Michael Gira

Goodbye to this stellar version of Swans. Newly Sentient Being features superb recordings of Swans’ final concert of the “Big Sound” era, the apotheosis of 15 years of cosmic sonic expressionism, alternately heavenly and debased, visceral and transcendent.

Swans final New York show in 2024 included on a limited-edition DVD available with initial CD and vinyl pressings of Birthing.

Filmed on Saturday, August 26, 2023 during the 13th edition of the NOX ORAE festival in La Tour-de-Peilz (Switzerland).

Michael Gira performing live and solo in 2022.

From their roots as a brutal, confrontational industrial band, through breakups and chaos, to their odds-defying current status as one of the most accomplished and ambitious bands in the world, one whose concerts are more like ecstatic rituals than nostalgic trips. SWANS has always been a collection of singular performers, but there's been one constant since its formation in 1982--singer, songwriter Michael Gira. 'Where Does a Body End?' is a SWANS documentary with unfettered access to hundreds of hours of Gira/SWANS archives of never-seen-before recordings, videos, and photographs. An unfiltered story of a life in the arts, frequent difficulty spanning decades without a safety net, creating work because Gira says "What else am I going to do?"

For over 30 years, Martin Bisi has been recording music from his studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn. He has worked with many influential musicians, including Sonic Youth, Swans, Herbie Hancock, Brian Eno and the Dresden Dolls. Now though, he finds himself squeezed in by the approaching gentrification of his neighborhood.

SWANS recorded live 2010/2011. Track listing: No Words / No Thoughts (18:50) - Avatar (10:36) - The Apostate (19:31) - Beautiful Child (Fragment) (3:43) - Jim (8:16) - Sex God Sex (7:13) - The Seer / I Crawled (32:16)

Festivalhalle Moers, Moers, Germany

Included in some CD releases of the Swans album The Glowing Man. Recorded live in 2015.

On stage, backstage, and at home with Michael Gira and Swans. Short documentary by Pitchfork

SWANS recorded live 2013. Track listing: To Be Kind (20:41) - Just a Little Boy (10:06) - Coward (8:36) - She Loves Us (18:17) - Oxygen (7:17) - The Seer / Toussaint L'Ouverture (45:35)

Included in some CD releases of the Swans album. A live performance, recorded in 2013.

7/3/2015 Poland

'Parallel Planes' is a documentary film portraying 12 American avant-garde & punk-rock musicians. It is a journey between genres, an essay on free thinking and an intimate look at how 12 critical players relate to the potential of music.

Swans recorded live in 2013. Track listing: To Be Kind - Just a Little Boy - Coward - She Loves Us - Oxygen - The Seer - Bring The Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture

A 2004 documentary on thirty years of alternative rock 'n roll in NYC.Documenting the history from the genuine authenticity of No Wave to the current generation of would be icons and true innovators seeing to represent New York City in the 21st century

A documentary about composer/producer/performer JG Thirlwell and his musical alter-egos, including Foetus, Steroid Maximus and Manorexia. Featuring interviews with Thirlwell, Matt Johnson (The The), Alex Hacke (Neubauten), Michael Gira (Swans), Richard Kern, Lydia Lunch and more.

A full-length feature documentary produced in 2006 which serves as a companion piece to and is included on the DVD of the 2004 film KILL YOUR IDOLS.

Swans live at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Georgia January 29th, 1997 Rare pro-shot video of the band's 1997 tour. Not Alone, Hypogirl

This performance is (most of) what was used for the legendary Swans Are Dead live album. This specific version is from a tape of the VPRO broadcast of the concert.

Live footage with three bands: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Crime And The City Solution, Swans. Recorded at Knopf's Music Hall, Hamburg, August 15th, 1987.

Features live footage from the Greed/Holy Money tour in 1986 in London and Nottingham and the A Long Slow Screw video.