Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Classic or Dud?

still though...they seem to be coming out with better music when not doing things that are gybe specific (i.e. do make say think, a silver mt. zion)...the new album is kinda blah..but whatever.

So, classic or dud? Uh. Mind you I did like the one piece of e-mail I got after the review I did, a GYBE fan (mark that) writing in to say "you take yourself too seriously".

- First of all, nothing repulses me. Nothing is unpleasant.
- The whole thing feels very much like it was structured as a film score of some sort. (So much post-rock always felt like it was trying to be a score for some public TV family drama! This kind of does too.) It makes sense that they apparently play with films.
- It's cool that they're trying to incorporate a wider range of instruments, including some more traditional folky kinds of sounds
- The moments that are more dense and textural without a beat are nice. However, they tend not to last for very long.
- Much of the rest of the album seems to consist of very slow simple melodic passages, some of it a long guitar solo, some of it a more folky thing with other instruments. These passages are sometimes pleasant but do feel extremely simplistic and perhaps limited in terms of both melody and rhythm, more so than almost any mainstream rock or pop music. The drummer maintains a totally even totally straight slow 4/4 'beat' throughout these passages. When there are tempo changes, they are performed at a totally even rate as to be completely predictable. The guitarist seems to tend to almost always play right on the beat, which is bizarre. This seems to contradict such a basic musical principle that it must be a conscious aesthetic choice but I don't understand what it is. This might possibly makes me similar to people who don't get why Indian music has no chord changes. Why a pulse is even introduced here with hardly any rhythmic tension is what I wonder. It is possible that it might make more sense with further listening but it just seems to make things almost totally predictable now. Like I said, not overtly offensive or even not-pleasant or anything, but it also fails to achieve much more than this. It seems like it has potential that it doesn't realize.

It is a certain kind of music, and I find it interesting that some people say "I couldn't sit and listen to it". I guess that depends on what one looks for when putting on music to listen to. For me, GYBE is faboulous music to write, draw and even program to (well so my partner tells me). It is about immersing oneself in another place. The music moves through moods, peaks and troughs, shadows and light. It has some mindblowingly moving bursts of wall-of-noise guitar, and some beautifully melancholy quiet moments (fave quote from "Dead Flag Blues" - we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine... and the machine is bleeding to death)

Uhh... yeah. I love them.

POCXY FULE SEZ HEDHEGOF

Nick OTM

Search: First one (where is the hash key on a Mac?), Slow Riot For Zero Kanada

Destrrrrrrrroy: Levez..., Yanqui UXO

sterling clover wrote:
I think that I would be impressed to see any live band do just one long ninety-minute build-up fuck-off track.

search: Physics -- a veritable who's who of san diego indie rock circa 1992 did this live several times, attempts at minimalism ("in E") and post-branca-isms.

I saw Dirty 3 live once and hated them. Droning, boring, dreadful wank. And I love GBYE and Mogwai so go figure.

One of the few regrets I do have, as their music deserves to be experienced live (preferably in a small- to medium- sized joint).

Search: Tortoise, Disco Inferno, Trans Am, Mogwai
Destory: Godspeed You! Black Emperor (as I believe they call themselves, the fucking wankers), Sigur Ros

Search: Tortoise, Disco Inferno, Trans Am, Mogwai, Bark Psychosis
Destory: Godspeed You! Black Emperor (as I believe they call themselves, the fucking wankers), Sigur Ros

Henry Cow are more interesting to me but both of 'em have this dry sound.

(1) Beautiful.
(2) Deathly boring.
(3) Funny.

ILM backlash in effect

u

x

o

http://indielove.vox.com/library/post/love-indie-style.html

Hi, I'm Jess, and I'm a music lover to the core.

Not THE Jess?

Reunited.

http://www.atpfestival.com/assets/img/mailout/gsbanner.jpg

http://atpfestival.com/newsview/1004082209.php

oh fuck

Tix are on sale tomorrow morning, Ned Raggett.

Thank me later. <3

wish I had cash :(

Wish I had a place to stay in the UK-- oh hi dere LJ...

my parents will be delighted to have an ilxor in their midst

actually by then I really should have a place of my own. but this is moot because for ATP you just rent a cabin at butlins and that is your home

Haha Krakow IN YOUR FACE

:-) :-) :-)

their first picks rule too

after a decade's retreat, god's pee has decided to roll again

Do I care about these guys anymore? I'll have to think about it...

Shit, I was interviewing Efrim recently ahead of the SMZ tour and thought it inappropriate to ask about a Godspeed! reunion. Didn't see this coming at all. Silly me, I could have got a scoop!

Tix are on sale tomorrow morning, Ned Raggett.

Doubtless.

Jamester, ya'll should fix the spelling of "Tomorrow's" in that graphic

They're just OK, I wanted to love F#A#(Infinity symbol) but eventually gave up on it.... crescendo after crescendo after crescendo just doesn't really make a good record to me. And I like Mogwai/Explosions In the Sky....

haters and indifferent people gtfo imo

in your opinion.

dud

wow, very exciting. i doubt i'll make it to ATP, but here's hoping they play some other dates.

they are playing "nine american cities" and so far nothing else is even being planned

crescendo after crescendo after crescendo just doesn't really make a good record to me. And I like Mogwai/Explosions In the Sky....

To me that sounds like the perfect record. And aren't EitS just Godspeed copyists?

Wow, I never saw this coming and am almost as excited about this as I am about Swans. Just hoping one of those European dates is near Vienna, cos I won't make ATP.

they are playing "nine american cities" and so far nothing else is even being planned

There'll be other British and European shows as well, they say.

I was interviewing Efrim recently ahead of the SMZ tour

Is that available to read anywhere?

massive lols at this guy who wrote "the possibilities of seeing a Godspeed You! Black Emperor reunion anytime soon are slim to none" barely two weeks ago:

http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/03/21/whatever-happened-to-godspeed-you-black-emperor/

massive

Matt Rhodes' reputation is in tatters today

Jamester, ya'll should fix the spelling of "Tomorrow's" in that graphic

― hoos hoos hudio (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 9 April 2010 01:03 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

eh, I like the idea that ATP were so grateful and starstruck by getting Godspeed to play for them that no-one had the chops to tell them that they'd spelled the name of their festival wrong on their cute hand-drawn flyer

All tommatows parties?

http://valenciatrader.com/assets/images/tom1.jpg

?

That's Matt Rhodes in that picture btw.

godspeed! u matt rods

The Sun Dried Hand Of The Man

gybe are great
for me to poop on

rad news imo

I was interviewing Efrim recently ahead of the SMZ tour
Is that available to read anywhere?

― anagram, Friday, April 9, 2010 8:07 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

Here you go: http://www.list.co.uk/article/24185-thee-silver-mount-zion-memorial-orchestra-play-glasgow/

I've been meaning to put up a director's cut on my blog. There's not a huge amount more, but Efrim in full flow is pretty interesting.

Gah was hoping Swans would do the December ATP.

Seems pretty wrong that I love Swans/Angels of Light but I struggle with Godspeed. Time for another try..

Gah was hoping Swans would do the December ATP.

that would have been pretty ok too, but gira would prolly make it a little too much "minehead's alright if you like freak-folk"

Seems pretty wrong that I love Swans/Angels of Light but I struggle with Godspeed

Doesn't seem wrong to me, in that GYBE are basically very derivative of late period Swans and it's always best to drink from the source. Me I like 'em both.

xpost you know Minehead?

Haha Krakow IN YOUR FACE

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 9 April 2010 00:22 (21 hours ago)

In my really fucking happy face, yes!

Wish i had put a bet on with you now.

you were adamant that day they would never ever reform

"They don't sleep anymore on the beach"

If that doesn't get you, well...

Probably one of the worst bands ever, only to be "topped" later by Sigur Ros (and probably all of the other horrible sister bands of theirs, like Do May Say Think et al).

Just curious: on what grounds?

big, slow-moving target

Taking boring to whole new levels of teenage dramatism. A lot like their predecessors in militaristic drudgery, Savage Republic--"crescendo after crescendo after crescendo" is pretty accurate, musically, but I guess I was also rubbed the wrong way by how their fans seemed to think what they were doing was 'serious art' and a new high in artistic/emotional expression.

