Yellow Swans

Last updated
Yellow Swans
Yellow Swans 2005.jpg
Yellow Swans performing in Montreal, 2005; Gabriel Mindel Saloman (left) and Pete Swanson (right)
Background information
Origin Portland, Oregon, United States
Genres
Years active2001–2008, 2023
Labels JYRK, LOAD
Members Pete Swanson
Gabriel Mindel Saloman
Website jyrk.com/yellowswans

Yellow Swans are an American experimental music band from Portland, Oregon. The duo were renowned for their improvisational approach to noise music, creating a unique experience for each live performance. They described their music as "a constantly evolving mass of psychedelic noise that is both physically arresting and psychically liberating". The band consisted of Pete Swanson (vocals, drum machine, electronics) and Gabriel Mindel Saloman (guitar, feedback, electronics). The band announced their split in April 2008. A live show by Yellow Swans at the festival Oblivion Access was announced in 2023. [1]

Contents

Career

The duo formed in Portland, Oregon in 2001. From here they established their own collective art label, JYRK where the band self-released several CD-Rs and cassettes of their music. The JYRK collective also included E*Rock and sometimes Pat Maherr (Sisprum Vish, Indignant Senility, DJ Yo-Yo Dieting). With frequent touring and shows with artists including Tussle, Xiu Xiu and Japanther, the duo moved to Oakland, California for two years. In 2003, they recorded their debut album, Bring The Neon War Home, and continued to tour across the USA.

Their debut album garnered much recognition and soon the band were invited to perform shows across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In October 2005, Numerical Thief, a Melbourne-based label, debuted the release of the band's second studio album, Psychic Secession. It was later re-mastered and released on LOAD Records the same year, and then released on 12" vinyl by Weird Forest in 2006.

Throughout their existence, the duo used the moniker of D Yellow Swans, where the "D" can be substituted for any word beginning with the letter. This began as a joke when the band formed, and became "a fun take on anti-branding...[it's] not really meant to be elitist though". [2] They used several different names over the past six years, as can be seen in their discography, but are most commonly referred to as simply Yellow Swans.

In April 2008, Pete Swanson announced the band's break up. In an email to Pitchfork , Swanson stated "There are no specific reasons why we've come to this point, but both Gabriel [Mindel Saloman] and I have decided that it's in our best interest to move on from the project. Neither of us have any intention to stop playing music anytime soon, but we will not be playing or performing with each other again." [3] The group played their last US show in the city of Chicago.

After over a decade of inactivity, the band began an archival project in 2020, reissuing out of print records and uploading old content to their Bandcamp page. This was eventually followed by the February 2023 announcement of their first live performance in 15 years at the Austin-based Oblivion Access Festival in June 2023. [4]

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yo La Tengo</span> American rock group

Yo La Tengo is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew. In 2015, original guitarist Dave Schramm rejoined the band and appeared on their fourteenth album, Stuff Like That There.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lightning Bolt (band)</span> American noise rock band

Lightning Bolt is an American noise rock duo from Providence, Rhode Island, composed of Brian Chippendale on drums and vocals and Brian Gibson on bass guitar. The band met and formed in 1994 as students of the Rhode Island School of Design. Lightning Bolt were listed 8th in Metacritic's Artists of the Decade 2000–09.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Decemberists</span> American indie rock band

The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2000. The band consists of Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query (bass), and John Moen (drums).

<i>Fabulous Muscles</i> 2004 studio album by Xiu Xiu

Fabulous Muscles is the third album by American experimental band Xiu Xiu, released on February 17, 2004 on 5 Rue Christine. The album marked a change in the band's sound, described as a depressive mix between experimental rock and synth-pop. It is considered to be more accessible than Xiu Xiu's previous two studio albums, A Promise and Knife Play. Fabulous Muscles has received mostly positive reviews from critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deerhoof</span> American band

Deerhoof is an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noise punk band, Deerhoof became widely renowned and influential in the 2000s through their self-produced albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Meloy</span> American musician (born 1974)

Colin Patrick Henry Meloy is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band the Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, harmonica and percussion instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Dice</span> American experimental music duo

Black Dice is an American experimental noise music band based in Brooklyn, New York and consisting of brothers Bjorn and Eric Copeland along with Aaron Warren. Formed in 1997, the group was initially inspired by hardcore and noise rock, but subsequently shifted toward the extensive use of signal processing, effects units, and electronic instrumentation. They released their debut album Beaches & Canyons in 2002. They have recorded for labels such as DFA, Fat Cat, and Animal Collective's Paw Tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grails (band)</span> American instrumental rock band

Grails is an American instrumental experimental rock band formed in 1999. Based in Portland, Oregon, the group have released seven studio albums, on labels including Southern and Temporary Residence, and have toured across North America and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portugal. The Man</span> American rock band

