" passes that include Jeff Mangum's Friday show and guarantee access to one of the Portishead shows (as well as everything else at the festival) and "Three Day Portishead" passes that do not give access to Jeff's Friday show but give guaranteed access to both Portishead shows as well as the rest of the festival. Today we announce a third type of weekend pass...

Portishead have invited Jeff to play an extra show on the Sunday night of the festival. Therefore this week we release new "Three Day Jeff Mangum Sunday Passes" - these give access to all three days of the festival to passholders who will see Jeff Mangum on the Sunday night and are guaranteed to see one of the two Portishead shows. The original Three Day passes for the event are now called "Three Day Jeff Mangum Friday Passes."

That means Jeff is playing Asbury Park three times, twice during the actual festival (see above), and, as you know, once on Monday (10/3) at Paramount Theatre (the day after ATP and not actually part of the fest itself). The Monday show has been sold out for a while now, but ATP are releasing a few more tickets for it. "To buy email feedback@atpfestival.com with JEFF MONDAY TICKETS in subject line, and tell us how many tickets you want. We will respond as soon as possible. Payments must be made by Paypal." A Hawk and a Hacksaw (ft. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes) open the show.

ATP NJ has a few other lineup additions including Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (they first reunited to play the Animal Collective ATP that recently happened in the UK), avant guitar hero Marc Ribot, avant sax hero Colin Stetson, avant comedian Reggie Watts, and others. Also: "Today we are also very pleased to announce that in conjunction with The Jonathan Levine Gallery, renowned artist SHEPARD FAIREY (who has created the art for this event and will also DJ) will be presenting an exhibition of his art over the weekend entitled Revolutions: The Album Cover Art of Shepard Fairey. More details of the exhibition will be confirmed soon."

The updated lineup is below, along with updated Jeff Mangum tour dates (he added a few other shows recently too)...

Continue reading "ATP NJ adds another Jeff Mangum show, a new kind of pass & some more bands to the lineup"

Tickets are now on sale for the Steve Earle shows at Town Hall and Music Hall of Williamsburg (the Town Hall show went on sale at 11).

Tickets are now on sale for the Swans show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Swans were also just added to ATP NJ which also has tickets on sale including a new "Portishead 3 Day Pass."

Tickets went on sale today for Animal Collective, Grace Potter, Cut Copy, and Dylan Fest

Cymbals Eat Guitars have a show scheduled at Glasslands on May 20th with Yellow Dogs and Mirror Mirror. Tickets are on sale.

Tinariwen returns to NYC this summer. Tickets go on sale Saturday for a July 20th show at Highline Ballroom.

Did you miss getting tickets to Murder by Death's boat show? They added a 2nd happening the same day. Tickets for that one are on sale.

Tickets are now on sale for the Kid Cudi show at Williamsburg Waterfront.

Glasvegas are touring in support of a new album. Tickets are on sale now for a May 23rd show at Bowery Ballroom. All tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Steve Earle, Swans, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Glasvegas, Murder by Death, Tinariwen, Kid Cudi, ATP & other tix"

Updated ATP flyer

"Can we assume they'll be added to ATP, which starts a few days after the Bklyn date?," asked a commenter in the comments of our post announcing the Swans show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and that commenter was dead on.

ATP NJ (aka "Ill Be Your Mirror") has updated its previously announced lineup to include Swans, Peanut Butter Wolf (who will be DJing), Battles, Deerhoof, Jim Thirwell's Manorexia, and Oneida (who will again perform in Ocropolis formation, like in 2009) "ONEIDA PRESENTS THE OCROPOLIS III which will take place at the Asbury Lanes Bowling Alley - the band will perform continuously throughout the day, sometimes with guests from the rich array of musicians also performing in the festival, sometimes alone and mostly improvised."