The band name, the crypto-meaningless album titles, and the pseudo-revolutionary graphic aesthetic also tended to grate.

obfuscation disguised as depth

I'd only be interested in this if they could persuade Labradford to reform and tour with them again.

now you're talking

Taking boring to whole new levels of teenage dramatism. A lot like their predecessors in militaristic drudgery, Savage Republic--"crescendo after crescendo after crescendo" is pretty accurate, musically, but I guess I was also rubbed the wrong way by how their fans seemed to think what they were doing was 'serious art' and a new high in artistic/emotional expression.

― Soundslike, Friday, April 9, 2010 6:23 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you know what's boring? this opinion.

^^^^^^^^I was thinking but not posting pretty much these exact words

lol yeah i tossed it around for a bit but at the end of the day i'm not just gonna let people go around hating on early-2000s post rock

and its crypto-meaningless album-titles

()

lol that one came hot on the heels of an album called 'decent start' which is about as literal and unpretentious an album-title as there's been

not that I think Sigur Ros are ANYWHERE near as good as peak GYBE

hahah i never knew that translation! thx.

i saw sigur ros touring after () and they were fucking amazing live tbh

IMO their best song by far was that 'nice weather for airstrikes' number (longest song on agaetis byrjun) that did the whole dainty piano crescendo thing really well, but () is a pretty solid if slightly maudlin record. After that I lose interest *entirely*.

As I've often said here, GY!BE peaked with their final album - IMO it's several notches ahead of the others, and works that dynamic like a behemoth

yeah p. much. takk isn't bad but the one from '08 blows. i've still never heard yanqui but i should.

the thing with all these bands that doesn't get said enough: based on my experience (with s-r, mogwai, hell even mono) and what i've heard about godspeed and eits, seeing them live is like a completely different ballgame.

i saw sigur ros touring after () and they were fucking amazing live tbh

Echoed, very strongly. I don't care much for 'em nowadays, but that shit blew my mind wide open in my 2001-03 high school concert years (along with Radiohead, Tori Amos, Tool, the Flaming Lips and every other cliche'd band you can imagine a budding ilxor would see in high school).

lol yeah i tossed it around for a bit but at the end of the day i'm not just gonna let people go around hating on early-2000s post rock

Probably not as bad as going around defending early 2000s post-rock. I wouldn't normally bother remembering how bad this stuff was, but the thread/"band" revival gave me flashbacks of putting up with it the first time. Kind of shocked there are still people who aren't embarrassed to have heard, say, Mogwai's 'EP+'.

why would you be embarrassed to have heard anything?

() is great because if you want to sing along the only lyrics you need to remember are "youuu siloooo ohhhhh fiiii looooowwww"

just amazing how much I listened to Skinny Fists back in 2001 and I haven't actually listened to them in years. almost feels like another life.

that said I remember them being real awesome.

i think post-rock appropriately should be best remembered as a genre that had some very high highs and a seemingly limitless amount of medium mediums

they were great live. I never cared that much about the records. I'd go see them though.

i think post-rock appropriately should be best remembered as a genre that had some very high highs and a seemingly limitless amount of medium mediums

This applies to *every* genre, though!

weird because gy!be are by a long ways the least boring of all post-rock bands

Mark R. on Pfork today, great thinkpiece:

http://pitchfork.com/features/resonant-frequency/7796-resonant-frequency-69

The bands they've chosen so far for their ATP =

BARDO POND / THE EX / DEERHOOF / TIM HECKER / MIKE WATT / SCOUT NIBLETT / NEUROSIS / BLACK DICE / THE DEAD C / FRANCISCO LOPEZ / WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM / RANGDA / MARISSA NADLER / GROWING

yikes that is a SWEET line up

indeed, about 25 more artists to come

Once again I would DIE to be at that lineup. Isn't gonna happen this year, though. :'(

check this out, new additions:

"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC
NOMEANSNO
JOSEPHINE FOSTER (solo)
WHITE MAGIC
EMERALDS
BOBAN I MARKO MARKOVIC ORCHESTRA
DANIEL HIGGS (Lungfish)

wtf @ Weird Al.

I mean I'd love for him to do a post-rock polka set obviously.

It's their most inspired move in years!

WEIRD AL IN THE THRONE ROOM

This is actually a really strong lineup imo

WEIRD AL IN THE THRONE ROOM

A+

tickets for the UK tour (Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, London) go on sale at 10am: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/gybetour2010/news/1006180900.php

The line up for their ATP festival is awesome!

* Godspeed You! Black Emperor
* Neurosis
* "Weird Al" Yankovic
* Deerhoof
* Tim Hecker
* Mike Watt
* Scout Niblett
* The Ex
* The Dead C
* Black Dice
* Francisco Lopez
* Wolves In The Throne Room
* Marissa Nadler
* Growing
* Rangda
* Bardo Pond
* Nomeansno
* Josephine Foster (solo)
* White Magic
* Emeralds
* Boban I Marko Markovic Orchestra
* Daniel Higgs (Lungfish)

Yeah that's pretty sick.

Considering a trip overseas if this trend towards awesomeness continues

pretty pumped about this tbh

Never really listened to GYBE before..descriptions seem to be circa Swans' Helpless Child with doomy apocalyptic voice-overs?

Still expecting an announcement of European dates in accordance with the orig press release.

the line-up for their fest is gonna get even weirder and cooler

i have this crazy vision of weird all doing all of "double nickels on the dime" as a big polkas on 45 style megapolkamixxx

GYBE! having Weird Al play at the ATP festival is inspired genius.

Yeah Efrim seems to have lightened up a lot lately. I didn't see ASMZ on their last tour, because they didn't come to Vienna even though they went to practically every other city on the continent. Anyway I digress – apparently his between-song banter was hilarious. I don't expect these GYBE shows to be laugh-fests exactly but they might reveal a previously unknown sense of humour.

Yeah he's been pretty funny in between songs for the last few years.

Efrim's banter has always been good at Glasgow ASMZ shows as well. Surprising at first, but he's funny.

yeah, he's a riot

Latest gybe additions =

CLUSTER
MAHJONGG
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE
MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ
KEIJI HAINO
FLOWER / CORSANO DUO
BORBETOMAGUS
DANIEL MENCHE
COUNTRY TEASERS
BRUCE McCLURE

sweetness.

Insane line-up now. Amazing & exctiting.

HOLY ISH

Someone comp me a plane ticket pretty plzzzz?

BERG SANS NIPPLE
SICK LLAMA

confirmed too. think this is probably the most intense line-up since Thurston Moore's one back in 2007.

Weird that they could have such good (or at least interesting) taste in other people's music, and still be such a lazy snooze-fest themselves.

Like a lot of bands that now sound dated, GYBE! was much more interesting sounding before 1,492,385 bands decided to copy their "post-rock" template and water down its impact.

Hmm. Well, my opinion of them is based on what I heard circa '98-'00 or so. I guess I thought they sounded a lot like Savage Republic, but SR was pretty boring, too. GSYBE and their Montreal cohort, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, et al seem to me to be taking a bit of Glenn Branca or lower-tier 4AD/Crepescule, a bunch of Smashing Pumpkins (a la "Silverfuck" jams), and a heavy dose of Hollywood soundtracking--the results, a painfully predictable loud-soft-loud, drawn-out drudgery with all the originality and emotional impact of an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical. Not much to water down, since it's a watering-down to begin with.

There was a huge gap in quality between their ilk, in my opinion, and the more skilled, nuanced groups like Tortoise, Rachel's, and the other Chicago/Louisville-related "post-rock" bands. The latter generally didn't rely on interminable "crescendos," and had more than one musical trick up their sleeves. They also seem like they had heard some music, and knew they were drawing on a tradition that stretched from Morricone, Miles Davis, Can, Faust, Steve Reich, Kluster, Schumann, Satie, etc. to Dif Juz, This Heat, Slint, Disco Inferno, et al. The bombastic, plodding pomp of GSYBE (both musical and especially graphical and titular) gave me the sense they thought they were really "new" and radical. So at least this lineup they're organizing corrects that misconception, to their credit--but still doesn't excuse their music being so terrible.

