Godspeed You Black Emperor!

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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, 11 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

it's really to early to say, isn't it? I would say "neither". I can't see them doing much beyond what they do now.

― brent d., Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

mr. dicrescenzo, you also spend most of your time writing hyperbolic reviews touting records either horribly overrated or hyped to death. your opinion should mean little or nothing.

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.

― mac., Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Hey, lay off Brent. I think that his flair for controversy makes a fine addition to stew of voices here on I Love Music. Anyway, he's right. Neither so original enough as to lay claim to any formative influence on post-rock, similar enough to other independantly evolved bands that they can't claim a new sub-genre as their own, and without the style-hopping restlessness of genius minds too hyperactive to explore any area deeply. On the other hand, they found one thing to do, and do it consistantly well. Will be nomore than a footnote to musical history, and not tragically so.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I've been trying to think of anyone I know (offline or chat to regularly online) who *loves* GYBE, and I can't think of anyone. Josh maybe. This whole love-them-or-hate-them thing which people like to believe of their favourite bands is mostly nonsense, a point I think I made once about this very band. Most people who are into music, faced with GYBE, would do what most people do actually do, i.e. shrug and either sit it out or turn it off. It doesn't seize your attention enough to be loved and it's not extreme enough to be hated.

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".

― Tom, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I've said for a long while now that they are the post-rock Ramones. They have a sound and they do it -- good for what it is, not to be celebrated as anything more. What I've heard of the new album had such innovations as major keys, so I'm glad of that, but otherwise loved far too dearly by people who have never heard Swans' _Soundtracks for the Blind_, say. I still think the show I saw them do was one of the most tedious things around because *EVERYTHING FUCKING SOUNDED EXACTLY THE SAME*. Had they just done one long ninety-minute build-up fuck-off track, I would have been terribly impressed, but no...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

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

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Have they finished tuning up yet? Hehehe

― DG, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

"Slow Riot..." was quite possibly the best EP of the '90s. Well, if you like 3 min pop songs you'll never make through it but still, it's excellent. Their last album is ways to pretentious and besides they've lost the "magic". Their first record was still immature, much like a scrapbook with a few doodles which were to become their trademark sound... All in all, they only made one excellent EP and a couple of good albums but I don't think this is enough to make a classic of them.

― Simone, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

you and i, tom, clearly move in different circles.

― sundar subramanian, Monday, 12 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

Wow, I guess I joined up after this one, I've seen a whole bar either mesmorized by them or driven out by them. Im sure I mentioned somewhere on this bitch my story of 'their trying to hit me in the ass witha metal pole' story so I wont get into it again. Very classic more for their circle they've built up around them then for their albums. F# A# being on par with Endtroducing or (shudder) Nevermind for giving a voice to something that was happening. Im biased as I view this album as a wakeup call to the Canadian music industry that was breaking up (Eric's Trip and more), or selling out fast (Treble Charger, Hayden).

― Mr Noodles, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Not dud, but Not classic either. There's a couple of lovely moments but I could never stand to sit down and listen to them.

― electric sound of jim, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

F# A# = Endtroducing -- Funny, I've always thought that, too. People call DJ Shadow a goth, but I've always heard him more as a post- rocker. Even before UNKLE.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

And most postrockers weren't goth? Shadowy mood music with the lights down low, hmm...

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

God, you're right. What was I thinking?

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

they are FOCUS in crusty combats with cello bits so you will fall asleep if you miss your exit to the bar

― bob snoom, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Nah, too boring to be goth. More like wannabe jazz junkies.

― Dare, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

typical Pitchfork answer.

