Filth is the debut studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1983 through Neutral Records, following the release of the band's self-titled debut EP in 1982. Though it did not receive much contemporary attention, Filth has since been recognized as ahead of its time and significant to heavy genres of music.
Musically, the album is bleak, grinding, and deliberately repetitive, defined by two bassists persistently doubling over the same chord. The two drummers, Jonathan Kane and Roli Mosimann, play chaotically and angularly, occasionally mixing in percussion from metal straps striking tables, and the distorted guitar of Norman Westberg plays in a grating fashion. The vocals of Swans frontman Michael Gira are scathing and direct, covering topics of social decay, corruption, rape, and abuse of power.
Background
After the release of Swans' 1982 debut EP, frontman Michael Gira and drummer Jonathan Kane were the only members to remain in the band.[1] In 1983, when the band began work on its first full-length release, Gira was poor and sustained himself by doing occasional labor in the construction industry.[2] New York City was, as Gira described, "in the throes of decay"; his neighborhood mainly consisted of derelict buildings, and he often heard gunfire during the night.[2] This bleak environment proved vital not only for the crushing sound of Swans' early material, but for the no wave genre at large.[2][3] Also important to the conception of Filth was the blues genre, which helped Kane define the "crawling" and "brutal" swing of the music.[4] Because Gira wanted a more rigid, stiff percussion style, Kane left after recording Filth,[5] though some of his swinging style persisted through the second drummer, Roli Mosimann.[4]
Filth saw the introduction of Norman Westberg to Swans, who would remain a primary contributor throughout much of the band's career.[6] Gira described Westberg's playing as "a vast, sustaining chordal sound",[2] and the latter's addition to the band helped solidify it as a serious musical venture;[4] previously, Swans had been fueled by "constant bickering, haranguing, and pervasive mean-spiritedness", according to Kane.[4]Filth was recorded in the studio of Vanguard Records,[7] a place that Gira described as "massive" and "very famous" and that Kane called "beautiful" with "high ceilings and great acoustics".[4] Gira played bass and shouted vocals, Kane played drums, Mosimann played drums and occasionally struck hard surfaces with a metal strap, Westberg provided guitar, and another new member, Harry Crosby, also played bass.[7] The cover of the album came from Mosimann's girlfriend, a dental assistant, who had spare X-ray photographs at hand.[4]
Composition and content
"I wanted Swans to be 'heavier', though. I wanted the music to obliterate — why, I don’t remember! I think it just felt good."
Musically, Filth is a heavy album often noted by critics for its uncompromising noise and brutality;[9][10][11]AllMusic's Ned Raggett described it as "angry-beyond-all-anger",[1] and Sasha Geffen of Consequence of Sound called it the "ugliest, most brutal music possible".[12] The sound of Filth is defined by the band's unusual composition: two bass players, two drummers (both of which have access to miscellaneous percussive items), and one guitarist all accompanied by a series of programmed tape loops.[2] Though based in the then-dying genre of no wave,[13] Kory Grow of Rolling Stone recognized Filth as "primal art rock at its most vitriolic" and as anticipatory of industrial music, sludge metal, and noise rock;[2]Metal Hammer's Chris Chantler also recognized Filth and other early Swans material as integral to the development of sludge metal.[14] Gene Armstrong of the Arizona Daily Star described Filth as "an industrial-strength brand of grinding dirge-rock".[15] Some publications criticized the album for being, as Trouser Press put it, "squalor without catharsis",[16] but many saw this unrelenting nature as captivating and unique.[1]Filth presents its music as walls of noise, or "slabs of sound";[8] Gira would come up with simple bass chords and simply "slam" them repeatedly without much change, clanging rhythms of both traditional drums and more unusual instruments (like metal tables) were then built around that, resulting in a "roar" driven by overwhelming sound rather than a predetermined beat.[2]
The lyrics of Filth and its following albums deal with "violence, extreme sex, power, rage, and the margins of human depravity", according to AllMusic's Thom Jurek.[1] The words, often delivered as shouts or misanthropic wails, focus on both social and personal decay in a directly bleak way.[17] Gira described his vocals as "screaming/testifying",[8] and Jake Cole of Spectrum Culture called them "locked into an endless loop of provocation, filled with unending allusions to violence, rot and rape".[18] In a positive review of the album, Robert Christgau sardonically wrote, "lyrics are available to suckers on request".[19] Despite the dismal, overwhelming nature of the music, some critics called the album occasionally danceable.[20][1] Gira retrospectively recognized The Stooges and Throbbing Gristle as primary inspirations for Filth.[8]
Filth is relatively brief, lasting only thirty-seven minutes.[21][7] It begins with "Stay Here", which instantly conveys the distorted aggression of the album with chaotic, conflicting drumming, lurching basses, and squealing guitar.[22][18][23] Gira repeatedly shouts commands like "be strong", "resist temptation", and "flex your muscles",[22][7] occasionally inserting a more enigmatic order, like "stick your hand in your eye".[18] As it is with much of the album, "Stay Here" is based upon grinding repetition;[9] Andrew Hannah of The Line of Best Fit described this by writing, "the song goes nowhere but it’s utterly enthralling".[22] Jason Heller of Pitchfork called "Stay Here" angular, disjointed, bone-crushing, and industrialized.[13] The album's second track, "Big Strong Boss", stumbles into an unusual, halting rhythm and Westberg's guitar becomes clearer.[22] Hannah called the song "leeringly sexual" and "unforgiving in its crude approach",[22] and Joseph Rowan of Drowned in Sound compared it to early Killing Joke.[21]