Trying to listen again, and man, it's worse than I remembered. Cartoon music, except that sounds like it would at least be funny. I wonder what will happen next? Oh, another instrument will be added, playing two or three notes ad nauseum; then another and another; then some two-note strings will come in; then someone will play a single-note slide-guitar or bowed-saw part; then everyone will play louder, then louder. Then it will end, or it will get quieter again, then louder again, for 7 to 30 minutes. Then it will end, euphoria/epiphany/dead fascists having resulted.

It's like some horrible, horrible misunderstanding of the premise of disco, Reich, gamelan or Afrobeat, through a prism of Wagner or Metallica's 'Black Album'.

ya I don't particularly care about GYBE themselves, but this is a killlllllller lineup. If I hadn't already sold my most valuable possessions to make it to the Matt Groening ATP they'd be on ebay RIGHT NOW, but I guess I'll just have to hope for a Nigerian Lottery win or some such.

It looks like I will be booking a 4-berth chalet in the next couple of days with one space going spare. Canvassing for genuine, able-to-stump-up-money-asap interest... Non-creepey non-rapists only, please!

another instrument will be added, playing two or three notes ad nauseum; then another and another; then some two-note strings will come in; then someone will play a single-note slide-guitar or bowed-saw part; then everyone will play louder, then louder. Then it will end, or it will get quieter again, then louder again, for 7 to 30 minutes. Then it will end, euphoria/epiphany/dead fascists having resulted.

This sounds pretty much like a recipe for the perfect music in my book. I won't deny that most GYBE conforms to that basic template but there's nothing wrong with that imo. I could quite happily listen to stuff like this for the rest of my life.

Said chalet is booked and we have a spare space therein. It's a 4-berth room-only chalet, so the total cost is £175. If anyone is interested then please get in touch.

Part of a few chalets' worth of mainly Glasgow-based people, so it's sure to be heady buckfast-filled times, if that's any added temptation. All good folks.

wish I had any money at all tbh

Would be all over that chalet if the £175 included round trip airfare from Texas, sadly I don't have the $$ to go beyond that.

This one just gets better...

ONEIDA present The Ocropolis
HANGED with Tony Conrad
THEE OH SEES
MATANA ROBERTS
LAND OF KUSH
PHILIP JECK
JOHN BUTCHER

Just incredible!

That's Hangedup though, right?

I pray that Land Of Kush playing means that Elizabeth Anka Vajagic will be there... <Swoon>

I am interested in this

Does your ILXmail work?

Assuming you're meaning myself, there's a link to my website on my ILX profile and my email address is on there, it being itsnotred on ye olde gmail, if that makes sense...

A friend has expressed interest in the spare space, but nothing's concrete yet, so please do feel free to get in touch.

land of kush is MUST-SEE

Throbbing Gristle!

Yeah, I'm beginning to get worried about the clashes already.

Other final additions are The Sadies, Tindersticks and two bands whose sole contribution seems to be some Canadian comp - one called Dreamcatcher who describe themselves as "big beat psychedelic" and I can't remember the other.

I listened to Dreamcatcher (albeit through shitty comp speakers) this morning and they sounded neither big beat nor psychedelic

stoked for the madness regardless

lol I *think* I'm in a chalet with someone who has already been zinged on ILM this morning (not a poster)

it's Ayn Rand, isn't it?

stoked for the secret Rush set madness

Going to this! CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE

:D

The promised European dates are beginning to come through. So far we have:

14 Jan – Paris
25 Jan – Vienna

19 Jan – Amsterdam

It's interesting re-reading the early posts here from almost 10 years ago, especially because G!YBE became one of the definitive cult bands to emerge from the late 90s/early 00s. The "Love 'em or Hate 'em" approach derided in the OP has become the default mode for discourse about them. I still love 'em and I think they put together the best ATP in a long, long, long time. Really wish I was going.

yeah it's def. the best atp line-up for ages! i can't wait

Just bought my tickets!

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/obama-elizabeh-wax-museum-2.jpg

godspeed ATP sold out!

Hometown shows finally scheduled for April. Very psyched.

gotta love em... $12!

capitalist scum

hehe nah I know shit's gotta get paid, good work lads n lasses

your first post seems like a joke, and then in the second, it seems like you are misunderstanding your own joke

opinion: zzzzzzz

it's like the biggest build up to absolutely nothing same goes for sigur ros

mogwai manage to actually climax, where as these bands struggle to get their dick hard and once they do just can't seem to spunk

thanks

sorry, it's the only way i could put it really, instead you can think about a kettle boiling but not reaching 100 degrees if that offended you

do you and me a favour and listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEWZw2FldlQ

but it's 10 minutes long :( a band should have plugged in, rocked out, played 10 songs, smashed their guitars up and left the stage by then.

mogwai is emo for the unwashed & inarticulate, not a good exemplar to use when listening to gybe.

jumpskins it is their second-shortest released song and also their finest hours, please give it the patience you'd give two or three oasis songs

lololol @ 'finest hours', apt

haven't listened in a long time, but i still like the strange space of the first album best, the dreamlike flow from conversations to tunes, to field recordings, it was tactile and mysterious. static>steve albini

first album is awesome. lift yr skinny fists and new zero kanada are amazingly overrated

final album is hulking wrathful beast of titanic rock and roll vengeance and it doesn't fuck with field recordings because it is classical fucking music

it's dressed up as classical music

But there's strings and things, it's clearly classical.

Also, less than a month to ATP!!!!

less than a month to ATP!!!!

i looked at the lineup again this morning and oh man i am SO EXCITED

Enjoy your incessant crescendos.

i will enjoy each one more than the last

Met a kid at the Pavement concert who got an ATP tattoo right on his arm... he said his biggest dissapointment with it is that more people recognized it as adenosine tripohsphate, which is basically a chemical reaction that oversees how you process energy. Personally I thought it was terrible tattoo (forever visibly marked on your arm = that one time i went to an art-rock concert?), but ur body is urs, I guess.

stage times: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/godspeednightmare/news/1011291052.php
info on the guests Oneida will have at the Ocropolis: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/godspeednightmare/news/1011291514.php

getting excited now.

Managed to snag some of the last tickets for the first show in MTL - not a super-fun morning, though the 30-40 people behind me had a considerably worse time.

lol i keep forgetting about this, it's still like a quarter-year to go until the new york dates

Yeah I got some MTL tickets too, but trying not to think about it much. End of April seems like a lifetime away with a long cold winter in between.

Very pleased with the relative lack of clashes on the timetable. Nice scheduling. Thanks!

so who else went to one of these shows

i saw em last night, showed up just as they started but lucked out & joined a parade off ppl who muscled to the front & then once i got tired and had to pee got lucky and found seats on the mezzanine. found it really profoundly overwhelming in a pretty great way, & just their presence and the location so majestic

if anyone's seen them before, do they not usually speak ever? i saw a silver mt zion a couple years ago & they were cracking jokes and talking to the audience between every song basically & in a really hilarious way, which i missed last night

was really underwhelmed at the nyc church show, the place was way too huge, lost intimacy, same light show (which was sort of draining and repetetive). alas.

if anyone's seen them before, do they not usually speak ever? i saw a silver mt zion a couple years ago & they were cracking jokes and talking to the audience between every song basically & in a really hilarious way, which i missed last night

yeah that's Efrim's style in ASMZ mode, he's a very funny guy. but you're right, neither he nor any of the others ever speak to the audience as gy!be

Saw them last Friday, it was a great show, but yeah no talking at all. Was a bit draining standing near the front, but we couldn't find seats in the mezzanine. This was at the Corona and it is pitch black up there when the show is on.

Working on a new album

Seeing them again, again, again, again, again tonight!

Then off down to London at 5am for I'll Be Your Mirror!

It's going to be an epic weekend!

