Michael Gira, Marissa Nadler September 14, 2007

NOTE: Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu) HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE BILL

General Admission Standing Room Only

Concert starts @ 9 PM
Doors open @ 8 PM
Tickets $20.00

16+

Michael Gira first gained notoriety in the eighties as the founder of SWANS, the most brutal of New York's no wave bands. Their music was a cement fist to the back of the skull, the noise overwhelming as Gira intoned songs about despair, disgust, pain, psychosexual violence, physical decay, and a particularly frightening kind of love.

Since SWANS ended in 1997, he's released albums as the Body Lovers, the Body Haters and Angels of Light, together with several solo recordings. More than just the names, however, the music itself has changed, and dramatically. With Angels of Light, you can hear everything from sweet, ukulele-based love songs, to pounding whoop-'em-ups, to indefinable experimental numbers. From walls of noise to sparse, poignant solo guitar.

The one constant has been Gira's uncanny, unmistakable songwriting, but even that's matured. While the darkness is still palpable, he's balanced it with glimmers of light and humor. It's developed into a very rich, complex, human music that stands alone, beyond category. It's simply and purely Gira.

- Jim Knipfel | The Brooklyn Rail