― Mr Noodles, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

So much has changed about my tastes in the past couple years. There was a time when I had no time for electric Miles or Boards of Canada, both of which I dearly love now. On the premise that Josh might be right about other things, and encouraged by hearing not-terrible things by Mogwai and Sigur Ros, I started thinking about maybe dipping a toe into the post-rock waters again. Since they seem so widely loved, and since I never heard anything that disgusted me as much as Tortoise or Rachel's had at other points (not having heard much at all), I gave F#A#oo a shot. My impressions after one listen a couple days ago:

- 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.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 6 October 2003 00:35 (9 years ago) Permalink

GYBE are a marvel. I have "Slow Riot...", "F#A#8" (cant do a damn infinity symbol) and just got "Yanqui UXO" last week, which is a little more meandering and doesn't-go-anywhere than the other two but still great.

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.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 6 October 2003 01:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

DUD YOPU NBIOTCHBES!!!

POCXY FULE SEZ HEDHEGOF

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 6 October 2003 02:03 (9 years ago) Permalink

The first GYBE album you hear is Classic. The third one you hear, and every one after that, is Dud.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Monday, 6 October 2003 03:47 (9 years ago) Permalink

(Perhaps unsurprisingly, this also holds true for every other post-rock one-trick pony.)

― Nick Mirov (nick), Monday, 6 October 2003 03:48 (9 years ago) Permalink

have to be seen live to be really understood (blah blah blah....it's true though)

― Elliot (Elliot), Monday, 6 October 2003 04:42 (9 years ago) Permalink

This is true...as you'll note my saying above.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 October 2003 04:50 (9 years ago) Permalink

The first GYBE album you hear is Classic. The third one you hear, and every one after that, is Dud.

Nick OTM

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

Destrrrrrrrroy: Levez..., Yanqui UXO

― Ben Dot (1977), Monday, 6 October 2003 23:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

Slow Riot is their best release; the first one lost my attention at various intervals (the carny-sounding parts). Saw them live once but the dirty three either outclassed them or were privy to more of my attention span.

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.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 6 October 2003 23:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

I never really cared for them..a little too mid to late eighties pink floyd for me.

― camazotz, Monday, 6 October 2003 23:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

search : the fuzzy sound collage bits, like that one with the glockenspiels with the french schoolchildren.
destroy : all those meandering ride-go-postrock guitarathons.

― joni, Monday, 6 October 2003 23:39 (9 years ago) Permalink

Once I heard their name I assumed they were a gabba satancore death metal act from Norway and was, needless to say, extremely disappointed when I finally heard their music. That name deserves a better fate.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 02:13 (9 years ago) Permalink

Saw them live once but the dirty three either outclassed them or were privy to more of my attention span.

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

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 23:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

have to be seen live to be really understood (blah blah blah....it's true though)

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

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 23:19 (9 years ago) Permalink

every time I've seen them live (quite a few) I've fallen asleep! this is either a good thing or a bad thing!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 01:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

The Henry Cow of the Noughties

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 10:49 (9 years ago) Permalink

I couldn't handle the extreme wank of it all.

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

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 11:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

I couldn't handle the extreme wank of it all.

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

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 11:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

there was another Godspeed thread where I said there wasn't really enough dynamics in the band to keep me interested though slightly better than Mogwai. I think its those tapes of mad ppl ranting that give them the edge.

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

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 11:19 (9 years ago) Permalink

... I meant more in the sense of trying affect a worldwide proletarian revolution thru the medium of dusty-dry cerebral art rock

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 11:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

... with no words

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 11:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