Or perhaps...

it is going! to be an epic weekend

Met a kid at the Pavement concert who got an ATP tattoo right on his arm... he said his biggest dissapointment with it is that more people recognized it as adenosine tripohsphate, which is basically a chemical reaction that oversees how you process energy. Personally I thought it was terrible tattoo (forever visibly marked on your arm = that one time i went to an art-rock concert?), but ur body is urs, I guess.

― Good news, everyone! (kelpolaris), Saturday, 20 November 2010 17:30 (8 months ago) Bookmark

all of the people who recognise it as that are way, way cooler than the all tomorrow's parties people ):

I've mused on a gy!be-related tattoo for some time...

my brother is putting on a godspeed show! will wonders never cease?

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/109936032482022/

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/419480_10151174813477779_580666827_n.jpg

these guys were massive at atp. first time i saw them. wish their records were remotely like their live show but then again i don't know how that'd translate to record exactly

i think the records are more than remotely like their live show

maybe i just want more heaving two note drones, less pretty guitar figures

fewer*

their albums are like movies that you would go to see once. and maybe leave halfway through.

'ALLELUJAH! DON'T BEND! ASCEND!

I always thought of this band as a swans or glenn branca for indie people but I still like GY!BE so this is great news. all this good rock music coming out this year... it's crazy.

predictions: endless crescendos + drum-machine

I am spectacularly excited!

someone in our office has heard this and says it's amazing and up there with the old stuff - he's a massive uberfan so take that with a pinch of salt but i'm looking forward to it.

It *is* the old stuff, though, right? The two long tracks are about a decade old, I think.

Yeah, they were doing them at live shows before Yanqui UXO came out.

(feel free to visualize urgent humping if you read this) i'm pretty pumped for this, although the things i appreciate about their musical output now are so different than what they were back in their heyday circa 2001. i used to be all about the buildup and the climax but now i find more pleasure in the meandering plateau passages.

its erm around

Hard to judge on first listens, but I'm relieved that it's not full of spoken word samples, anyway.

that was also what made the last one great as well, they had p much ditched the samples by then

seeing them tomorrow, happy to get a copy of this before everyone else

fuck me, this is awesome!

GYBE gives in and finally just cribs their album titles from Dr. Bronner labels.

lol

the best gybe record, easy

wish their records were remotely like their live show

hey they finally did it!

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbcebkQUGn1qdmmiqo1_500.gif

the best gybe record, easy

Yep. And can't help but notice that it sounds a bit like a streamlined version of the Swans record.

The second half of "We Drift Like Worried Fire" is pretty awesome

setlist tonight in bmore-

Hope Drone
Mladic
Monheim
Behemoth ?
New Song ?
One of the segue songs ?
The Sad Mafioso

This is an instrumental metal album so far!

short tracks are boring
long tracks - pleasure!
though i wonder if i can listen to post rock again in 2012

i dont think they'll ever top skinny fists. this record is coll but it's business as usual. the whole silent release thing was seriously blunted by the leak THE NEXT DAY. how depressing.

here's an article i wrote about godspeed's confused politics and how it softens the blow of their music: http://www.splicetoday.com/music/sins-in-the-corporate-almshouse

the whole silent release thing was seriously blunted by the leak THE NEXT DAY. how depressing.

i'm not sure that it's called a leak when it's already being sold at shows! ;) not commenting either way on what level of hell you end up at for leaking, just saying, it's not quite the same as some record industry insider leaking it 3 weeks before anyone else has heard it or whatever.

also, i agree that the efrim's more holy than thou attitude is irritating, but i never like the argument that, because one find examples of GYBE acquiescing to the corporate world, they're somehow exactly the same as corporate rock stars. i think i'm just a little more sensitive to that because i've had to endure drunk dudes criticizing me for not being a perfect environmentalist and then equating me with someone who owns 3 humvees.

lol whoops, "the efrim". maybe he is holy!

efrim addressed this point in an "open letter" eleven years ago...

anyone wants to punch holes in our politics, go ahead; you wanna say that we don't properly address the paradox of a "political" band making money off of compulsive shoppers or victims of fetish capitalism- guess what, YOU'RE RIGHT! we haven't properly addressed that paradox at all, and we know it and we kinda know why too- if you want to talk to us about that, then go ahead, give us a call, we'd love to talk about it (as long as you can hold up your end of the conversation, as long as you're willing to talk to us about you're own failings, confusions, or epiphanies in the face of this cruel cruel world...)

Streaming in full here: http://pitchfork.com/news/48130-stream-godspeed-you-black-emperors-new-album/

I haven't listened to this band in ~6 yrs...surprisingly the first track is "doing it" for me. Nice drone-y intro, pretty heavy throughout, and about as raw-sounding as it could be without detracting from the overall sound.

Really like the pseudo gamelan outro on Mladic so far.

this is so good
and so good for fall

Now realizing aforementioned pseudo-gamelan outro is likely recording of Montreal student protest drum circle type thing. Feel conflicted.

those protest were really amazing to witness/be a part of, not only students, all kinds of people, including families, in neighbourhoods around the city - and not drum circles but people banging (mostly) on pots and pans

felt a tinge of annoyance when whiney declared this their best because that is a much higher bar than he seems to think it is, but ... this is very, very good.

Chilling with the new one now for the first time. Sounding nice'n'doomy so far. Could definitely see myself listening to this.

Used to love Lift Yr..when I was an angsty 15 year old, stuck photocopies of the inlay booklet onto my GCSE art sketchbook and all that jazz. Classic stuff. And one of my first memories of one of my current housemates is him walking out from his old house into the pitch black garden solemnly intoning 'THE CAR IS ON FIRE, AND THERE'S NO DRIVER AT THE WHEEL' out of nowhere. Halcyon days.

Really like the record...

taking bets on how long it is before i reverse field and admit whiney might've been right

Workin on a review to clarify my point, plz hold

I'm not sure this is their best album, but I think the first track might be their best song.

^^^100% agreeing with this right now.

It's really good, but I miss the more chamber-like movements. Everything on the new one sounds like it was composed to be played live with 9 people.

Mladic is just glorious.

it is. always been a huge fan but I think that song tops Moya as their best song.

"Mladic" is the retitled "Albanian", right? Been listening to this lot since the last century and I still can't get a fucking song title right in my head.

Would really help if they stopped changing the names. Or using fucking DATES as song titles.

and using the "wrong" date format!

Email interview from the Guardian yesterday: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/11/godspeed-black-emperor-interview-full-transcript

I thought this was great. Hits just the right balance between wanting to change the world and understanding how things actually work. Couple of the commenters seem to disagree and are apparently disappointed that bands might want to explain how they feel through interviews: "Like the band, but give me a break. Just play the music and stop with the social commentary. If you feel like you are on the edge then give it to me in the music not in some bullshit interview."

'Just play the music'... imagining Godspeed as a Vegas show band...

this is nice. no bullshit, just straight on srs droney music.

it's always the same with this band. first time you listen to a wagnerian track like mladic (btw that's the serbian general responsible for the massacre of srebrenica) you think it is the greatest thing on earth, afterwards you feel empty and when you listen again it just feels like a big fart. totally hollow, grandiloquent, megalomaniac, unbearable symphonic kitsch. the word DUD was invented for this kind of music. it destroys itself by repeated listening.

Indeed. Emptiest music I've ever heard. Hilarious, given all of the pseudo-radical political intent of the people involved.

it just feels like a big fart

interesting criticism

it's been 10+ years and they still haven't figured out a way to play non-vegas like places.

21-year old me agrees with alex 100%. present day attitude has shifted. I agree that it is fundamentally totally hollow, grandiloquent, megalomaniac, unbearable symphonic kitsch but so is Wagner, and somewhat like Wagner (or at least stuff that's considered Wagnerian), it isn't meant for repeated listening. Godspeed is best heard as a statement of contrast. i.e. when you put them on once in a while, or when it's overheard

you people are crazy. godspeed is music to live in and by.

Encountering Swans this year has made me shrug at Godspeed.

I like both.

