Soundtracks for the Blind | ||||
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Studio album (double album)by | ||||
Released | October 22, 1996 | |||
Recorded | 1981 – 1996 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 141:37 | |||
Label | Young God | |||
Producer | Michael Gira, Jarboe (track 7) | |||
Swans chronology | ||||
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Singles from Soundtracks for the Blind | ||||
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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 widespread acclaim from critics, 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. [4]
Much of the album is tied together with audio collage works and sample-based textural pieces recorded at various times and places, as well as the use of previous Swans material (such as the lyrics of "Your Property" from Cop for "YRP"). On this, frontman Michael Gira said in 1997:
I've always been interested in different sounds like that and listened to Brian Eno and different kinds of music that use non-musical sources often, and as I made this record I had a lot of that material: those loops and things I'd made from '81; I had vocal loops that Jarboe had made in 1985 on a little sixteen second digital delay unit which was actually the first sampler... we had these tape narrations we'd been collecting, that she got from her father's desk when he was an FBI agent – surveillance tapes; I interviewed my father because I'm interested in his life, and took a little snippet of his experiences... then we had new things we'd recorded with our 'band' from the last tour; and some stuff we did for a soundtrack for a film. I threw all those into the computer and assembled it that way. So, in some things, there's something from 1981 playing simultaneously with something from '85 playing simultaneously with something from 1996. It's cross-faded and blended and mixed so to speak in the computer, cut-up and sometimes looped and reversed. [5]
On the Young God Records page for "Soundtracks for the Blind", Gira wrote this in 2008 about the general experience of making the album:
This double CD album has everything in there – all the ideas from Swans’ 15 years of work. There’s some contemporary recordings of the band as it existed in ‘96/7, with Larry Mullins on drums/percussion, Jarboe singing and playing keyboards, Vudi playing electric guitar, and Joe Goldring playing bass and electric guitar, and me singing and playing electric and acoustic guitar, but there’s also a huge amount of sounds and recordings that I (and a few by Jarboe here too) collected over the years. These are reassembled, looped, mangled, and in many cases overdubbed upon to create new pieces of music. Being the "artist" in this case, it’s hard for me to talk about this one, because the memory is so laden (or burdened!) with the experience of making this thing. I guess what I’m trying to say here is I almost had a heart attack making it (slightly kidding here). It was just overwhelming. I really set my own trap, dug my own grave on this one. There was SO MUCH material to deal with, to sift through (whole trunks full of decomposing, moldy cassettes and discs with samples and sounds), and the task of making it into something coherent was at times debilitating. Really like climbing up a mountain of sand. I don’t remember why I set this goal for myself, to somehow incorporate such a ridiculously disparate amount of material. I think maybe it was so I could justify throwing all that crap into the local dump, which is what I did when I finished the album. But in the end, after centuries of picking at this huge iceberg of material with a toothpick, my trusty engineer Chris Griffin and I managed to sculpt something out of it. It actually breathes, seems to live, in most places I think. There’s a press release below written by Kurt at Atavistic (Swans label at the time), and some reviews too, which might give you a better idea of how this sounds. Anyway, in the end, I was elated with this music, both because I liked it and because finishing it meant I could finally lay Swans to rest after 15 years. In my case, I’m always happiest when I’m leaving. [6]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [7] |
Alternative Press | 5/5 [8] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [9] |
MusicHound Rock | 4/5 [10] |
OndaRock | 7.5/10 [11] |
Ox-Fanzine | [12] |
Sputnikmusic | 4.5/5 [13] |
Terrorizer | [14] |
Soundtracks for the Blind has been met with widespread acclaim from critics. Alternative Press wrote that "Swans' out-and-out noise may have receded into quietude and somnolent hypnoscapes, but this monster of an album will leave ripples pulsing out for many years to come." [8] Nick Terry of Terrorizer magazine wrote, "Gira has painstakingly recorded and produced this magnus[ sic ] opus with a ferocious attention to detail. Above all, it sounds phenomenal". [14] The magazine later included it in their list of the "100 Most Important Albums of the Nineties". [15]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic critic Ned Raggett called Soundtracks for the Blind "[Swans'] best album ever". [7] Raggett ranked the album at number 75 on his list of the best albums of the 1990s for Freaky Trigger . [16]