Though 3-day passes for the Asbury Park Fest, which include your only shot at seeing Jeff Mangum, are sold out (now called the Jeff Mangum Three Day Pass), tickets are still available in multiple incarnations for the three day celebration, including a new "Portishead Three Day Pass" which allows "passholders to see everything else from Friday-Sunday as well as giving priority access with the day pass holders to BOTH Portishead shows on Saturday and Sunday" (the pass doesn't include entry into Jeff Mangum). The "Portishead Three Day Pass" will go on sale at 10AM EST Thursday (4/21) and individual day passes are currently on sale. The versions of the 3-day pass that are sold out only guarantee you one night of Portishead. "Existing Day ticketholders or Jeff Mangum Three Day pass holders who wish to switch to a Portishead Three Day Pass should contact ATP via feedback@atpfestival.com before May 30th."

The current lineup is below.

Continue reading "ATP NJ adds 'Portishead 3 Day Pass', expands lineup (Swans, Oneida, Battles, Deerhoof, more)"

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"

by BBG

Swans at Roadburn 2011 (more by Stefan Raduta)

After a triumphant set at Roadburn 2011 (pictures from day one HERE, two HERE, and three HERE), Swans have announced a new NYC show that will happen almost a year after the first NYC reunion dates took place. Swans will land at Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 27th. Tickets to the Brooklyn show go on AmEx presale at noon on 4/20 with regular sale kicking off on Friday. At the moment it's their only North American date scheduled, though they'll be touring other areas of the world throughout May.

All tour dates and some video of Swans at Roadburn 2011 is below.

Continue reading "Swans announce Brooklyn show (and other dates)"

photos by Stefan Raduta

Swans

Roadburn 2011's third and final night was Saturday (4/16) (day 1 pictures HERE and day 2 HERE) with a headlining set from Swans and sets from Candlemass, Ludicra, Weedeater, Ramesses, Shrinebuilder, Voivod (again), Yakuza, Evoken, Ufomammut, The Gates of Slumber, and many others.

It was the last official day of the Holland festival, but the festivities continued on Sunday at Afterburner, which featured sets from Sourvein, Black Mountain, Dead Meadow, Coffins, and others. Pictures from Afterburner are on the way. More pictures and videos from Saturday, below...

Continue reading "Roadburn 2011 day 3 in pics & video (Swans, Voivod, Rwake, Ludicra, Candlemass, Master Musicians of Bukkake & more)"

'I'll Be Your Mirror USA' is not the only 'I'll Be Your Mirror' that Portishead is curating for ATP. As previously mentioned, the English band is also helping pick the bands for the event happening in London in July (tickets still on sale by the way).

So far we don't know any of the bands that will open for Portishead in NJ in October, but it would be crazy if they didn't have at least a few of the same bands on both. This is who they have on the UK one so far: PJ HARVEY (also playing Coachella), DOOM, COMPANY FLOW, THE BOOKS (played ATP NY 2010), FACTORY FLOOR, BEAK> (played ATP NY 2010), DD/MM/YYYY, GRINDERMAN, SWANS, BEACH HOUSE, LIARS, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, ANIKA, and S.C.U.M. The full UK lineup so far, is listed by day below...

Continue reading "the bands playing Portishead's ATP in the UK"

PORTISHEAD confirm "I'LL BE YOUR MIRROR" Curated by PORTISHEAD & ATP
23rd & 24th July - Alexandra Palace, London

On the weekend of 23rd and 24th July 2011 at Alexandra Palace, London, All Tomorrow's Parties will present the first UK I'll Be Your Mirror event, which will be curated by Portishead and ATP.

Acting as sister event to ATP Festivals and named after the b-side to The Velvet Underground's original All Tomorrow's Parties 7" single, I'll Be Your Mirror will be a new series of artist curated music, film and art events taking place in cities worldwide.

Portishead will headline both nights, with a different supporting line-up joining them each day. Tickets will cost £59 per day with weekend tickets priced at £100. At this point these are the only UK shows Portishead plan to play in 2011, and you can get early bird tickets at reduced prices here

Today we can announce some of the first additions to the line-up:

Saturday 23rd July
PORTISHEAD
MF DOOM
COMPANY FLOW (original line-up - first UK show in 10 years)
THE BOOKS
BEAK>
FACTORY FLOOR

Sunday 24th July
PORTISHEAD
SWANS
BEACH HOUSE
ANIKA
LIARS
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC

