Swans
Filth
Swans is an influential band from New York City, New York, United States, active from 1982 to 1997, reformed in 2010, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira.
Marginally associated with the no wave scene at first, their original sound was slow and heavy, with live performances that were often so brutal and physical that in a number of instances certain audience members were made ill, police were called and venues were shut down. This early physical sound is possibly best heard on the live album Public Castration Is a Good Idea.
FILM:
Rubber Johnny (2005)
Director: Chris Cunningham
The title character is a boy whose bizarre skills frighten his caregivers. Due to his ability to contort his body into unnatural positions, he is kept locked in the family basement. With nothing more than a vivid imagination and a pitiful pet dog, he attempts to keep himself entertained.
Rubber Johnny is a six-minute experimental short film and music video directed by Chris Cunningham in 2005, using music composed by Aphex Twin. The name Rubber Johnny is drawn from a British slang for "condom" as well as a description of the main character, which explains the title sequence. The DVD comes with an art book, containing stills from the film, as well as conceptual drawings, photographs and more. The concept for Rubber Johnny came from Cunningham's imagining a raver morphing as he danced. The idea evolved to the present film, in which Johnny (played by Cunningham) is an isolated deformed (possibly hydrocephalic) teenager kept on a wheelchair and locked in a dark basement with his chihuahua. The film was originally intended to be a 30 second TV commercial for the Aphex Twin album drukqs, using the track "afx237 v7".