Portugal. The Man is an American rock band from Wasilla, Alaska, currently based in Portland, Oregon. The group consists of John Baldwin Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O'Quin, Jason Sechrist, Eric Howk and Zoe Manville. Gourley and Carothers met and began playing music together in 2001 at Wasilla High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thor Harris</span> American drummer

Thor Harris is an artist, sculptor, musician, painter, carpenter and handyman. He was the percussionist for Swans (2010–2016). He has performed with Shearwater (2001–2010), Bill Callahan, The Angels of Light, Lisa Germano, Yonatan Gat, Gretchen Phillips, Devendra Banhart, Rebecca Cannon, Xiu Xiu, Flock of Dimes & Amanda Palmer, Whalesong, and the Grand Theft Orchestra. He has recorded at least six instrumental albums with the Austin producer Rob Halverson. He also contributed to Ben Frost's 2014 album, Aurora. He joined the touring lineup of Xiu Xiu as a percussionist in February 2017 and he has enjoyed touring with Thor & Friends since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grouper (musician)</span> American musician and singer-songwriter

Grouper is the solo project of musician, artist and producer Liz Harris. She has released material on her own label and other independent labels since 2005. Grouper released the critically acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill in 2008, followed by five more records, including a two-part album, A I A, and the piano-led album Ruins. Her twelfth album, Shade, was released in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HTRK</span> Australian music duo

HTRK is an Australian band formed in 2003. The band is currently a duo of vocalist Jonnine Standish and guitarist Nigel Yang; bassist Sean Stewart was a member until his death in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yacht (band)</span> American dance-pop band

Yacht is an American dance-pop band from Portland, Oregon, currently based in Los Angeles, California. The core group consists of Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, and when touring expands to include Bobby Birdman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cults (band)</span> American indie pop band

Cults is an American indie pop band formed in New York City in 2010. The band first rose to prominence upon releasing their debut extended play, Cults 7″ (2010), on their Bandcamp page. They subsequently signed to English singer Lily Allen's record label In the Name Of, an imprint of Sony Music to release their eponymous debut album (2011). A song from the album, "Bad Things" was sampled by American rapper J. Cole for his 2013 single "She Knows", on which they were credited as featured artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darkside (band)</span> American electronica band

Darkside is an American band based in New York City. The band was formed in Providence, Rhode Island in 2011 by electronic musician Nicolás Jaar and multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, both of whom were students at Brown University at the time. Their debut studio album, Psychic, was released in 2013 and was followed up by Spiral, released in 2021 after a lengthy hiatus.

<i>Nina</i> (Xiu Xiu album) 2013 studio album by Xiu Xiu

Nina is a Nina Simone tribute album by Xiu Xiu. It was released on Graveface Records on December 3, 2013, to generally favorable reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Saunier</span> American drummer (born 1969)

Gregory Lovell Saunier is a musician, producer, and composer best known as the drummer and founding member of Deerhoof.

<i>Going Places</i> (Yellow Swans album) 2010 studio album by Yellow Swans

Going Places is an album by the American experimental music band Yellow Swans, released on March 2, 2010, by Type Records. It is the final album by the band, released after the band's 2008 breakup. Following the decision to disband in late 2007, the duo decided that making the final album was a priority. Yellow Swans spent a total of 18 months working on the album, first recording 80–100 hours of material during the rehearsals for their final shows, and then progressively editing the recordings down to the album's final runtime.

The discography of Portland, Oregon-based experimental music band Yellow Swans consists of 45 albums, 15 EPs, 3 compilation albums, and 7 singles, as well as appearing on various artist releases. Of the 70 releases by the band, 25 are either in collaboration with other artists or splits. Many of the band's albums have been released under variations of their name, including Dove Yellow Swans, Descension Yellow Swans, Detestifi Yellow Swans, Deterioration Yellow Swans, and Dreamed Yellow Swans, et cetera.

Oblivion Access is an annual music festival held across multiple venues in the Red River Cultural District in Austin, Texas. With a focus on metal and experimental music, the festival is named for the Lil Ugly Mane album of the same name. It was founded in 2017 as Austin Terror Fest before changing its name in 2020.

References

  1. "Oblivion Access Festival 2023". www.oblivionaccessfestival.com/. Retrieved 1 Mar 2023.
  2. "5 Qs: D. Yellow Swans". www.auralminority.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  3. "Pitchfork: Yellow Swans Break up". www.pitchforkmedia.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  4. Pearis, Bill (28 February 2023). "Oblivion Access 2023 adds Faust, TR/ST, Clipping. & Earth, Duster, more (full lineup)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 28 February 2023.