.....with more artists, DJs and other activities to be confirmed for both days in the coming months! Tickets will go on sale Friday 26th November at 9am from www.atpfestival.com

And.......... Portishead plan to play in Europe in June/July and the US during September/October - as plans are confirmed news will be posted here first so keep checking the news page.

photos by Stefan Raduta, words by BBG

The Swans are wonderful to look at: three craggy veterans and three younger musicians. One of them is a guy named Thor, who has waist-length blond hair and hammers a set of bells. After he took off his shirt, he looked like nothing so much as a sweating blacksmith. There were three guitars and a pedal steel and another percussionist, all banging away... I saw Michael Gira's lips moving, but I couldn't hear what he was singing. I am told--and I believe--that the loudness is necessary, that it is part of the point. For a while, I found a place on the balcony, right by the railing, and I could look down at the heads of the people below, standing shoulder to shoulder and vibrating. And it was kind of thrilling in a visceral way. It blows everything else out of your head. -[AlternateSideParking]

The show was part of a much larger tour for Swans, that was just extended. Updated dates below (no new NYC dates, though that semi-related Shearwater show is almost here).

The setlist from Bowery (which was identical to Brooklyn Masonic), with more pics and all dates below...

Continue reading "more Swans tour dates & Bowery Ballroom pics "

photos by Greg Cristman, words by BBG

Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, and the new incarnation of Swans played their first NYC show since reformation at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Friday night, 10/8. They were joined by tour-mate Baby Dee and recent addition Ben Frost as support. The show was one of two NYC dates on a larger tour for the reactivated post-punk/noise/industrial pioneers (previous shows included Pop Montreal and the Black Cat in DC). Swans played their 2nd NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night (sans Ben Frost, avec Baby Dee). Both NYC shows sold out in advance. The Brooklyn gig featured an afterhours party with Sasha Grey, Caleb (Sacred Bones), and DJ JonBenet (Prurient, Cold Cave) on the lower level. That drew its own separate crowd in addition to the post-show revelers.

Ben Frost's opening set was particularly impressive, mixing guitar acrobatics and laptop scientifics that took full use of the considerable soundsystem. It was a fantastic set; I normally have a hard time enduring solo laptop-musician/DJ sets, but watched the entire thing. Unfortunately I missed all of Baby Dee.

Swans blasted on stage with the opening thump of "No Words/No Thoughts", before transitioning into a bit of a reworked version of that song. Their set was overwhelmingly heavy with material from the incredible new My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (five of the eight tracks), but the band made stops by their earliest works too ("Sex, God, Sex" from Children of God, "Your Property" from Cop, "I Crawled" from Young God EP). Moving, crushing, beautiful, and magnetic, Michael Gira and Co delivered one of my favorite performances at a space that has hosted its share of memorable moments: Neurosis, sunn o))), Sleep, and Throbbing Gristle.

Don't believe the hype though; it wasn't quite as overwhelmingly loud as you have been lead to believe... not that it matters either way. It was/is always more about electric performance and there is no doubt that Swans delivered on a Friday night on a quiet street in Brooklyn.

More pictures and video from the Brooklyn show, with the Swans setlist, below..

Continue reading "Swans played Brooklyn Masonic Temple w/ Baby Dee & Ben Frost (pics, video, setlist) "

words and photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Swans

Day three/Friday of Pop Montreal (check out days one and two) was colder and, thankfully, dryer than Thursday. But a canceled day party at the Notman House and some overlap at the other day party at Divan Orange made for a quiet afternoon.

The night started in earnest at Place des Arts to catch Zola Jesus. It was a really spacious concert hall and Nika Roza Danilova paced from one side of the stage to the other, dramatically swaying back and forth. She owned the stage and her backing band sounded good in a space where it would seem easy for the sound to get lost.

Then a walk along Rue Ste-Catherine back to the National to catch Baby Dee and Swans. Baby Dee's Baroque pop consisted of her on harp and an accompanying violinist and cellist. Between hushed songs and awkward "hee, hees" at the audience applause, Baby Dee led the audience in some purposeful artist bashing. She mentioned how you never hear crowds show their out and out dislike for someone's music. So, the entire crowd was led in a chant of "You stink and your music stinks." It was reprised at the end of the set as well. "Just don't do that with (Swans') Michael Gira," she warned the crowd. "You need to do that to someone with lower self-esteem."

