Godspeed You! Black Emperor
albums
Band Members:
Efrim Manuel Menuck (guitar), Mauro Pezzente (bass), Mike Moya (guitar, 1994-98, 2010-present), David Bryant (guitar, 1995-present), Thierry Amar (bass, 1995-present), Norsola Johnson (cello, 1995-2003), Aidan Girt (drums, percussion, 1995-present), Bruce Cawdron (drums, percussion, 1995-2012), Thea Pratt (French horn, 1995-97), Christophe (violin, 1995-97), Sophie Trudeau (violin, 1998-present), Roger Tellier-Craig (guitar, 1998-2004), Tim Herzog (drums, 2012-present)
Best Album:
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
Biggest Influences:
Tortoise, Dirty Three, Slint, Talk Talk, Neu!, Dead Can Dance, many Classical music composers
1997
F#A# Infinity - 77%
When did darkly tinged instrumental rock become so cool? If there was ever a post-rock / classical band, these guys are pretty much set the standard in the late 90s. they don't like the government or any kind of organization. It is always good to have someone doubt society and all, but it is also necessary to have those who want to rebuild it. Are these the guys to do both? Well, they at least try to tear it down here on these three songs. All of the songs build to fun crescendos and sounds all apocalyptic. Lovely sleeping music really, but nothing too outstanding.....maybe that is the idea.
I had this on CD back in the early 00's and the track listing was 1)The Dead Flag Blues, 2) East Hastings, 3) Providence. “Providence” (secret track at the end?) Is probably the best example of these 20-ish minute songs, and the beginning of “the Dead Flag Blues” makes quite the impression of the psyche and spawned lots of imitators, with the dark recitation and dreary atmosphere. Influences definitely include Dead Can Dance and Tortoise. I've had this album (on cd) about 20 years now and I still have trouble distinguishing them from each other. The idea is ensemble over individuals and music content over superficiality.
Best Songs: Providence
2000
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! - 92%
Godspeed’s music differs from a lot of 1990’s post-rock that came before it because it doesn’t really have a groove to it (like Tortoise) and it is way less rhythmic based in general, but I would not call it psychedelic for the most part (like Yume Bitsu). It does share qualities with Slint (demonic recitation) and Talk Talk (spirituality). Like classical music, there tends to be many movements to each ‘extended piece' and these remain about twenty minutes each. Instead of three, there are four. What they do well is sort of a majestic cascading quality, as exemplified by the opening track “Storm” in which the first part starts with all strings and percussion getting louder and playing higher pitched notes, before soothing us with a middle section of a simple lullaby. Then every thing becomes guitar distortions of epic proportions with a haunting melody reminiscent of the off-kilterness of Unwound, then that breaks down in a sort of swinging cacophony and ends at sort of a train-station with background announcers.
“Static” mixes distortion on a soft level with a manic street preacher or two, backgrounded by strings that seem to have no real musical direction until drums kick in the last part of the song and another demented melody is formed and it speeds up like a roller coaster out of control. It ends with about 4 minutes of pure silence. “Sleep” beings like smooth waves in the ground, again acoustic types of instruments come in and a pounding Slint type chord progression begins and is sped up until the train runs off the tracks. This song more than any other is like two songs in one and essentially starts over halfway through the 23 minute runtime, the second part being a more predictable crescendo this time with more brass instruments and with that trad post-rock-ian guitar glissando. The percussion work on this part of the song makes it worth listening to.
“Like Antennas to Heaven” has the most gorgeous melody once all the instruments kick in at the five minute mark, and its more about guitars than any other song. The accessible part only lasts for a moment though, with a lot of the track flowing freely like a gust of wind leading to a drone in the same key, and yet another ultimate explosion of joy at the finale with a distortion at the end that is otherworldly and peaceful. It’s probably the best song on the album as it moves form one part to another the easiest.
The band really improves on the abstractions of the first album F#A# infinity by making actual melodic music this time around (here and there of course) and each song has a characteristic that makes at least most of it great. Did the album need to be 87 minutes long? Well, I personally think about 10-15 minutes could have been trimmed at the end of some of these songs and you could have had something closer to an hour in length and not a moment would have been wasted. But you can't easily create that natural feel this album has, like music the Earth herself would create. Lift Yr Skinny Fists… is a thrilling listen and each song has something great going for it while it pushes the post-rock format into new thrilling directions.
Best Tracks: Storm, Antennas to Heaven
2002
Yanqui UXO – 72%
The 3rd Godspeed album is much more droney and apocalyptic than anything they have done before, best exemplified by the first track “09-15-00”. The songwriting here is less grand dynamic, almost like an aftermath of what came on their last record. There are still peaks and valleys and pretty melodies that repeat via multiple violins and (even more) guitars than before like the middle part of this song. The questions must be, how do we move this music forward so every song is not a variation on the same thing? Godspeed YBE really do strive to make a music that is not typical, not verse or chorus, more like a flowing kind if evolution of a song but NEVER in an obvious way, and I do think the first song is still a truly great song that manages to capture the experience of everything that makes this band great.