21-year old me agrees with alex 100%. present day attitude has shifted. I agree that it is fundamentally totally hollow, grandiloquent, megalomaniac, unbearable symphonic kitsch but so is Wagner, and somewhat like Wagner (or at least stuff that's considered Wagnerian), it isn't meant for repeated listening. Godspeed is best heard as a statement of contrast. i.e. when you put them on once in a while, or when it's overheard

― sharp-looking tux for rent (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, October 20, 2012 6:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd say this fits Glenn Branca. This band is like a muzak version of Branca--incredibly loud but completely soporific via its facile predictability. It doesn't hold up even once, because you know exactly what it will sound like from the first second--which makes it pretty tiresome, given their proclivity for mistaking lengthiness with significance.

you clowns can keep reaching for ten-dollar critic words for 'bad' but i don't think you're touching on the record at all.

cranking "Mladic" at full volume while driving west towards the Texas sunset was kinda the highlight of my musical year so far. can't really "repeat" that but I'm grateful for it!

You're right, J. "Boring as fuck" is sufficient.

First track makes my top ten list for the year, probably, and is threatening to make me believe in these guys for the first time since Lift Yr.

Efrim's other band never did it for me, the one where the name changed like five billion times

also, NICKY! i didn't know you posted here man, cool

yah welcome to ilx

setlist tonight in bmore-

Hope Drone
Mladic
Monheim
Behemoth ?
New Song ?
One of the segue songs ?
The Sad Mafioso

― spazzmatazz, Thursday, 4 October 2012 05:20 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A couple of gigs I've downloaded from either side of that have the setlist as

1. Hope Drone 2. Mladic 3. Monheim 4. Behemoth 5. The Sad Mafioso

with Behemoth as a new 45 minute long, um, behemoth.

Title probably inspired by LJ's post in 2010:

As I've often said here, GY!BE peaked with their final album - IMO it's several notches ahead of the others, and works that dynamic like a behemoth

― forgive me fada (acoleuthic), Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:11 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I know Constellation doesn't have the luxury to decide who they'll sell wholesale to, but this is still hilarious: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=26873497&parentid=APARTMENT_MUSIC

ha ray i just saw your message, from my birthday no less! only got turned onto ilx like four months ago

* The 1st new recordings by Godspeed You! Black Emperor in a decade
* Clear proof of the band's powerful return to form
* Includes new versions of the tracks previously known "Albanian" & "Gamelan"
* As honest & heavy as the rest of their discography
* 180-gram LP pressing in tipped-on gatefold jacket
* Includes 7" vinyl & a 12 x 48" poster, plus a digital download code
* Constellation, 2012

I love the second one. "No, no, seriously - they've returned to form, powerfully!" "Oh yeah? PROVE IT."

The second half of "We Drift Like Worried Fire" is pretty awesome

Man this song came up on shuffle just now and kinda broke my brain again.

Vinyl of 'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend from Urban Outfitters: $32.98
Vinyl of 'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend from Constellation: $18.00

Dud.

Playing the Barclays Center in October!

http://pitchfork.com/news/51053-nine-inch-nails-announce-massive-tour-with-godspeed-you-black-emperor/

watching them play to an uninterested NIN crowd as it slowly fills up the arena seating sounds horrible tbh.

http://cstrecords.com/statement-from-godspeed-you-black-emperor-on-polaris/

We're already making mincemeat out of them for that over on the Polaris thread.
Polaris Music Prize Shortlist - 2013

Oh. Been pretty inactive on this site of late, so I totally missed it.

speaking of gybe, dude realizes he has a copy of their super rare demo tape, asks reddit what he should do with it, gets trolled, deletes account

lol @ these redditors "pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaasse upload that tape you have no idea how much their music means to me" -- get a life losers

godspeed is great but i'm perfectly content knowing i'm never going to hear that tape.

Was listening to the stream, got to the singing part...

Perhaps this is better left unreleased and buried away.

Is the singing kind of uncomfortable to hear in the silver mt. zion way?

new album coming soon, excerpt of a track herein:

http://rock-a-rolla.com/main/?p=6212

There's a version of this track that's been floating around for a few years called Behemoth that's about four times as long.

That said, I really like this. GYBE! are pretty much the only post-rock band (in the circa 2000 crescendo-core sense) that I listen to any more.

According to the release, the album basically IS "Behemoth."

I'm excited

That excerpt is nice.

Swans have kinda taken over the GYBE token schmindie longform art-rock slot ime. but the last album was nice, if not ~mindblowing~

I guess there's a lot more vocals in Swans than GYBE so that's kind of a weird comparison to make... just saying I wish they had the same freeform/colalge aesthetic they used to rock so successfully in the 'good old days' instead of just riding these long waves of spooky intensity

album stream available on the Guardian site

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/24/godspeed-you-black-emperor-asunder-sweet-and-other-distress-album-stream

really nice

I have never met anyone that dislikes GYBE! Either they love them or they havn't heard of them. Am I the only one that doesn't like them?
― John Smith, Sunday, February 11, 2001 1:00 AM (14 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
"14 years ago" I met a girl who expressed disbelief when I told her I had heard of GYBE, but was not a fan
(I have subsequently been converted. & eagerly await the new album)

man you sure blew it with her

New album's not the best thing they've done, but it's the heaviest certainly. I like it quite a lot, though.

If anyone's interested there are a couple of new tracks played live here:

https://archive.org/details/gybe2015-04-07.aud.flac24

They first new track's *kinda* derivative of Asunder etc but the second one sounds pretty awesome to me, getting more of a Yanqui feel from it.

I'm warming up to Asunder... was initially put off because, in contrast to the 4 distinct 'pieces' on Allelujah!, none of the 4 tracks here is satisfying taken on its own, & the album as a whole seems kinda monochrome & short on ideas compared to any of their previous releases. still, I'll be damned if it doesn't suck me in and hold my attention for 45 minutes, drone interludes and all.

agree with Ultros on the heaviness too -- "Piss Crowns" sits pretty comfortably alongside the fuzzed-out Sabbath-worship of Boris's Feedbacker (another record I'm playing a lot these days)

this album i do not like at all

i don't even want to listen to it again, but i'll force myself to and see if that changes anything

https://www.normanrecords.com/images/godspeed-luciferian-towers/0001.jpg

Luciferian Towers is a heavyweight 180gram audiophile pressing from Optimal (Germany) and comes in a gatefold jacket printed on uncoated paperboard with a printed inner dust sleeve and a 24"x24" pull-out poster that re-caps all four of the artwork panels created by Godspeed You! Black Emperor for the gatefold jacket. Also includes a DL card for 320kbps MP3 album.

This, this long-playing record, a thing we made in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. eyes up and filled with dreadful joy - we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. we recorded it all in a burning motorboat.

1. UNDOING A LUCIFERIAN TOWERS - look at that fucking skyline! big lazy money writ in dull marble obelisks! imagine all those buildings much later on, hollowed out and stripped bare of wires and glass, listen- the wind is whistling through all 3,000 of its burning window-holes!

2. BOSSES HANG - labor, alienated from the wealth it creates, so that holy cow, most of us live precariously! kicking at it, but barely hanging on! also - the proud illuminations of our shortened lives! also - more of us than them! also - what we need now is shovels, wells, and barricades!

3. FAM / FAMINE - how they kill us = absentee landlord, burning high-rise. the loud panics of child-policemen and their exploding trigger-hands. with the dull edge of an arbitrary meritocracy. neglect, cancer maps, drone strike, famine. the forest is burning and soon they'll hunt us like wolves.

4. ANTHEM FOR NO STATE - kanada, emptied of its minerals and dirty oil. emptied of its trees and water. a crippled thing, drowning in a puddle, covered in ants. the ocean doesn't give a shit because it knows it's dying too.

Finally and in conclusion; The "luciferian towers" L.P. was informed by the following grand demands:
+ an end to foreign invasions
+ an end to borders
+ the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex
+ healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right
+ the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again

much love to all the other lost and wondering ones,
xoxoxox god's pee / montréal / 4 juillet, 2017

Tracklisting:

1 Undoing A Luciferian Towera
2 Bosses Hang
3 Fam/Famine
4 Anthem For No State

Release date: 22 September 2017

If the music is anywhere near as good as the press release this will be an absolute stormer. Prime god's pee'd antics there, I love it!