For Swans, ten minutes of loud, deep strings on tape gave way to each musician taking the stage, first Shearwater's Thor Harris on percussion and finally the rest of the band and lastly, Gira. He stood stoically and surveyed the crowd and as the noise began to swell he donned his guitar and rocked back and forth before the band broke into blaring instrumental, face-melting, rock mode. Even with earplugs it was deafening. It was mesmerizing and devastating and sounded great in such a cozy, old theater like the National. "Holy shit, I still can't hear!" said one kid as he bounded out of the venue before the set was over. He was certainly not alone and any questions about the reboot of the band were settled.

From there it was up Boul. St-Laurent to the packed, hot and sweaty Barfly to catch Montreal's No Joy. I arrived early to find Toronto's Little Girls rocking away. Their set of self-described minimalist post-punk culminated with lead singer Josh McIntyre knocking his keyboard onto the ground and then standing on it as his bandmates thrashed around him. Shoegazy with indecipherable lyrics that bled into hazy guitars and bass, No Joy was a solid set though one gets the feeling that dark, sweaty clubs is where these songs sound best. The same would go for Little Girls.

More pictures from the whole day below...

Continue reading "Pop Montreal 2010 - Day 3 in pics & review (Swans, Baby Dee, Zola Jesus, No Joy & more)"

photos by Justina Villanueva

A Swans concert is not a democracy.

During its Wednesday night performance at the Black Cat, the New York City-based sextet -- newly re-christened after a 15-year hiatus -- tried to wrest control of the audience's senses. Swans wanted the air-conditioning off, the house lights on, and the volume maxed-out. Song requests were not taken. Even the line for the merchandise table was straight and orderly with a sign decreeing which credit cards were acceptable. If noise-rock has a political hierarchy, Swans would be the generalissimo.

...In concert, the band stuck to unflinching intensity. For more than an hour Swans performed at jet-engine volume, drawing out songs from the most savage reaches of its back catalog, like "Your Property" from 1984's "Cop." "You deform me/ you own me/I worship your authority," bellowed Gira. He stalked the stage, slapped himself in the face, and clutched tightly to an electric guitar.

But Gira has a tender side, too. Each CD that Swans sell on tour comes autographed by the singer at no extra charge. It's personal touch from Gira, available to all of his fans -- washed or unwashed, hip or unhip, on credit or debit. -[Washington Post]

More pictures and a video from The Black Cat show, and two more videos from the Troc, below...

Continue reading "Swans played the Black Cat in DC (pics & video) "

The Luyas @ Webster Hall in April (more by Sarahana)

The 2010 edition of the Pop Montreal music festival (Montreal's answer to CMJ and SXSW) kicks off today. Highlights on the schedule include, in the legends department, Swans (who are also touring through NYC), Van Dyke Parks (who is also touring through NYC), and a performance by Mary Margaret Ohara (with an opening set by Doveman). I also discovered a new collaboration on the schedule: Light Fires is the "joint venture of musicians Gentlemen Reg Vermue and Ohbijou's James Bunton." Karkwa just won the Polaris Prize and they'll be playing a showcase too.

In the "our favorite Montreal bands" department, there will be also be sets by hometown favorites Think About Life and The Luyas (not to mention Radio Radio, Parlovr, Braids, etc, etc...).

Speaking of The Luyas, congrats to them!

"We recently fell head over heels for the space-age experimental pop sound of the Luyas, and after a long courtship, some late night long distance phone calls, and at least one senior prom dance, we can now welcome them to the Dead Oceans' family. Hailing from Montreal, the Luyas are Pietro Amato, Mathieu Charbonneau, Stefan Schneider, and Jessie Stein.

It is easy to get lost in the Luyas' musical world-their retro-futurist songs are drenched in echo, and built from guitars, French horn, piles of keyboards, drums and percussion. Singer/guitarist Jessie Stein expands the band's already wide musical vocabulary when she plays the Moodswinger-a 12-string electric zither designed by the Dutch experimental luthier Yuri Landman.

