When I started writing this story, I knew several things about Jarboe, the eerily ethereal female vocalist for legendarily abrasive New York band Swans and well-regarded, cult solo performer. These things were mostly personal, and not really interesting probably either to you (the reader) or to my handful of friends who have been subjected (even worse!) in person to said facts. The Jarboe-related knowledge I had was (a) the more disturbing the economic and political news gets on television, the more I wanna wear my Swans t-shirt to work, and (b) that I totally missed seeing Jarboe at SXSW and accidentally spent the entirety of her set watching some frat-boy cover band and being really confused. But now, thanks to the world's most informative press release, I have learned things that are actually interesting, things that I will now pass on to you in my possibly inaugural Top Lucky Number 7 Fun Facts about Jarboe:
1. Her parents were in the FBI.
2. She previously sang in a lounge act.
3. She has performed in cathedrals, museums, and public schools (presumably not with the lounge act).
4. Apart from her work with Swans and its side-project World of Skin, she has performed with Blixa Bargeld, Jim Thirwell, Alan Sparhawk, Steve Severin, Neurosis, David J, Bill Laswell, Lustmord, Pansonic, and Jesu, among many, many awesome others.
5. Her upbringing included experiences with religious snake-handling rituals in the Deep South.
6. She has collaborated with visual artists like Richard Kern and Beth B, and more!
7. She voiced a cartoon, The Venture Brothers.
But the real news is this: before the year is through, expect to see the lady's latest full-length on The End Records. Entitled Mahakali, the album features performances from Julia Kent (Rasputina), Philip Anselmo (Pantera, Down), Vinny Signorelli (Swans, Unsane), and Attila Czihar (Mayhem). Also on the docket for the upcoming months are the release of a "collective audio documentary" called The Sweet Meat Love And Holy Cult and Jarboe's work for the game The Path, created by Auriea Harvey. And, finally, expect a lengthy tour schedule to promote Mahakali early next year. Let the countdown to 2009 begin!
