Swans

Public Castration is a Good Idea (Thirsty Ear)
by Lex Marburger

As much as I love the latter half of the Swans‘ catalog, there’s something about Filth-era Gira & co. that strikes deep. Strikes deep, and then twists around in my gut like a parasite larva trying to eat its way out. In circles. Public Castration is a Good Idea is a collection of recordings from a European tour in ’86, when the music was still more brutal than beautiful, when the low, bludgeoning repletion of noise was more sledgehammer than blackjack.

Minimalism and monotony are still an important factor in this era of Swans material, when a single, bombastic, demon-military drumbeat carries on for minutes before any other instrument, or even voice, enters the song. And when it does, more often than not, there’s little rhythmic change and even less harmonic variation. Yes, variation doesn’t figure very strongly into their music, much like Kraftwerk. But unlike the techno-krauts, Swans are not over-intellectualizing their music and falling in love with computers. Rather, they’ve reached the same point (relative to conventional music) by going in the completely opposite direction, by following visceral reaction and emotion. Gira, Jarboe, and the rest have dredged their addled subconscious and found there’s a churning cycle of hate and despair lurking within, a juggernaut of periodic noise which they then rip from their guts and hold up to the brutal light of volume. Or at least that’s what it sounds like.

On a side note, I always laugh when people say that ’80s music sucked, and then give examples like Nu Shooze or The Hooters. I pull out The Birthday Party, Last Exit, Swans, and then sit back and watch their faces go slack.
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