The Luyas are currently working on their forthcoming first album with Dead Oceans, slated for release in early 2011. Working with engineer Jeff McMurrich (Tindersticks, Constantines), The Luyas have also teamed up with friend and colleague Owen Pallett who is lending his arranging skills and violin playing to a number of tracks." [Dead Oceans]

And speaking of Swans, they kicked off their reunion tour last night at the Troc in Philly. A single video was posted to YouTube. Check it out below...

Continue reading "Pop Montreal kicks off, Luyas got signed, Swans on tour"

by BBG

I can still feel my skin rippling from that Ben Frost gig. Those oceans of sound and vibration are overwhelming. -HallochHill

Ben Frost @ Littlefield microreview: The sound of the universe rending itself in two, as wolves howl into the cold. Gorgeous. Terrifying. -stribs

Ben Frost at Littlefield - Sept 15, 2010 (photo by l_c_m_tt_)

When Sónar Chicago first announced that Ben Frost would be on its inaugural line-up, their commitment to innovative electronic music became clear. This wasn't going to be a watered-down sibling to their annual Barcelona event, rather it would present dance music and experimental sounds in equal measure. Frost was an ideal candidate for bridging this gap, as his... powerful recent releases like 2007's Theory of Machines and last year's By the Throat, ensured this would be one of the most eagerly anticipated performances of the entire festival...

Poised behind his laptop with a guitar in his hands, the image of Ben Frost on stage immediately evokes that of another guitar-laptop musician, Christian Fennesz. Instrumentation choice is where the similarities end, however, as Fennesz creates a more shimmering, ethereal reality of reserve and restraint. Frost opts instead to maximize the minimal, plotting an anxious course against the audience. With a debt owed to both Swans and Throbbing Gristle, there's little room for delicacy. -[Gapers Block]

The Icelandic electronic artist will do his best to pay any debt owed to Swans by playing Brooklyn Masonic Temple on 10/8 as the support act for the previously discussed Swans/Baby Dee shindig. Tickets are still available. Ben Frost will not appear at the now sold-out Swans show at Bowery Ballroom show on 10/9.

The NYC and Chicago show were a couple of a few that Ben Frost had planned for the US. Full tour dates and some video, including a live vid from Sonar, is below.

Continue reading "Ben Frost played Sonar & Littlefield, added to Swans show "

by BBG

"Sunn O))) broke the Brooklyn Masonic Temple". -juddgreenstein

"power problem sideswipes #sunn #Boris #altar show. Band breaks character, lifts hoods and asks audience 10 mins to straighten out" -Robert Chow

"Power outage@ Brooklyn masonic temple: praying to the doom metal gods: let sunn o))) & Boris finish" -thejass

"Sunn 0))) blew the power to the Masonic temple. Everyone's running around trying to fix it. Having punk rock show flashbacks". -americab

"All the mobile device tweet power in here should be
routed into the amps #altar" -Toby Driver

The massive sunn O)))/Boris rig at ATP NY 2 nights earlier (more here)

After sets from Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter and BXI, two songs into last night's (9/7) sunn O)))/Boris set at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, the power blew. With the heat sweltering inside the venue and the Brooklyn Masonic staff scrambling to fix the issue, a number of people from the audience decided to hit the road. The venue later fixed the issue, and sunn O)))/Boris played in complete darkness to conserve power. Reportedly the police then showed due to noise complaints, but according to one attendant, "Saw the cops, but can you shut down a show that's already over? Or did someone give Sunn and co. the signal to stop? Either way I don't think anyone noticed. Shit was excellent." Stay tuned for more info.

UPDATE: The noise did get the police there, but they didn't shut it down.

Hopefully the power won't buckle tonight at Sleep at BMT (all went well Monday night) (and by the way, tickets will be released at the door) or at the sunn O)))-curated Roadburn 2011 with the newly added Pentagram and Swans. Swans will also play Masonic Temple on October 8th, tickets are still on sale. Their Bowery Show the next night is sold out.

