For this one, folks, we’re going off the beaten path just a little bit, but I think this is the right time to do so.  Same old column, maybe a little bit of a different cup of heresy to drink from, though.  This week’s offerings: Swans’ Newly Sentient Being and Heady Cup Coffee Roasters’ Lemon Heady.

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The Tunes: Swans’ Newly Sentient Being

Newly Sentient Being is a monolithic album that is one part celebration of everything that “The Big Sound” era of Swans accomplished, and also a farewell to those that helped Michael Gira achieve such musical triumphs as My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, The Seer and To Be Kind.  Recorded live at Festsaal Kreutzberg in Berlin on November 28th, 2025, Newly Sentient Being features over two-and-a-half hours of never-before-heard material in a fashion that only Michael Gira and Swans can manage to pull off. God knows Swans love a live album, and this one is as expertly recorded, meticulously performed, and lovingly mastered as any of theirs, a fitting tribute to the myriad players who made the second phase of Gira’s dreams come true. Fans of Swans will get everything you could possibly want from a Swans album: noisy sonic assaults, Gira’s subtle croon and misanthropic bark, a rotating cast of players on an even more dizzying array of instruments, epic track lengths (one hour of this album is just the title track), and some of the most intense and harrowing post-rock ambience that’s been put to tape.

If you’re familiar with Swans, especially the Big Sound era, then Newly Sentient Being should be a blessing to you.  It’s a pretty perfect encapsulation of a signature sound of the band, and the five gargantuan tracks weave and twist their way through so many different layers it’s next to impossible to highlight every single thing that happens here.  But you know what is worth highlighting?  The absolutely unshakeable chemistry between the members of the band as they make the task of performing these behemoths look like a child’s first piano recital; the free and easy way Gira jokes and banters with the audience between cuts juxtaposing his frantic howls in the songs themselves; and the fact that so much of this album (including most of the lyrics to “The End of Regretting”) is a loving tribute to the other members of Swans as Gira’s co-conspirators and confreres.  Gira has said that the next phase of Swans will be “a decidedly more humble and intimate musical palette”; who knows what that could mean, but if this is the end of something wonderful, it is a wonderful and fitting way to go out.

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Newly Sentient Being is available now on Young God Records. For more information on Swans, visit their Facebook page.

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The Booze Beverage: Heady Cup Coffee Roasters’ Lemon Heady

It is officially October, which is nice because it means fall and spooky season are upon us. It’s also not nice because it means we only have one more month left of our farmer’s market, and only one more month left before I have to say goodbye to my current summer obsession. Heady Cup is brand new to our market this year, but I’ve been praying to whatever gods will hear me to have a coffee roaster come through, and not only have they finally answered me, they’ve shown me people who fundamentally *get* coffee, from the tasting and the grinding to the fermenting and processing, to the way they treat the farmers they choose to go into business with. Lemon Heady is the perfect blend of their mild-but-still-bracing cold brew and tart lemonade. If you’re skeptical…please hold judgement until after you’ve tasted it. I was too, but there is something so intriguing about the way the different flavors blend together really nicely. Heady Cup tends to choose coffee that is naturally on the bright and fruity side anyway, so a little extra citrus compliments the roast nicely instead of undercutting it. The lemonade isn’t too sweet, so you still get a lot of the rich and pleasantly bitter coffee, but a touch of agave nectar at the end rounds things out really nicely. Nevermind the fact that their whole bean coffee has been fueling my weekdays; Lemon Heady has been the perfect Saturday morning tradition, and I will continue to enjoy it as long as I can.

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Perhaps it really isn’t goodbye after all; maybe it’s “smell ya later.” Until then, cheers and be good to each other.

— Ian