Swans - Birthing (May 30, 2025)

This is a rough release - tracklists are somewhat inconsistent between the platforms, it's not on Bandcamp yet, and some videos were pulled.

There's still the official video from three months ago:


And the release is available through Spotify.

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - 20 hours 39 minutes ago at 03:57

^ Not the best music if you have a headache.

^^ That youtube playlist I shared does not sound rough to me and seems complete with songs. It may be a regional thing. I did add the direct link to the playlist as I have to enable desktop mode for iPhone Safari to see the full playlist.

Here is the spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Yz6MpVM993PWHOEQLCXh5

^ I'm on my second full listen and I agree. And it's gone to my top of the year.

My top five albums for now for 2025, by the way, are:

Swans - Birthing
Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
BRUIT ≤ - The Age of Ephemerality
Hesse Kassel - La Brea
Squid - Cowards

Edited the first post to add this, but Birthing is now on bandcamp: https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/birthing

It definitely was my most anticipated album of this year.

Edited by Logan - 15 hours 51 minutes ago at 08:45

I plan to get the vinyl version. We have some very good record stores in Vancouver (some of my old friends own one of the best) and I hope to get this straight from the record shop (but then I might have to order it in through them). I still prefer bricks and mortar shopping to online... And I love being in record stores and book stores (love going to book stores although I don't read print as much as I used to).

Edited by Logan - 15 hours 8 minutes ago at 09:28

^ While I like to support artists, I don't buy as much physical product as I once did, and often just stream. Of course, like Swans, it is common for bands/artists to make their music freely available through streaming services. It's the limited edition Swans releases/merch I most want to own. It's nice too if one can support artists going to concerts, but that can be jolly expensive (especially with additional charges like Ticketmaster), and of course it can be hard to see what you like depending on where you live.

I live south-east of Vancouver now and I don't get to those places much because the commute can be a pain, but I want to get out more to places like those record stores. I went to one record store some months back, and they were playing the OK Computer by Radiohead. I felt quite at home. I am lucky to have Vancouver as close as it is, and I can get to Seattle in about two and a half hours, which is a darned fine city for music and other things.

^^ Vancouver sounds nice. I've always thought that anyway. I've ended up buying 80-90% of my LP's at record fairs. I love them. For one I feel at home surrounded by music lovers - both among the sellers and buyers. Great vibes all around. It's the only spaces I know of where prices seem mostly fair (haha) - and I sometimes do genuine bargains as well. At record stores where I live, the starting price is around 25-30 Euros - but mostly higher. I also hate all these triple deluxe or whatever versions of classic albums. I just want the glorious 26 minute long original Ascenseur pour l'échafaud for twentysomething euros (I eventually found a lovely version, with excellent bonus meterial one a single album), not a mono/stereo/studio run trough/alternate take vinyl box for ninety minutes and 70 Euros. No more going into a record store and taking a chance on an LP that looks interesting. Like I used to do all the time. I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I guess I just miss the days when I could buy Prog and all kinds of weird stuff, often for one or two, and rarely over ten euros:)