BXI sat down with someone for a video interview 2 days ago (right after ATP). In it, the interviewer says that people called the last sunn O))) show at Masonic Temple, "the loudest they ever heard". You can watch that below...

Continue reading "electrical problems & then police show up @ sunn O)))/Boris"

Thor of Shearwater/Swans (more by Chris Graham)

Behind those long golden tresses and rugged good looks, Thor is a warrior. Before, in-between and following appearances at 'Matador at 21' and Austin City Limits, the Shearwater percussionist will play dates with the reactivated Swans (tickets are still available to their show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on 10/8).

After the North American Swans dates, that last through the end of October, Thor will go BACK on the road with Shearwater for a string of November dates with Damien Jurado. That hits Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 12th (tickets are on sale). After that, Thor heads to Europe with Swans.

All Swans and Shearwater dates are below...

Continue reading "Shearwater touring w/ Damien Jurado in between Swans tours (2010 dates) "

Devendra Banhart at Webster Hall (more by Vincent Cornelli)

Devendra Banhart and the Grogs will team up with Adam Green at Terminal Five THURSDAY (8/19, tickets) and we have a pair of tickets available for giveaway. Details on how to win are below.

Devendra doesn't have an album on the way, but is involved in the release of the highly anticipated (and recently leaked) new Swans LP My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. The LP, due on September 27 via Gira's Young God Records, sees Banhart contributing vocals to old label honcho, alongside Bill Rieflin, Grasshopper (Mercury Rev), and Gira's 3 1/2 year old daughter Saoirse. They all lend their helping hand to the release. Stream the new song "Eden Prison" below, and get tickets to their show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on 10/8. The Bowery Ballroom show scheduled for the next day is now sold out.

Devendra Banhart also contributed to the new Zach Hill solo record, and recently teamed up with Beck for a song to the recently released Life During Wartime, the new movie from the king of awkward hilarity, Todd Solondz (see Happiness, Welcome To The Dollhouse, etc).

The Banhart/Beck song, with lyrics written by Solondz, is streaming, along with the Swans song, Zach Hill album tracklist, all tour dates (including a UK trek with Arcade Fire) and contest details, below...

Continue reading "Devendra Banhart on new Swans, Zach Hill & 'Life During Wartime' soundtrack - touring, in NY Thursday (win tix) "

"Michael Gira's re-activated Swans will be undertaking their first U.S. performances in 13 years, celebrating the Fall release of the first new Swans album since Soundtracks For The Blind (1997). The album was recorded by Jason LeFarge at Seizure's Palace in Brooklyn and is currently be remixed by Gira with Bryce Goggin (Antony & The Johnsons, Akron/Family) at Trout Recordings." [PR]

Continue reading "Swans announce tour dates, album info, NYC show presale"

by BBG

Swans have never been one to do it half assed. The influential noise/post-punk band will play two NYC shows in October (not long after their appearance at Pop Montreal). In addition to the 10/8 show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, the band will play a show one day later, Oct 9th, at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for the Manhattan show go on AMEX presale at noon on Wed (5/12) and at noon on Fri (5/14) for general sale. Baby Dee opens both dates.

The Brooklyn show was supposed to go on sale today, but the ticket link has updated. It goes on sale Friday (at 10am) too.

by BBG

Michael Gira at The Stone (more by Lori Baily)

We knew that it was coming, but now we have a New York City date. The much discussed Swans reunion show will take place on 10/8 with Baby Dee at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, a Haunting The Chapel/The Blackened Music Series/The Issue Project Room joint production. Tickets go on sale Monday at 10AM. The show takes place a few days after Swans play Pop Montreal, one of two festivals that Swans have announced with the second being Supersonic in the UK in October 2010. More dates TBA.

UPDATE: It looks like tickets go on sale Friday now, and the Brooklyn show takes place one day after a show at Bowery Ballroom.

Pop Montreal 2009 (more by Ryan Muir)

POP Montreal, sort of like the CMJ of Montreal, but less industry-like, returns for the 9th time from September 29th to October 3rd. Check out the sneak peak of their intial lineup below...

Continue reading "Pop Montreal 2010 dates & initial lineup - includes SWANS"