Michael Gira (Angels Of Light / Swans)

Michael Gira founded the seminal NYC band Swans in 1982. Quickly infamous for their punishing, brutal and repetitive onslaughts of sound, extreme volume levels, and the self-abusing, abject shouts and growls of Gira’s sloganeering vocals, Swans gradually transformed over 15 years, ultimately venturing into harsh mechanical proto-industrial rock, to sprawling shifts of texture and perspective  (see the bucolic atmospheric folk idles and martial stomps of their much heralded Children of God double LP from 1987), to gentle acoustic-based songs, and finally on to their ultimate statement, Soundtracks For The Blind (1997) which somehow incorporated all of these elements at once, across well over 2 hours of music in one album. At this point, Gira called it quits after 15 years of relentless touring and productivity, and disbanded Swans. Since 1999 Gira has released his music under the name Angels Of Light. He writes the songs for Angels Of Light on acoustic guitar and orchestrates them using a shifting cadre of musicians, employing a wide variety of instrumentation such as strings, wind, brass, electric guitars, electronics and choral vocals. The songs are often eccentric and extreme, in keeping with Gira’s love of soundtrack music. Though nominally more traditional than Swans, Angels Of Light is often just as hard hitting through different means. The most recent album by Angels Of Light is We Are Him. Though Angels Of Light recordings are often elaborately orchestrated, Gira has recently chosen to tour exclusively solo, using acoustic guitar and voice. The performances are raw, to the point, and emotionally powerful. When not recording, writing music, or touring, Gira spends his time producing and releasing music through his label Young God Records. He’s been responsible of late for such notable talents as Devendra Banhart, Lisa Germano, Akron/Family, Fire On Fire, and most recently, Larkin Grimm. In early 2009 Young God will release the YGR debut by the acclaimed composer/guitarist James Blackshaw.

TIME OUT NY/  CONCERT PREVIEW (excerpt) 2008, by Jordan Mamone:

” Armed with only an acoustic guitar and a commanding baritone, Michael Gira

could make mincemeat out of the most “extreme” metal and punk bands. His

heavy-handed strumming and clear, virile voice—not to mention his impeccable, neatly pressed appearance—lend ample gravitas to even his prettiest folk ballads. (Lyrics like “When you open your mouth you’re too stupid to scream” will seduce misanthropes who dig Thomas Bernhard novels rather than pixies who worship Joanna Newsom CDs.)…’ It’s heartening to see that Gira, the erstwhile East Village confrontationist, now in his early fifties and living upstate, has reached one more peak in his long, unpredictable career. ”

TIME OUT LONDON / CONCERT PREVIEW 2007, by Sophie Harris

“No-one – but no-one – does menace like Michael Gira. Not Liars, not Black Dice, not Selfish Cunt or indeed any of today’s confrontational young bucks. None of the bands that Gira has influenced, in his thirty-odd (and they are odd) years making music comes close to the

darkness that bubbles so deliciously through his music. But then, Gira’s life story so far is nothing short of extraordinary.

A ‘difficult’ child (born to difficult parents), he ran away from home at 14, ended up at a kibbutz in Israel, selling drugs and his own blood on the streets, in jail, and then working in a copper mine. His father eventually tracked him down through Interpol, and Gira was shipped back to California to go to high school. He dropped out, and by the time he arrived in New York in ’81, Gira describes himself as ‘boiling over with non-specific rage’.

Enter then, Swans, legendarily the Loudest Band Ever. To this day, rock nerds’ faces light up as they remember the inter-crowd injury/vomiting/deafness that characterised the art rockers’ live shows; Gira would be physically pummelled by the drone, hurling himself at the ground repeatedly, knocking out teeth in the process (it rather puts Richie Manic’s ’4 Real’ to shame).

But musically, there’s so much more to Gira than these shock-horror stories. Perhaps what is most surprising is that in his years as Angels Of Light, Gira has produced a series of mesmerically beautiful records, often boasting a shimmering delicacy. As a child, before all

the craziness happened, Gira used to listen to Disney and Burle Ives records, and this world of fantasy and fairytale saturates his latest album ‘We Are Him’ (it’s notable too, that Gira and his wife Siobhan Duffy ‘discovered’ Devendra Banhart and produced his first, gnarly

folk records on Gira’s Young God label, now also home to Akron/Family).

A huge, handsome man, Gira now sports immaculate suits, braces, and a Stetson onstage, booming out songs with the assuredness of an old-fashioned preacher. The darkness Gira deals in today is far subtler than those early days – just don’t doubt for a second that you’ll be left breathless.”

WOODEN WAND

In addition to running the Polyamory label with Tovah O’Rourke, James Toth was the leader of New York-based avant-garde/freak folk ensemble Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice. Taking the first part of that name as his own — and occasionally billing himself as “Wooden Wand Jehovah” — Toth gathered at one point or another O’Rourke (who also comprised Dead Machines with her husband, Wolf Eyes’ John Olson), Satya Sai, Glucas Crane, Steven the Harvester, and Heidi Diehl. There were others, too — the Vanishing Voice lineup shifted as much as its members’ various aliases. The sounds the group made were fluid, too, incorporating everything from the ’60s mysticism of Donovan and Van Morrison to free jazz, /p>

oise rock, folk raditionals, and the entire Silt Breeze catalog. Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice released numerous CD-R and vinyl recordings into the indie folk/experimental underground during the early 2000s; they were also responsible for relatively more conventional releases like 2003′s Xiao (Destijl, later reissued by Troubleman Unlimited), 2004′s Sunset Sleeves (Weird Forest), and Buck Dharma, issued in September 2005 through 5 Rue Christine. That same year Toth released Harem of the Sundrum & the Witness Figg simply as Wooden Wand. The recording’s skeletal folk structures and evocative lyrics garnered quite a bit of positive press, especially in the wake of Devendra Banhart’s success. The band released two albums in 2006, Gipsy Freedom and Second Attention. 2007 saw the release of James and the Quiet, followed in 2009 by Hard Knox, a collection of demo and home recordings under the moniker Wand.

~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

Buy Tickers For Both Events: $20
STAY THE SAME NEVER CHANGE
FREE SANGRIA RECEPTION AFTER FILMS
WATCH THE TRAILER
STAY THE SAME NEVER CHANGE (Laurel Nakadate | New York | 93 min.)
Artist/filmmaker Laurel Nakadate’s weird and delightful first feature film, Stay the Same Never Change, is a raw, audacious effort that burns with originality and honesty. Starring amateur actors in Kansas City, and filmed in their real homes, Stay the Same Never Change is a film that is as much visual fact as narrative fiction about American heartland folk and the lives they live while wanting more. A nonlinear yarn that skips among various vignettes depicting the solitary existence of distantly connected young women, Nakadate’s film exudes a warm sense of humor as it peers into the loneliness of the girls and their desperate attempts to find affection. From a pining tween who turns to her sewing machine for creature comforts to a young woman obsessed with polar bears and Oprah, Nakadate’s characters reveal quiet lives brimming with anguish and desire, but also a fascinating ingenuity. Awkward moments of absurdity and small ruptures in their lives offer opportunities for these girls to create a new world or stretch for what is just beyond their reach. You do not have to hail from the heartland to connect with the infectious appeal of Stay the Same Never Change. If you’ve ever been a tween and pined for life and love, you will cringe with powerful personal recognition as you witness the seemingly psychotic lives of these girls.
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory
Address: 232 3RD St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/ Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Directions: F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union Ave.
Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents music by Stars Like Fleas
9:00PM: Film
11:00PM–12:30AM: Reception in courtyard including free sangria courtesy of Carlo Rossi