Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: RECOMMENDED
You always feel like you've pushed through the other side of the mirror when it comes to CAN. A mysterious, groove-laden, funk-infused yet utterly lucid place where guitar hooks seem to come out of the walls, rhythmic hypnosis draws listeners ever-deeper into a place that, while perhaps not entirely theirs, is one which they helped build in the outer limits of late-1960s surrealist rock.

Laying the foundations for early progressive and krautrock with an avant-garde approach to songwriting, by the time this Stuttgart gig took place they had almost a decade of work to go at, and yet as the tracklist suggests the band always had improvisation at their core in a live setting. Concerts that would transport crowds far beyond the venue, into thick layers of melody, hooks and strange effects, every single recording of every show is a genuine moment in history never to be repeated again.

Review: Japanese avant-garde artist Phew (real name Hiromi Moritani) has released a string of inspired solo albums since the turn of the '80s, though few are quite as atmospheric and majestic as 1992's 'Our Likeness'. Like some of her other albums from the period, it was produced by Conny Plank and Can's Jaki Liebezeit, with various industrial and post-punk musicians joining in the fun. As this reissue proves, it remains a fantastic album - a set rooted in krautrock, post-rock and dub in which her expressive vocals sit amongst a mixture of squally guitars, loose-limbed drums, dubby bass, trippy electronics and effects aplenty.

Review: It's hard not to feel moved by Swans. To quote Wayne's World, it's not just a clever name, but rather a band every bit as graceful yet ferocious, beautiful but strong as the bird borrowed from. Take "Annaline", for example. As the first track-proper of this spellbinding collection it's a stop-you-in-your-tracks masterpiece that could force silence on a stadium despite being softly spoken, subtle and serene. It's a motif the outfit seem focused on for this, their 15th studio album. Even at its loudest, title track "Leaving Meaning" mostly plays out like a deranged sermon in some temple of experimental rock. "Sunfucker", for example, has enough reversed-out refrains to make anyone feel they might be in over their head with forces they can't see, let alone comprehend. "It's Coming It's Real" is a display of dark hypnosis. "The Hanging Garden" paints nervous abstract pictures with psychedelic-leaning guitar hooks and manic vocal cries. Put simply, it's perhaps their tensest, most introverted and spellbinding work to date.

Review: Swans are never without their hot takes, whether they take the form of album titles or the music itself. The amusingly-named live album 'Public Castration Is A Good Idea' is one such example. First released in 1986 as the result of a rather speedy set of edited live takes of the band's performances of tracks from their prior albums 'Greed' and 'Holy Money' in London, the album is an oddball in that it at first only received a semi-official release via the experimental electronic and post-punk label Some Bizarre. This new edition from Mute Records unfortunately doesn't come with the original betamax and VHS tour video 'A Long Slow Screw', but it does more or less provide yet another a menacing portal to Swans' doomy, apocalyptic sonic universe.

Review: The Beggar is a mightily impressive 16th studio album from Swans. It is founding member Michael Gira who has written and produced it with some fine contributions from both current and past Swans members, plus members of Angels Of Light a guest spot from Ben Frost. This record emerged from the lockdowns of 2020 onwards and the sense of isolation that brought. The songs came easily, says Michael, once he came to terms with that and were informed by the fact that he worried these might be his last new writings. I they are, they are some of his best.

Review: There have been few experimental rock bands who've enjoyed (or perhaps endured) as tumultuous career as Swans. Since forming in 1982, they've broken up, reunited and changed personnel umpteen times, though bandleader Michael Gira has remained the creative force throughput. The Beggar, the band's latest album, is similarly turbulent in tone and approach, with Gira and company offering up sonically detailed, foreboding and off-kilter explorations that offer a more expansive and measured take on their trademark heady and often hallucinatory trademark sound. This is particularly evident on disc two opener 'The Beggar Lover (Three)', a shapeshifting, 45-minute instrumental meditation peppered with found sounds and recycled samples from their Soundtracks For The Blind album.

Review: Loudest rock band in the world? Possibly. At one point? Definitely. Feel Good Now certainly proves the theory, with the second live album from Swans, recorded during their 1987 Children of God tour, capturing some of the zeitgeist of seeing them in the flesh. The fact all this was captured using a Sony Professional Walkman only emphasises just how much zeitgeist there was to capture. Remastered for this edition, fans of the grit and heaving atmosphere that came with the original will be glad to know that all the 21st Century bells, whistles, and high tech restoration couldn't make this one sound clean. And we mean that in the best possible way. Running through monstrous track after monstrous track, even heard through the other side of 25 years and without a massive venue rig, it's impossible not to pick up on the sense of immersion that has always defined Swans.