However, there are four other “tracks” here that im not sure do as good of a job. For one, two of these track # 2 and 5 are literally continuations on the tracks that came before them, adding nothing new and really coming across as filler. “Motherfucker=Redeemer Continued” – yes, that is the name of this song – fares a little better because “Motherfucker=Redeemer” the longer song (track4) kind of needs this epilogue to make it feel complete. In fact, the second part I enjoy more than the first due to the dynamic tonal shifts that exist towards the end of the song. The second part of “09-15-00” didn’t need to exist, at all. In the middle is “Rockets Fall on Rockets” which is twenty minutes long and more by the numbers than anything else; I can see producer of choice Steve Albini’s influence here more than others and there are shades of his guitar dissonance and metallic harshness present. Albini is an odd choice of producer for this band I have to say, and as a huge fan of his I trust his judgment, but I’m not sure what he adds to their overall sound – in a way it sort of ‘flattens’ it.
I do not think this is a bad record by any stretch, for at least half of the 80 minute run time this is still boundary pushing post-rock stuff by excellent players. However, I can see why this album was the last album for a very long time, and how Godspeed YBE needs to change their approach.
Best Tracks: 09/15/00 Part 1, Motherfucker=Redeemer Part 2
2012
Allelujah! Don't Bend, Ascend – 85%
Not counting the side project Thee Silver Mount Zion which had like 6 albums between the last GYBE album and this one, Godspeed's return to music was very calculated in its timing, but everything the band does is that way. They have only produced 4 records in the last fifteen years and every one of them has been an event of sorts. Needless to say, the first track on here "Mladic" is the reason the record exists and it is the most commercial song they have ever done, not necessarily a negligible detail. It starts with guitar strings plucked sounding like seagulls on the dock, before pulling it all together with a two chord progression sounding like Stereolab/ Neu! at their finest. The generic indie rock chug and countless plays upon it make for an interesting 20 minutes of music, even though I am surprised by how traditional it sounds taking cues form bands I did not expect them too broadens their palate in interesting ways. This is the type of music that could go on forever and I would be perfectly fine with it, the possibilities in the best GYBE songs feel infinite and fulfilling. The group has finally reached their quintessential great song, like Tortoise’s “Djed” or even Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive”
If the rest of the record kind of pales in comparison, it is only because of that high standard and should not reflect badly on the remaining 3 songs. "We Drift like the Worried fire" does have its demented moments, but starts off super friendly more similar to Tortoise than GYBE have ever sounded – percussion is an underrated part of their melodic arsenal. This song sounds the most like GYBE of old, and is a nice addition to their ovure if nothing completely new; the ending is especially profound and menacing, a bit of Glenn Branca thrown in their full of clashing chords and a magnificent build-up ending it. The shorter songs (around six minutes each) are the weakest, with “Their Helicopters Sing” and “Strung Like Lights At Thee” being pure chaos and string arrangements with no backbeat. Maybe it would have made sense to have these songs as tracks 1 and 3 instead? The former is a bit better than the latter.
For instrumental music in the 2010's, "Mladic" is a must hear, and “We Drift Like Worried Fire” continues the strong torch for this band’s eternal legacy, so in all it’s probably the groups second best album.
Best Tracks: Mladic, We Drift Like Worried Fire
2015
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress – 68%
With four songs at only 40 minutes, by far the shortest record by the band yet and they seem to becoming more prolific. “Peasantry of Light Inside of Light” is a very aptly titled song title for the group and it starts off very hard hitting and accessible right off the bat. The evolution is more like a variation on the theme, like a long Jam then a song that actually changes or morphs, but it is pleasant enough. Closing song “:piss Crowns Are Trebled” is more in the vein of traditional GYBE with a grandiose ending and a surprisingly melodic and rocking finale through out all of its 14 minutes, easily my favorite track. The middle two tracks “Lambs Breath” and “Asunder Sweet” really do just about nothing for me, both being long 9 or 6 minute drones with not much happening. So this one is about half and half for me, the lack of innovation is a bit disappointing.
Best Tracks: piss crowns are trebled
2017
Luciferian Towers – 57%
Eight songs this time (but sort of four songs…..2 have many movements). Bosses Hang has echoes of many classic rocks songs, too many to name here, but it is the first time I have heard the band sound this friendly and also derivative. Its traditional rock music played by an orchestra, which has NEVER been something they are good at. Typically, the more abstract, the better. On that end, the opener “Undoing a Luciferian Towers” is not one of their best attractions, feeling like a leftover from the last record. The rest of the album is either far to harmless (“Fam/Famine”) and innocuous (“Anthem for No State, Pt 1”, a slow build into nothing). It’s probably their only skippable album.
Best Tracks: Bosses Hang pt. one