Soundtracks for the Blind
Soundtracks for the Blind is the eleventh studio album by the American band Swans. It was released in 1996 as a double CD on Young God Records and Atavistic Records and was long regarded as the last studio album of the band until in September 2010, My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky appeared.
Genesis
The album was recorded over two hours long from an extensive pool of sources - for example, self-recorded recordings on cassette, found sounds, samples, loops, recordings of live concerts or musical recording on older multi-track recorders. Some of the cassette recordings come from the father of band member Jarboe, who was FBI agent and phone calls mitschnitt. The vast amount of material was combined in 1996 by the band in the studio mastering Griffin in Atlanta together, collaged, manipulated and mastered.
Style
Soundtracks for the Blind (the title alludes to the blindness of bandleader Michael Gira's father, who describes his illness in How They Suffer in your own words ) is by far the longest and most varied work in the discography of the band. The album uses different genres, from minimalist ( Empathy, All Lined Up ) to epic, classical compositions ( Helpless Child ), the Musique concrète ( The Beautiful Days ), post-rock in the vein of later bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai ( The Sound ). But Electro- elements ( Volcano ) and many ambient pieces are included.
Reception
Soundtracks for the Blind is considered groundbreaking for the genre post rock, along with other publications such as DI Go Pop by Disco Inferno ( 1994) and Spider Country ( 1991) by Slint.
The album was mostly positive discussed ( among other things of The Wire and Melody Maker). Ned Ragett awards 4.5 / 5 points and writes on allmusic:
Can be at least as good as any greatest hits release, it would have ever - "All of thunderous electronic music in its most extreme form, to the most delicate, acoustic string plucking, can be found here, so it is ultimately a perfect encapsulation of the sound of Swans. "
Title list
Animus
The piece animus was released in 1996 on the limited edition of 300 copies 10 " Single Failure / Animus at Rough Trade. The second title, Failure, previously appeared on the Swans album White Light from the Mouth of Infinity.