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Swans
One of the most uncompromising bands, Michael Gira’s Swans make music that alternates between bleak, brutal noise-rock and dark, ambient, moody folk, coupled with intense live performances. Emerging from the downtown New York no wave scene, the group’s confrontational shows supported dissonant, repetitive records, including 1983’s Filth. The dirge-like industrial of 1986’s Greed introduced a more atmospheric sound as well as the addition of vocalist/songwriter Jarboe. 1991’s White Light from the Mouth of Infinity was significantly more melodic and elaborately produced, even as the group’s concerts remained spectacles. They disbanded in 1997 following Soundtracks for the Blind. Gira re-formed Swans in 2010. This incarnation, equally as uncompromising, produced the group’s most commercially successful work, the mammoth To Be Kind, in 2014. Gira returned Swans to an alternating lineup in 2017, subsequently working with a revolving cast on 2019’s Leaving Meaning. and 2023’s The Beggar, both of which are less intense than past releases but similarly hypnotic and experimental. 2025’s Birthing was one final return to the “big sound” of their previous post-reunion work.