I've enjoyed their more modest post-reunion albums so far

I was thinking of bringing this up but didn't reckon anyone else gave a shit! This is probably going to be as good as their other recent stuff, not matching up to their heyday but more godspeed is always welcome imo

New album streaming at NPR

Sounding enjoyable

New album came today and I'm really enjoying it.

"undoing a luceferian towers" is immense

It is, but I liked the last track the best.

Very much business as usual, but they're a band I don't mind essentially doing the same thing over and over again. Yeah, it's good.

Efrim released a solo album last week:
https://efrimmanuelmenuck.bandcamp.com/album/pissing-stars

hate the industry.
hate all industries.
no more beers.
co-owner of thee mighty "hotel2tango" recording studio.
recorded good and bad bands there.
a loudmouth sometimes.
and can be a moody motherfucker
and a total drag.

stubborn.
worried.
out of step.
ezra's father.

Don't enjoy his Silver Mt Zion stuff at all, but really liking this

This is an audiophile 180gram pressing in midnight ultra-black vinyl

lmao

Good to see efrim still has a sense of humour

Wow this is gorgeous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKnFtgaMfmk

has anyone seen Efrim solo recently? he's in town soon-ish and i am very curious. is he great? terrible? somewhere in between?

i liked that album he put out last year.

Haven't seen him solo but his between-song banter at ASMZ shows is usually great so I would say go for it.

New album April 2nd!

Hope it's better than the last one, which was fine but lacking inspiration. Looking forward to it anyway

Now more than ever

It's out there, and it's really really good. More krautrock like than I've heard them before and the end of the third song is just about the most triumphant, uplifting music they've ever written as a band. Maybe the spirit of Conny Plank was in the studio or something, but this one's got juice. Immediately loved it on first pass, something I haven't really felt with their music since Yanqui.

A Dutch national newspaper published an article about the album, which is basically a long review/description of the music.

there's a very pink floyd moment toward the end of the first suite and it's fucking great

best record since allelujah definitely

I like the new one quite a bit. It's surprisingly uplifting (but maybe I shouldn't be so surprised).

They are selling the CD on the Bandcamp without shipping charges so I picked it up for #BandcampFriday today.

I've only had a cursory listen but I'm enjoying it so far. The production is nice and crunchy. For all I love the first three records, I'm not a massive fan of the production - especially Skinny Fists.

there's a very pink floyd moment toward the end of the first suite and it's fucking great

I've only had a cursory listen but I'm enjoying it so far. The production is nice and crunchy. For all I love the first three records, I'm not a massive fan of the production - especially Skinny Fists.

man i really love this record

fuck yeah!!!! this album!!!!!

Gotta say I read a “premature evaluation” for this on Stereogum and thought it was an April Fools prank

excellent soundtrack for running errands during a global pandemic

octobeard otm upthread, that section near the end of track 3 ("cliffs' gaze" etc.) is quite a blast of overt hope!

surprisingly uplifting was my initial reaction too but now i think its more like accepting what they've known or predicted all along. amazing album

^^^
"this record is about all of us waiting for the end.
all current forms of governance are failed.
this record is about all of us waiting for the beginning,
and is informed by the following demands=
empty the prisons
take power from the police and give it to the neighbourhoods that they terrorise.
end the forever wars and all other forms of imperialism.
tax the rich until they're impoverished."

"OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN"

yes yes lovely sentiment and all

found the album a bit boring tbh. then put on Yanqui UXO again and it was like leaping into 3D

i listened to this and yanqui back-to-back and it reinforced how strongly i feel about the new one

the drone tracks are freaking incredible

I like toying with the listening order.

the riffs in the longer suites are both lovely and unexpected and are impeccably layered with the other elements... the drums are really good... just keep getting transfixed and blown away by this thing

Loving the new album and the broadcast they did the other week of Karl Lemieux & Philippe Leonard's 16mm projections was fantastic.

They just announced a raft of tour dates for early 2022. Ticket bought for the Barrowlands here.

i don't live there so no skin off my back but why is there not a Montreal date lol

Venues are all closed at the moment.

I’m not keen on how this is mixed. It doesn’t sound good in comparison to the BCNR album. I may get over this. I hope I do.

pomentiful, i assume they won't still be closed in 2022? or are they not even taking any bookings?

I thought they weren't but I checked just now and some of them clearly are, so… the plot thickens.

looking at those dates, it seems likely to me they have something in the works for Montreal when they get back ... either a GYBE show(s) they can't announce yet, or maybe there's a festival there that summer or something. idk, that seems to often be the case when bands announce big tours w/ no hometown date.

I didn't know this band *did* anything after Yanqui...

Where to start? Admit that I only really care for the first two records.

Haven't had a chance to play the new on yet, but I highly recommend the 2012 "comeback" record, 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!. That's been my favorite of the new ones, with Luciferian Towers coming in second.

the one they put out after you stopped listening, Yanqui U.X.O., is quite good

Oh, I know up to Yanqui— I was still into them in 2002.

I'll try Allelujah.

The first time I remember crying to music was the first time I heard "Storm."

allelujah is excellent. they played "mladic" when i saw them in 2012 before the album came out and it totally reinvigorated my interest in them

yeah mladic slaps

Cosigned.

In the roll-out to Allelujah I remember thinking I was going to check it out from a sense of loyalty, but that I was probably long past my need for GY!BE in my life. I was quickly proven wrong. Reception for the two following that though, seems a little more mixed. I like both of them, but there doesn't seem to be nearly as big of a consensus on either.

While we're talking about that era, seeing them perform in Big Sur under the stars in front of maybe 200 people at a camp ground, walking to the stage from our site merely a few dozen meters away, is probably a top 3 concert experience. Aidan Girt stopping by our post show camp fire, partaking in our whisky and shit talking the band's experience playing Coachella was absolutely a topper of a memory too

I don't think any music will ever make me feel the way GY!BE did when I was a teenager listening to F♯A♯∞ and Slow Riot... in the dark, but idk I listen to the new album and it's fine I guess?

Yeah, this is great. I think this might be the best of the "comeback" records. Weird to think that they've now put out more full lengths since coming back from the hiatus than they released during the initial run.

The revival has lasted longer than the initial run in terms of years, too.

Not sure anything on the new one pushes my buttons quite the way Mladic does, but that’s a pretty unique thing anyway. New one is very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmgDLGpl9ME

For a little context

Bro holy shit. The lost Godspeed You! Black Emperor tape is now available.

A random dude on 4chan dropped the full tape where there are only 33 copies of it left and how it used to be a lost media but now it's here today it's crazy. pic.twitter.com/wTmimhTFBo

— Psycho (Like Limited) Lad (@LadPsycho) February 4, 2022

https://www.discogs.com/release/218865-God-Speed-You-Black-Emperor-All-Lights-Fucked-On-The-Hairy-Amp-Drooling

And from the notes on that Discogs page:

Jeanette Leech wrote in "Fearless: The Making Of Post-Rock" (Jawbone Press, 2017) on Page 302-303:
"Menuck was 'doing this four-track thing in my house, usually at three in the morning, coming home from a bar, just doing something quickly, and then trying to turn it into something the next day'. In 1994, as 'a young man's formal experiment', Menuck self-released a cassette, in an edition of thirty-three: All Lights Fucked On The Hairy Amp Drooling.
'The idea was this would be the last thing I would ever do,' Menuck says. 'A big dramatic gesture that nobody would care about. It was a private thing, let's get this out of my system, and then figure out something else to do with my life. It's pretty ragged, and there are some shared qualities with what Godspeed became, but I don't know if those similarities would be evident to anyone but those of us on the inside.' The tape was mostly just Menuck, but Mauro Pezzente also plays on a couple of tracks; the biggest difference between this material and Godspeed, Menuck says, is, 'There's singing on it. I can't really listen to it objectively, and it's not like I listen to it a lot. I think the last time I listened to it was six years ago. I think it's interesting.' Despite many hoaxes, to date the cassette hasn't been leaked on the internet or offered for sale on the open market. 'For years, I've been saying it's gonna get out there someday, and people are gonna be pretty disappointed, because it's of the time,' Menuck says.

