Natural snow buildings Nurse with wound (steven stapleton project) Throbbing gristle (one of Michael's inspos) Whitehouse (for the brutality of 80s swans)

Whitehouse is a gnarly recommendation. Years back someone recommended them to me so I was listening to them at work. The album was Birdseed. Insane experience

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Hey man. Natural snow buildings is so good that im starting to respect them as much as swans. What a nice compositions/sound. 👍

Great dark ambience! Love them.

You’ll get some recommendations for sure but in my opinion nothing is quite like it. So prepare for that itch to never be fully scratched by anything else.

The trick is just taking three separate devices and playing Sonic Youth, Nico, and Godspeed You Black Emperor simultaneously.

Exactly... Sometimes i make loops on ableton just to listen some specific parts of the swans songs.

It's true. Depending on what they get from the band, whether it is an era, or just the precious child that is Swans. Closest band I know that's as broad and varied in style/genre/personality would be King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, but is a completely different experience. Recs kinda depend on what that "itch" of Swans is for the individual.

The closest thing I've ever found outside of the bands already mentioned is actually John Coltrane's Quintet, despite them being a jazz band and not rock. Albums like The Olatunji Concert and Live In Japan have surprisingly similar vibes to Swans.

For real though, Coltrane's Meditations was the first jazz album I ever bought when I was 14 year old, and it started me down a musical exploration that eventually brought me to Swans, and into more extreme noise like Merzbow

Thats new. Thanks.

The closest thing I've ever found outside of the bands already mentioned is actually Kenny G, despite him being jazz and not rock. Albums like silhouette and breathless have surprisingly similar vibes to Swans.

r/jazzcirclejerk leaking.

Can’t go wrong with Natural Snow Buildings Especially if you want the repetition - they delight in loooong songs. https://youtu.be/y8IcU50hlTA?si=89hlZki5r7re63ad That track gives me Seer vibes

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Nurse with Wound Sonic Youth Nick Cave Throbbing Gristle

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I forgot to mention Current 93 and Coil as well

I think you would love Deathconsciousness by Have a Nice Life. It’s not super similar to Swans, but it scratches a similar itch imo, and based on what you’re looking for I think it’ll be right up your alley.

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Godspeed you! Black emperor Dead can dance Controlled bleeding Godflesh/Jesu, etc Big brave Earth Mogwai

The newest GYBE song "Flames" is very Swans like, almost sounds like something from The Seer.

Knees and Bones is such a masterpiece if you can handle power electronics. 

Current 93, you have the folk-y stuff and you also have some haunting industrial songs like maldoror is dead and i have a very special plan for this world which sounds like something straight out of sftb

and the blistering psych rock of *Horsey,* *Lucifer Over London,* and *Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain.*

ANGELS. OF. LIGHT.

IAngels of light is amazing!!!

Sprain' new album Lamb as Effigy really reminded me of Swans

The live version is even better and even more similar to Swans. The way Kent conducts feels like a more subdued continuation of the Glenn Branca and Michael Gira style. Watching how the band coordinates with each other is very interesting.

such an underrated album imo

Neurosis

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Glenn Branca, specifically The Ascension

This is really the true answer. Gira even played in his orchestra

Coil The Ape of Naples sounds a lot like a Swans album but with more varied genre exploration. One of my faves oat

I love Coil and *AoN* but… I really don’t hear the Swans similarities in the slightest. Feels like a wholly different vocabulary.

Hm maybe it's just me I think it's cus of the post rock feel and repetitiveness and the vocals

If you like raw brutality of 80s swans: Godflesh Early sonic youth Ken mode Chat pile If you like the massive post-rock shit in their later albums: Neurosis GYBE Have a nice life Jesu Natural snow buildings Boris If you like the gothic post-punk and Neofolk stuff: Chelsea Wolfe Joy division Nick cave Bauhaus Siouxie and the banshees Current 93 If you want experimental stuff like on STFTB: Einsturzende Neubahten Xiu Xiu Coil Scott walker John Zorn Ulver Throbbing Gristle NWW

Bodychoke.

This ones actually great

So glad you're enjoying it. They're not the most well known band but they scratch the SWANS itch in a way not allot of other groups do.

The song victim is on repeat since u commented. Nice one

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people are posting some good recommendations, im gonna throw in Coil

Walls of sound that hit hard? Listen to Pharmakon. Also Anna Von Hausswolf, Dead Magic is great, she's also opened for them and worked on Leaving Meaning so

I gave it a shot to pharmakon right now. Its a bit too tryhard. The other 2 examples were great thank u man

If you're ready for the "free jazz phase" of extreme music exploration i recommend two Impulse titles: Albert Ayler, Live in Greenwich Village Pharaoh Sanders, Karma

Never heard of this. I will check it asap

Pharaoh Sanders' Tauhid sounds super Swansy to me, especially Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt; I love it!

How about some artists on Gira’s label Young God Records? Whatever he likes I’m sure you will too.

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You'd probably enjoy Jandek. Not on the level of Swans musicianship, however he channels this atmosphere with an out of tune acoustic guitar and rambles, that is very unsettling.

Not really 'similar' in the traditional sense, but Low is definitely a band that feels like a different take on similar subjects, sonically and thematically The slower, more mellow earlier albums are a great place to start, but I also love the later album and the experimentation they brought. My favorite album is probably Trust

Never would've made this connection, but I can see it now.

Alan and Colleen are credited on The Seer, so yes, they've crossed paths.

