Soundtracks for the Blind
| Soundtracks for the Blind | ||||
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| Swans studio album | ||||
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Publication |
1996 |
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| Label (s) | Young God Records YGCD10 , Atavistic Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
26th |
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running time |
141: 37 |
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Swans |
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Studio (s) |
Griffin Mastering, Atlanta |
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Soundtracks for the Blind is the eleventh studio album by the US band Swans . It was released as a double CD in 1996 on Young God Records and Atavistic Records and was the last studio album of the band for a long time, until My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky was released in September 2010 .
History of origin
The album, which lasts more than two hours, was created from an extensive source of sources - for example, self-recorded recordings on cassette , found sounds , samples , loops , recordings of live concerts or music recordings on older multi-track recorders. Some of the tape recordings are from the father of band member Jarboe , who was an FBI agent and recorded phone calls. The vast amount of material was combined, collaged, manipulated and mastered by the band in 1996 at the Griffin Mastering studio in Atlanta .
style
Soundtracks for the Blind (the title alludes to the blindness of band leader Michael Gira's father, who describes his illness in his own words in How They Suffer ) is by far the longest and most varied work in the band's discography. The album makes use of different genres, from minimalist ( Empathy ; All Lined Up ) to epic, classical compositions ( Helpless Child ), musique concrète ( The Beautiful Days ), post-rock in the style of later bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai ( The Sound ). But also electro elements ( Volcano ) and many ambient pieces are included.
reception
Soundtracks for the Blind is considered to be a trailblazer for the post-rock genre , along with other releases such as DI Go Pop from Disco Inferno (1994) or Spiderland (1991) from Slint.
The album received mostly positive reviews (from The Wire and Melody Maker, among others ). Ned Ragett awards 4.5 / 5 points and writes on allmusic :
“Everything from roaring electronic music in its most extreme form to the most delicate acoustic string plucking is found here, so it is ultimately a perfect encapsulation of the Swans' sound - at least as good as any greatest hits release ever could have been can."
Track list
- CD 1 (silver)
- Red Velvet Corridor - 3:04
- I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull - 6:39
- Helpless Child - 15:47
- Live Through Me - 2:32
- Yum-Yab Killers - 5:07 Live.
- The Beautiful Days - 7:49
- Volcano - 5:18
- Mellothumb - 2:46
- All Lined Up - 4:48
- Surrogates 2 - 1:52
- How They Suffer - 5:52
- Animus - 10:41
- CD 2 (copper red)
- Red Velvet Wound - 2:02
- The Sound - 13:11
- Her Mouth Is Filled with Honey - 3:19
- Blood Section - 2:39
- Hypogirl - 2:44
- Minus Something - 4:14
- Empathy - 6:45
- I Love You This Much - 7:23 Live.
- YRP - 7:47
- Fan's Lament - 1:28
- Secret Friends - 3:08 am
- The Final Sacrifice - 10:27
- YRP 2 - 2:09
- Surrogate Drone - 2:06
animus
The track Animus was released in 1996 on the 10 ″ single Failure / Animus, limited to 300 copies, on Rough Trade . The second track, Failure , previously appeared on Swans' album White Light from the Mouth of Infinity .
Individual evidence
- ↑ "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." Ned Ragett: Soundtracks for the Blind - Swans .