😮

reminds me of when someone found the "By Request Only" album from Ken, it's okay but way more fun as a lost media piece

Wow!

Menuck was correct, it's pretty horrible

Huh! Seemed guaranteed to be a fake but someone on Twitter says it's real so.

Listening now.. I actually think this is pretty good? It's just not really a Godspeed album, it's something else. But it might be better than Menuck is giving it credit for (if it's real that is).

After listening, I think that this is the real thing, rather than an elaborate hoax. It's better and more interesting than I was expecting, at least as an artefact of the pre-history of the group. The mythology and mystery of it being totally lost for so long was great, but I'm happy to finally have the chance to hear it.

It's got some great atmosphere and a couple great moments, but yeah - it's a bit of a slog to get through.

Now can we have Carnival of Light and all those early Boards of Canada pressings (Acid Memories, Play By Numbers, etc) leak too?

I know this reflects poorly on me, but I can remember this being "leaked" on 4chan's /mu/ board literally 10 years ago. It's just doing the rounds again.

No opinion on its legitimacy, but weird that this is being claimed as a "new leak" when it's not. Actually I do have an opinion! That fact makes it pretty shady to me

a convincing rip of the whole thing hasn't turned up before, it's new. two tracks were uploaded in 2013 and this new upload that claims to be the entire album includes what appears to be a new rip of those two previously uploaded tracks. this doesn't confirm that any of it is legit though.

i'm not on music torrent sites anymore, but someone can just check whatever the equivalent of what.cd is now. in the old days there was an ENORMOUS bounty for the godspeed thing, and the previous leaks didn't cut it. i heard that the new leak is the real thing, but who knows

i'm not on any of the private trackers these days but i've heard they're waiting for proof of legitimacy before they allow it

True ufo, did not realise that.

the new what.cd is Redacted. Had an account but think it's been disabled due to lack of use (whoops)

yeah redacted has accepted it as real. bounty was 3TB at the end.

GY!BE have released All Lights Fucked officially.

https://godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com/album/all-lights-fucked-on-the-hairy-amp-drooling

amazing.

I never thought I’d ever hear this, and yet am listening to it now. Wild.

Nice way for them to respond to it finally appearing too.

seeing them for the first time today
pretty stoked

Enjoy! I'm heading to the Glasgow gig tomorrow.

awesome.

I bought a new vinyl copy of f#a#infinity recently and was quite amused to find that constellation still included all that ephemera inside, crushed penny and all

Heard BBF3 for the first time in ~20 years and it held up...

New album: "NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD"

https://godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com/album/no-title-as-of-13-february-2024-28340-dead

Haven't listened to it yet, but I've heard very good things. Devastating yet incredible album title.

Mine got delivered last night, but haven't had a chance to spin it yet.

godspeed you black emperor scene report; pic.twitter.com/I3b7GQArZX

— Fritz Pape (@fritzpape) September 29, 2024

More like "godspeed you black emperor scent report"

godspeed you black excrement

which is my sole contribution to this thread

I haven't been keeping up with GY!BE for a while but wore my F# t-shirt to college yesterday. I've worn it a few times and don't expect anyone to know what it references (it's just the cover of the record, no logo) but at the end of a lesson a kid said to me 'is that a Godspeed reference or am I just being stupid?' I was so happy I could only babble about favourite albums and gigs.

Anyway, I come home, check what they're up to and yep, played in London two nights ago and have a new album out on Friday. Amazing. (And now I read about some guy shitting his pants at the gig. I mean, they're good live, but not *that* good. )

Clearly called GodsPEED, not GodsPOOPED. Guy was confused.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41KE7XQAZ2L._UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

oops it just popped out

the new album is amazing. some slow building tracks, some velvet underground jam session like tracks (raindrops cast in lead), some great climactic emotional conclusions, liking this a lot.

Saw them in Bristol last night and realised it has been TWENTY FOUR YEARS since Lift Your Skinny Fists came out

Excited to hear the new one. Going to see them next month with my son, the rare show we both want to go to.

it's out! no bandcamp mail, again :(

oooh and it's bandcamp friday too! time to update the whole folder then (have lots on CD but this is easier)

Thanks for the reminder!

They were great in Glasgow on Monday night. I picked up the new record then but I've been too busy to listen to it yet. Looking forward to it though!

I was there on Monday as well and agree, it was great. The almost two hours felt short as well, I was longing for more.

New one is very cool.

This is pretty great

loved my first listen earlier

Second listen this is really, really nice.

so nice to have a taper friendly band - last night's show is on archive.org, coventry video from the day before that is on youtube

oh no!

https://thehardtimes.net/music/godspeed-you-black-emperor-vocalist-mortified-to-learn-microphone-unplugged-for-last-27-years

good to know Hard Times is still as unfunny as ever

Really liking this on repeat listens. The first two tracks make a heck of an opener.

great album -- made the commute home into a movie

worth watching to the end, imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oInyT46gNHE

Oh bummer, they've canceled the show I was going to tonight. They canceled last night in Nashville too, apparently one of the GY!BE ensemble had some sort of medical emergency (I've seen stroke mentioned on Reddit but nothing official). I hope they're OK.

Alan Sparhawk was slated to open and he's going to come ahead anyway and play a free show, so maybe I'll go to that anyway.

no acute danger

https://www.reddit.com/r/gybe/comments/1gr9k7s/latest_update_from_alan_sparhawk/

Well that's good. Hope they'll reschedule.

The bassist had a "stroke-like event" is the rumor I heard.

Dude Martha Stewart is at the Godspeed you black emperor show wtf

— kate bush's husband (@airbagged) November 17, 2024

upcoming bk shows both postponed
https://pioneerworks.org/programs/godspeed-you-black-emperor

This is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yLAv469o-I

What was it Chinaaski? Now removed due to a copyright claim.

for some reason (perhaps the band name) never gave these guys a listen until the ilm album poll

“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” sounds amazing!

is the rest similar? where should I go?

you can't go wrong, really. All very good to amazing.

Going back in reverse order to 2021's G_d's Pee At State's End! makes the most sense to me.

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven should be next since it is far and away the best. But most of it is very good.

F♯ A♯ ∞ is better overall, but Storm from LYSFLATH is maybe the strongest individual track. imo!

sounds great, thanks!

From the first period I rate Yanqui UXO the highest, and from the second period 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! But like StanM says, you can't really go wrong.

I went through the whole catalogue again yesterday by coincidence
there's no weak album and sequence isn't important imo

but yeh storm and the rest of lift yr skinny fists is all time

Yeah, I definitely recommend Allelujah as a high point, but they're all at least worth hearing. Here's how I'd rank 'em today:

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead
Yanqui U.X.O.
G_d's Pee at State's End!
Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada E.P.
F♯ A♯ ∞
Luciferian Towers
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress

"Yanqui UXO" and "Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!" are my favourites as well. I would say the first period is pretty much good all the way through. After the reunion ('Allelujah' going forward) it gets a bit more uneven, though some of their best tracks are in this period (I think "Mladic" off Allelujah is maybe my favourite individual track).

BBF3 is their strongest track imho, i've probably said as much many times upthread.

Yeah, I think Slow Zero Kanada is Godspeed distilled. Magnificent. I'd go to F# and Lift Yr Skinny Fists from there.

One of the truly great bands of the past three decades. Can't go wrong ... but Lift Yr Skinny Fists seems like the right starting point.

same as Mogwai, the Godspeed you hear first is usually "the best"

so it's Life Yr Skinny Fists.

Welcome aboard!

You really can't go wrong - even their most forgettable albums like Asunder, Luciferian Towers, etc are still great and better than most other bands who've been trying to mimic them since the 90s.

My favs echo others here, Lift Your Skinny Fists is iconic and their peak. I also adore the brooding intensity and immediacy of Yanqui UXO. The opening monologue and song of F#A# is like a mission statement and must be heard too. Of the new stuff my favs are Asunder, G_d's Pee and the new one (in no real particular order, they all exhibit very different vibes but hit amazing highs).