In 2024, Paste ranked Soundtracks for the Blind as the 175th-greatest album of all time. [17]
CD Tracklist
All tracks are written by Michael Gira, unless noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Red Velvet Corridor" | 3:04 | |
2. | "I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull" | 6:39 | |
3. | "Helpless Child" | 15:47 | |
4. | "Live Through Me" | 2:32 | |
5. | "Yum-Yab Killers" | Jarboe | 5:07 |
6. | "The Beautiful Days" | 7:49 | |
7. | "Volcano" | Jarboe | 5:18 |
8. | "Mellothumb" | 2:46 | |
9. | "All Lined Up" | 4:48 | |
10. | "Surrogate 2" | Gira, Jarboe | 1:52 |
11. | "How They Suffer" | 5:52 | |
12. | "Animus" | 10:41 | |
Total length: | 72:06 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Red Velvet Wound" | Jarboe | 2:02 |
2. | "The Sound" | 13:11 | |
3. | "Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey" | Gira, Jarboe | 3:19 |
4. | "Blood Section" | 2:39 | |
5. | "Hypogirl" | 2:44 | |
6. | "Minus Something" | Gira, Jarboe | 4:14 |
7. | "Empathy" | 6:45 | |
8. | "I Love You This Much" | 7:23 | |
9. | "YRP" | 7:47 | |
10. | "Fan's Lament" | 1:28 | |
11. | "Secret Friends" | Gira, Jarboe | 3:08 |
12. | "The Final Sacrifice" | 10:27 | |
13. | "YRP 2" | 2:09 | |
14. | "Surrogate Drone" | 2:06 | |
Total length: | 69:31 |
Credits for Soundtracks for the Blind adapted from liner notes. [18]
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
US & UK | 1996 | 2CD | Young God, Atavistic | [19] |
Poland | 1996 | Cassette | Young God, Atavistic, Eurosun, Music Corner | [19] |
US | 2002 | 2CD reissue | Young God | [19] |
US | 2012 | 2CD reissue | Young God | [19] |
Worldwide | 2014 | Digital | Young God | [19] |
US | 2016 | 2CD reissue | Young God | [19] |
US & Europe | 2018 | 4LP reissue (boxset) | Young God, Mute | [19] |
US & Europe | 2018 | 3CD reissue (with Die Tür ist zu ) | Young God, Mute | [20] |
US | 2021 | 4LP reissue (gatefold) | Young God | [19] |
Europe | 2022 | 4LP reissue (gatefold) | Young God, Mute | [19] |
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.
The World of Skin was a music project springing out of the American group Swans, which was a collaboration between the core Swans members Michael Gira and Jarboe. The project was initially called Skin, with the first two albums being released under that name, the last one being released under the name the World of Skin. In the UK, the first two albums were released by Product Inc., an imprint of Mute Records, while the last was released on Gira's own Young God label.
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.
Cop is the second studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1984 through record label K.422.
Greed is the third studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1986, through record label K.422. Greed marks the slow turning point for Swans away from the harsh, brutal noise rock of prior releases, and is also the first Swans album to contain contributions from Jarboe.
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 and on K.422 in the United Kingdom.
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.
"Time Is Money (Bastard)" is a song by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released as a 12-inch single in 1986, through record label K.422. The single is notable for the first official appearance of vocalist Jarboe.
A Screw is a single by the New York City experimental rock group Swans. The single's three songs were later appended as bonus tracks to the CD release of Holy Money.
Love of Life is the eighth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1992 on Young God Records.
Jarboe Devereaux, known mononymously as Jarboe, is an American singer and musician who came to prominence as a member of the New York City experimental rock band Swans in 1985. Jarboe and Michael Gira, the founder of Swans, were the two constant members of the group until it broke up in 1997.
Thirteen Masks is the solo debut record by Jarboe, released in 1991 through Hyperium. The album features Swans members Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Clinton Steele, and Tony Maimone of Pere Ubu.
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 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).
Sacrificial Cake is the second studio album by Jarboe. It was released in 1995 through Alternative Tentacles, and is an accompaniment to Drainland by fellow Swans member Michael Gira.
The Body Lovers and The Body Haters were experimental music projects led by composer Michael Gira between 1998 and 1999 following the breakup of Swans in 1997. Both projects served as an outlet for Gira's loop experimentation within the drone and dark ambient genres and were compared to the compositions comprising Swans' final pre-breakup album Soundtracks for the Blind. The music was built around samples and found sounds, some of which dated as having been recorded as far back as 1980.
Drainland is the debut solo studio album by American musician Michael Gira. It was released on June 9, 1995, through Alternative Tentacles. Using spare arrangements recorded in August 1994 at musician Bill Rieflin's Seattle home, the album features contributions from Rieflin and Gira's Swans bandmate Jarboe.
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