"Blackout", the third track of Filth, is a slow, crushing song where the guitar strings "are so loose to lower the pitch that they take on a kind of rubber-band twang when plucked", according to Cole.[18] Gira barks the song's title, and the rhythms prove "weirdly danceable".[20] The fourth song, "Power for Power", is the album's longest at six minutes.[7] Geffen highlighted it as an essential track and described its beat as deep and lurching.[12] The lyrics are typically harrowing, with lines like "use power for power", "use money for cruelty", and "use hate for freedom", and Treblezine's Jeff Terich called it "the most terrifying song you can possibly dance to".[20] The guitar carries a rare, albeit strained, melody.[21] The album's fifth track, "Freak", is a minute-long noise interlude focused on cacophonous tape loops.[18] Some critics called it close to thrash metal and even grindcore.[12][20]
Filth's sixth song, "Right Wrong", is, like its title suggests, confused and contradictory.[12] Heller called it a study in disjointed animosity,[13] and Terich recognized some Kane's swinging style in the groove.[20] "Thank You", the seventh track, "pulses with the classic goth-rock chug of Bauhaus"[20] and the rhythm is a cycle of repeating pummels.[22] The album's eighth and penultimate song, "Weakling", is another overwhelming tug of war between the basses and drumming. Heller wrote that the song "doesn’t denigrate the submissive; this isn’t fascist music, as its unforgiving textures might indicate, but a profound inversion of power".[13]Filth concludes with "Gang", a slow, aggressive song with numerous starts and stops.[22] Cole wrote that it "erupts from the mouth of hell itself as clanging instruments tumble slowly down a hill and Gira, the Charon guiding these damned souls, commands his followers to attack an assailant".[18]
In 1991, a compilation album titled Body to Body, Job to Job was released through Swans' own label, Young God Records.[24] This release consisted of unreleased live and studio recordings between the years 1982 and 1985, including some tracks made during and around the Filth sessions.[25] Several of the songs are simple, experimental tape loops that went otherwise unused and were left off Filth.[26] The majority of this release, however, focused on Swans' second album, 1984's Cop.[25]
Release and reception
Filth was released in May 1983 through Neutral Records and Zensor in Europe, where most of the band's audience was.[6] Initially, the album was only available on vinyl, but it was reissued in 1990 on CD along with the band's debut EP.[27] Neutral Records again reissued Filth in 2012, but Gira confirmed this to be a bootleg.[28][29] The album was properly reissued in 2015 in a remastered state with two extra discs of bonus material, including the previously released Body to Body, Job to Job compilation.[26] This version was marketed as a "a definitive, comprehensive document of Swans during the time period 1982 – 1985".[8]
Upon release, Filth did not receive much critical attention. The Village Voice'sRobert Christgau reviewed the album positively in 1984, writing, "Not only isn't it for everybody, it isn't for hardly nobody. I think it's a hoot".[19] Past that, retrospective reviews of Filth were positive. The Line of Best Fit's Andrew Hannah called the album "a brilliant work of art" and praised how, despite being from 1983, it still sounded "uncompromising and utterly vital" in 2014 (a sentiment that Alex Biese of Asbury Park Press echoed[31]).[22] Jason Heller of Pitchfork appreciated the brutality of Filth and noted how it effectively established what Swans would become,[13] and Joseph Rowan of Drowned in Sound highlighted the album as a nearly perfect form of intense, angry music burdened with the downside of becoming exhausting;[21] in a more middling review, AllMusic's Ned Raggett concurred that Filth becomes tiring in its latter moments, but said, "in small doses, though, it's great, and early Swans really is like little else on the planet before or since".[1] Jake Cole of Spectrum Culture wrote, "the music presented in this collection often sounds like a preemptive parody of Swans’ most extreme moments rather than the first instances of them, but, when it connects, the visceral impact of this fearsome band is evident from the start".[18] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Scott Mervis said that Filth makes "most punk and metal seem like ear candy by comparison".[32]
In 2012, Aaron Lariviere of Stereogum, though still positive on the album, ranked Filth as the second worst Swans album, writing, "Repeated listens reveal a band in full control of the clamor they're creating, but these aren't songs as much as a pure expression of artistic intent".[10] In 2014, John Calvert of Fact wrote, "A milestone in extreme music — a sound heavier, more vicious and more all-out evil-sounding than any metal band had produced by 1983 — with Filth, Swans took the rock form a few gargantuan steps forward".[33] Retrospectively, Gira, Westberg, and Kane all expressed lingering reservations about the album.[4]
Swans are an American experimental rock band formed in 1982 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have become recognized for an ever-changing sound, exploring genres such as noise rock, post-punk, industrial and post-rock. Initially, their music was known for its sonic brutality and misanthropic lyrics. Following the addition of singer, songwriter and keyboardist Jarboe in 1986, Swans began to incorporate melody and intricacy into their music. Jarboe remained the band's only constant member except Gira and semi-constant guitarist Norman Westberg until their dissolution in 1997.