If you haven't seen them live, go (one of the best shows I've ever been to was them performing under the stars at a camp ground in Big Sur) - they are touring this year.

btw anyone else feel Yanqui UXO is by far and away the worst recorded record of theirs? The abrasiveness and thinness of it always holds me back from wanting to put it on. Most of the rest of their stuff is so rich sounding and dynamic (compare Yanqui to F#A# for example)

Perhaps enough time has passed to support a "Worst Sounding Steve Albini Recordings" thread as Yanqui UXO would be in my top 3

I’d think they would be a challenge to record in general.

"OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN"

― alpine static, Sunday, April 4, 2021 12:01 PM (three years ago)

this hurts to read right now

I'm perplexed by the idea that Luciferian Towers is any way forgettable. It's in my top three of their records

Hey it's subjective and a relative term too. My main point is pretty much all their records are awesome and you really can't go wrong starting anywhere. For me, Luciferian Towers is beautiful but lacking the "juice" to use some contemporary verbiage.

I have a soft spot for Asunder, Sweet - the drone in the middle section (Lamb's Breath especially) fills my whole body

btw I misspoke above - Asunder is one of my favs of their newer stuff, it's 'Alleluyah that I find a bit off. In fact that's probably my least favorite of all their albums, but it's still very good and has some nice highlights in Mladic especially

I might have posted it before, but there's a really good live recording of "Anthem for No State" that has a different arrangement to the album version. And a different name. I prefer it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBJoNhcArN4

It's heavier than black metal, without actually being black metal. There's an extraordinary truck driver's gearchange towards the end. I remember picking up F#A# in the wake of 9/11. It felt tailor-made as a soundtrack for those times, but I was surprised that it came out in 1997. It's spooky to think that the OP of this thread was posting back in February 2001. I'm thankful that the band still exists - it can't be easy keeping an outfit like Godspeed fed and watered for thirty years.

They could so easily have been awful. There's a certain kind of band that annoys me because their angst is obviously a put-on. I'm thinking of Coil, Dead Can Dance, Low. They're camp. Godspeed manage to stay the right side of camp. They're also one of those bands that I only listen to every so often, like Scott Walker, because you have to be in the mood.

I remember not liking Yanqui. It's not bad, it just felt like stagnation, as if they were doing the same thing again. I lost touch with them after that. I can't imagine how awesome they must be live. They're so Canadian! Also, on a musical level, having access to a room that looks like this is a life goal:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Hotel2Tango_TrackingRoom1.jpg/640px-Hotel2Tango_TrackingRoom1.jpg

There's a certain kind of band that annoys me because their angst is obviously a put-on. I'm thinking of Coil, Dead Can Dance, Low. They're camp.

big lol

I was about to say "I wonder when they're next going to play live", to which the answer is "six hours from now, in Lisbon, Portugal":
https://cstrecords.com/en-gb/pages/godspeed-you-black-emperor

Is there anything more Canadian than playing live in Bilbao? Not that I can think of. They're doing a tour of continental Europe. Sadly not the UK. I wonder if it's a Visa thing? I can imagine the whole band piling into a train carriage with their instruments and some croissants or something. Rehearsing on the carriage and annoying the other passengers, but they're technically a rock and roll band, so that's okay.

I liked a lot of Lift Your Skinny Fists... but had to edit a few minutes from each of the tracks, because I didn't feel they managed to integrate all the musical bits they were trying to include. But maybe GYBE fans would do the same to Tales From Topographic Oceans, I don't know.

caught them only a couple of years ago in the UK so I'd be surprised if it's a visa issue

I saw them in Glasgow in October. Probably too soon to come back to the UK

There's a certain kind of band that annoys me because their angst is obviously a put-on. I'm thinking of Coil, Dead Can Dance, Low.

lol what

would rather listen to any of those bands at their very worst than godspeed at their very best (and I like godspeed)

and this thread was going so well :(

sorry, couldn't abide seeing the good names of Coil, Dead Can Dance and Low being woefully misrepresented and dragged through the mud

low is camp??? not according to any definition of camp previously employed on earth

coil, yeah, they’re gay

dead can dance, yeah, they’re not gay (???) but there’s a heavily performative aspect to their work which enhances it. that’s goth baby

godspeed aren’t camp but are incredibly self-serious and they are so not goth. i mean good for them but i wouldn’t contrast them positively or negatively with these other approaches for an instant

They play in the UK regularly. Like treefell I saw them in Glasgow last year, and they were in the very same venue two years before. They also played Bilbao on (I think) the previous European tour, by the way. Not sure on the connection there with being Canadian, as Bilbao gets a good amount of gigs in general.

There are some camp elements to Coil for sure, I think they make it work and overall it makes them better. Dead Can Dance I can sort of see how some of it comes off as camp. Low, I don't see it, but I'm less familiar with their discography than the other 2.

I’m just assuming bad phrasing but “camp” to any of those is lazy trolling

I think you can assume worse than bad phrasing. This is so dumb:

There's a certain kind of band that annoys me because their angst is obviously a put-on.

yeah, like I almost couldn't think of three worse examples of artists who don't commit to the bit, so to speak

camp is always in thee eye of the buttholder, but i'd say old Low not camp, recent fuzzed-out electro Low and that latest Alan Sparhawk album, pitchin' a tent

There's a certain kind of band that annoys me because their angst is obviously a put-on

Morrissey was right there for the taking!

one of the interesting things about Godspeed is how much they have reverberated through montreal's music ecosystem. the studio that members opened (Hotel 2 Tango), which so many records were made at; even more important, the venues (Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa particularly), which are not just vital spaces for interesting musicians visiting Montreal, but which host endless local artists as they emerge and experiment... i also think there's been a roll-on effect on Godspeed's politics - their collectivism, their seriousness, their anti-celebrity - even if it is sometimes mocked here (and also understood as occasionally hypocritical theatrics; but everyone's human).

i think they're a really important band. their impact extends way beyond post-rock, to sometime local folk like lhasa de sela, suuns, wolf parade, unicorns, mac demarco, arcade fire, ought, leonard cohen, etc, but also outward to acts like julia jacklin, SANAM, vic chesnutt, matana roberts, mashrou leila, and on and on.

it's almost like they've been excellent musically and a model for maintaining one's integrity for like three decades!

btw anyone else feel Yanqui UXO is by far and away the worst recorded record of theirs? The abrasiveness and thinness of it always holds me back from wanting to put it on. Most of the rest of their stuff is so rich sounding and dynamic (compare Yanqui to F#A# for example)

― octobeard, Wednesday, 26 February 2025 22:14 (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

ah, it's opposite day

everything on YUXO feels like it is melting, irradiated. one of the best sounding albums maybe ever?

to an extent where i'm really not into their other stuff nearly as much cos it doesn't sound like that

BBF3 being a weird joke about Iron Maiden singers is arguably more camp than anything from DCD or Low. See also a few of the songs titles on All Lights Fucked, and the phase 1 songs just being called after their direct influences (e.g. Gorecki, John Hughes, John Barry - later also called Song For Wanda after Efrim's dog that had died) before being given more weighty names for the final release (Moya, She Dreamt She Was A Bulldozer She Dreamt She Was A Field, 09-15-00 respectively).

Not going to argue with a band that covered the theme tune of Are You Bring Served being called camp though.

I'm in the "except when Mark Almond was a guest vocalist, Coil wasn't very camp" camp.

sean otm. those montreal venues are super chill

I have no idea if the Godspeed crew were in any bands prior to their formation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were in short-lived punk or hardcore bands as teens

I think it's not so much about camp as it is a seriousness of intent which, if played badly, can tip over into absurdity. Of the four bands mentioned I would say that Low, Godspeed and DCD are all serious musicians who wear their seriousness well. Only Coil manage to make their seriousness look silly.

They seem to have raised the bar here

https://pitchfork.com/news/godspeed-you-black-emperor-remove-music-from-streaming-services/

no reason given and it's other streaming services too