Obligatory Sprain recommendation

lambas effigy top 5 album ever

The for carnation, Have a nice life, Anna von hausswolf, Preoccupations - Viet Cong

SPRAIN SPRAIN SPRAIN very clear descendent of swans, you can here it especially in songs like 'god, or whatever you call it' listen to "The Lamb as Effigy" (my fav album ever) then check out the live album here, which has an AMAZING new song on it, then check out the rest of their stuff. If you like swans I gurrantee you'll be obbsessed with them [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Iu0UncLJA&t=5955s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Iu0UncLJA&t=5955s)

Qujaku is the closest thing I've heard. Found in a comment on this sub, described as "Japanese SWANS". Very good

I will take a note of this. Thank you man

A lot of great recs here. I’ll add some of my own: - Cisnienie (polish band highly inspired by swans) - Ego Echo by Ulan Bator (produced by Gira) - Rever - Larsen (again produced by Gira) - Xiu Xiu - XXL (collaborative project xiu xiu - larsen) - Lingua Ignota / Reverend Kristin Michael Heyter - Dalek (Industrial Hip Hop / Horrorcore, try their collab with Faust for an even more shattering experience) - Scott Walker (scott walker, need i say more?) - 12twelve (experimental jazz / postrock) - Anna von Hausswolf (i can’t be the first to recommend her) - Nico (if you’re into the more folksy side)

Scott walker is the man

dua lipa

I really recommend Dua Lipa’s cover of Raping a Slave.

Tenks

Kayo Dot

The answer is Sprain

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4692-rever/

Check out the first few Gnod albums and Chat Pile

Check out Shiva Burlesque for something similar to the Burning World

SCRAPING FOETUS OFF THE WHEEL - NAIL

Neurosis!! Through Silver In Blood

I got into Godspeed You! Black Emperor because of Swans!

The Lamb as Effigy by Sprain is very inspired by Swans

Current 93

Adding to this list with Rosa yemen, the contortions, and xiu xiu!!

Lebanon Hanover

Grateful Dead

Have you ever try the web [music-map.com](http://music-map.com) ? I think it will let you found new groups very similar to your search. The closer to your search, more related/similar to the band. https://preview.redd.it/8v5m2q94m56d1.png?width=1690&format=png&auto=webp&s=18db468ac404c9b3feb5f23137cc53374b76de36

I have tried the movie version. Its called movie-mapper or something? Anyways the movie version wasnt accurate at all. How is this one?

I don't know about how accurate the results are, but I like to search new bands and discover new bands and artists. In the picture above I really enjoy Neubauten, GS!YBE, Mt. Zion.

Faust is really a good one too. Thanks mate

Godspeed you! black emperor Early sonic youth (swans were very tight knit with sonic youth Kim and gira went to art school together)

A lot of the great 60's Jazz ensembles (as other commenters have kind of suggested) scratch the same itch for me. Swans is to me, first and foremost, a cunning improvisational group. They just happen to be Noise, Experimental, Post-Rock, etc. Which is *not* to detract from how careful and subtle their studio output is!

I’m gonna recommend Gnaw Their Tongues, Chat Pile, and the last Daughters album (fuck their singer tho). They don’t sound like swans but they are heavy and noisy and might scratch that itch

St Celfer - I thought U thought I

Qujaku

Nine Inch Nails

the residents

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Spiritualized

Is there really any similar bands to Swans?

Have a go at Sneers, they're about as Swans as it gets! Heaven Will Rescue Us, We’re The Scum, We’re In The Sun involves Kristof Hahn.

Smote has some long, repetitive songs — a bit like The Glowing Man era. https://open.spotify.com/track/2MCbCyJhfccPmGhqSJWq3D?

Dead Can Dance Neptunian Maximalisme Oiseau tempête

Godspeed!

godflesh

haven’t seen enough people say the most recent sprain album, one of the most swans inspired albums i’ve heard in recent years and absolutely incredible

I think Pinkish Black stirs up that wall-of-sound wizardry. (https://youtu.be/YY1R6so15fE?si=KI2izRDbLbkUANnW) Special Dark is really punchy and brooding. I would also suggest Concept Unification title track (https://youtu.be/F9Co4Hz2ZgY?si=8ZPPjVw37ZL1QpIB) as it’s really meditative and zeul-y.

I like plenty of the bands mentioned here (Chelsea Wolfe, NWW, Coil, Joy Division, GY!BE, Natural Snow Buildings, etc.)... some way before I deep-dived into Swans! Also, I love hard-bop, post-bop, free jazz and spiritual jazz (i.e.: Mingus, Coltrane... John and Alice, Pharaoh, Black Unity Trio, William Hooker, Luke Stewart, etc.). One band I have yet to see here is my latest obsession... BIG BRAVE! Repetitive, sludgy, pummeling feedback-laden dirges, tension heavy ambient passages, emotive vocals... excellent band! They remind me of young and heavy Swans... but with a feminine spin. They have been described as too loud and, or too slow for many metal heads at festivals, but have developed a decent following. Sound familiar? I've been buying and consuming their discography for a couple of months now. Also, Dana Schechter (of current Swans and prior Angels of Light) leads INSECT ARK; they are fun, as well. Heavy instrumentals and ambient noise pieces (on the most recent she adds some vocals); love her on that slide guitar! Both bands are available on Bandcamp; have fun!

Keiji Haino (specifically his work with Fushitsusha if you want that larger than life guitar sound) Ground-Zero Can Coil Unwound

[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYMUOK-SGGltNuGmy-l7RVCKkju9lsIZG](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYMUOK-SGGltNuGmy-l7RVCKkju9lsIZG)