Michael Rolfe Gira is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. Now based in New Mexico, he founded the band Swans, in which he sings and plays guitar, in New York City in the 1980s at the height of the no wave movement. He is also the founder of Young God Records and previously fronted Angels of Light.
Cop is the second studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1984 through record label K.422.
Hymns is the sixth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 23 October 2001 through Music for Nations and was the band's final album before breaking up in 2002. In 2010, Godflesh reformed and in 2014 released their comeback album A World Lit Only by Fire. Hymns had a troubled production and was intended to be distinct departure from Godflesh's intensely regimented industrial sound to something more traditionally hard rock. It was the band's second and final album to feature a live drummer rather than a drum machine.
Young God is the second EP by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1984, through record label K.422. It is also referred to as "Raping a Slave" and "I Crawled", but is officially referred to as Young God by the band. As with Cop, the cover art includes a notice that the record is "designed to be played at maximum volume."
Children of God is the fifth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on October 19, 1987, through record label Caroline.
Soundtracks for the Blind is the tenth studio album by Swans. It was released as a double CD on October 22, 1996, through Young God Records. Soundtracks for the Blind was intended, as suggested by the title, to function as a "soundtrack for a non-existent film." Upon its release, it received critical acclaim, but was the last studio album released by the band until 2010's My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky. A reissue of the album was released on July 20, 2018, marking the first time Soundtracks for the Blind was released on vinyl.
The Great Annihilator is the ninth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on January 23, 1995, through frontman Michael Gira's own record label, Young God. The album has been described by Gira as a companion album to his solo album Drainland (1995); the two were remastered and re-released together in April 2017.
Swans is the first EP by the experimental rock band Swans. Their first project, it was released in 1982 on Labor.
The Burning World is the sixth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1989, through record label Uni Records, the band's only major-label release. Co-produced by Bill Laswell and band leader Michael Gira, the album features a major stylistic shift from their past releases, being very tuneful and accessible compared to the bleak, industrialized sound from their past records. It received a mixed reception and was a commercial disappointment; the band was dropped from the record label following its poor performance.
White Light from the Mouth of Infinity is the seventh album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1991, through the record label Young God. The band supported the album with a North American tour.
Swans Are Dead is the fifth double and seventh overall live album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1998 and was recorded in 1995 and 1997 on the band's final tours, before reuniting in 2010.
Holy Money is the fourth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in March 1986, through record label K.422. The album was recorded in the same sessions as "Time Is Money (Bastard)", "A Screw", and Greed.
Real Love is the fourth live album by American experimental rock band Swans. It originally appeared as an official bootleg in 1986, then was reissued on Atavistic Records in 1996. Real Love was recorded from European shows on Swans' Greed and Holy Money tour between February and April 1986.
My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Swans released on September 23, 2010; it was their first studio recording in 14 years. Swans founder Michael Gira funded the recording of this album by creating the limited-edition album I Am Not Insane and chose several collaborators from previous Swans line-ups as well as his side project Angels of Light to record and tour for this album. My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky has received positive critical feedback for the return of Swans as well as the rich spiritual themes of the lyrics.
The Manson Family Album is the first studio recording by American rock band Marilyn Manson and a precursor to their debut studio album, 1994's Portrait of an American Family. It was produced by Roli Mosimann and is composed of original takes and mixes of songs which were later found on their debut album. However, the band and its eponymous vocalist were unhappy with Mosimann's production, claiming it to be poorly representative of their established sound and calling it too "smoothed and polished". The majority of songs on The Manson Family Album were later re-recorded or remixed by Nine Inch Nails personnel Trent Reznor, Sean Beaven and Alan Moulder at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. The album's title is a double entendre; it also relates to the commune of cult leader Charles Manson.
The Seer is the twelfth studio album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released by Young God Records on August 28, 2012. Producer and front man Michael Gira funded the recording of the album with the sales of the live double album We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head (2012).
To Be Kind is the thirteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans, released on May 12, 2014. It was released as a triple LP, a double CD, and a two-CD deluxe edition that includes a live DVD of performances from Hellfest Open Air Festival, Pitchfork Music Festival and Primavera Sound Festival, as well as a digital download. Critical reception of the album was very positive, continuing a string of well-received albums from the band. The album peaked at number 37 on US Billboard 200, and debuted at number 38 on the UK Albums Chart. Both are the highest chartings that Swans had ever achieved on a studio album and it is the first time that the band cracked the top 40 in both countries.
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