OK, I listened twice more since I was last on the board. I like it a little better. I take back some of my previous comments. In fact, the rhythmic processes going on during the more normal parts are actually pretty similar to those of regular rock music, just done a lot slower. Some of the guitar solo bits actually remind me a little of Wish You Were Here-era Pink Floyd, and not in a bad way really. They do kind of have a simple sparse elegance in their way. (I might still agree with Colin that the sound collage parts are the best parts. I like the part at around 11:30 in track 3 with the treated voices. BTW did Radiohead sample or reference the start of that track for "Motion Picture Soundtrack"?) I like the way the guitar and violin are moving away from each other around 9:30 of track 3. The first 8 min or so of the album are classic. The 'hidden track' is cool with its drum blasts and that guitar tone. Some of the album actually feels like a really slow epic doom metal record, sort of like Neurosis doing a CBC period drama soundtrack, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. I think the only things that make it less accessible/interesting right away than a regular hard rock album are the lower energy level and the absence of a charismatic voice, which are easy to get past once you recognize them. (Maybe this is an obvious comment.) I wonder if the reason IDM and trip-hop have appealed more to me than post-rock is because I had less of an attachment to 'normal' dance or hip-hop conventions and processes to begin with. (Maybe same with modern classical.) I don't know if I'll end up rating this as high as Endtroducing but it is nice in its way.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

i used to really like,back when i had a more limited taste in music...
then i kind of wandered off and started listening to other stuff,and forgot about them...
i saw them live about a year ago,and really enjoyed it though...
i've just put on the slow riot ep,first time i've listened to them in ages,so i'll report back when i've listened to it...

― robin (robin), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 15:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

I just listened to all of Lift Yr Skinny Fists . . .. I actually think it's genius, at least a hundred gazillion times better than F#A#oo (which I deleted from my hard drive pretty quickly). There's much more depth in terms of texture, harmony, and rhythm and the structures and changes are less predictable. They actually get some nice grooves going in the second disc. Parts remind me of Glenn Branca and Fred Frith. The noise is handled really well. I got right into it right from the glorious opening with the horns.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 15 February 2004 20:54 (9 years ago) Permalink

GYBE! fans are a bunch of indie pussies who hated BLACK DICE opening for them.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Sunday, 15 February 2004 20:55 (9 years ago) Permalink

who could blame them?

― Pablo Cruise (chaki), Sunday, 15 February 2004 22:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yeah black dice totally sucked when I saw them play last year.

― Elliot (Elliot), Sunday, 15 February 2004 22:42 (9 years ago) Permalink

HAHA, INDIE FAGS.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Sunday, 15 February 2004 22:55 (9 years ago) Permalink

Black Dice rocked my world when they opened for Godspeed. I think I was the only one in Toronto who liked them, though.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 15 February 2004 23:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

Hey, Barry! Do you know when the rochester to toronto ferry starts?

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Sunday, 15 February 2004 23:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

There's really gonna be a Rochester-Toronto ferry?
I guess this will make it easier for Godspeed to play Rochester on their next tour? :)

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 15 February 2004 23:38 (9 years ago) Permalink

HAHAHAHA FUNNY

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Sunday, 15 February 2004 23:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 215 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Thursday, 4 October 2012 00:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― Simon H., Thursday, 4 October 2012 00:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Thursday, 4 October 2012 00:28 (7 months ago) Permalink

setlist tonight in bmore-

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

― spazzmatazz, Thursday, 4 October 2012 04:20 (7 months ago) Permalink

This is an instrumental metal album so far!

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Thursday, 4 October 2012 04:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― nostormo, Monday, 8 October 2012 14:14 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― spazzmatazz, Monday, 8 October 2012 15:11 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:24 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:25 (7 months ago) Permalink

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...)

― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:44 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― dronestreet, Monday, 8 October 2012 17:43 (7 months ago) Permalink

Really like the pseudo gamelan outro on Mladic so far.

― LaMonte, Monday, 8 October 2012 18:04 (7 months ago) Permalink

this is so good
and so good for fall

― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 8 October 2012 18:47 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― LaMonte, Monday, 8 October 2012 19:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 8 October 2012 21:31 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― alpine static, Monday, 8 October 2012 22:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― Blue Collar Retail Assistant (Dwight Yorke), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 08:47 (7 months ago) Permalink

Really like the record...

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 13:46 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― alpine static, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 00:36 (7 months ago) Permalink

Workin on a review to clarify my point, plz hold

― Mary Ty$ Band (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 00:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― silverfish, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 01:24 (7 months ago) Permalink

^^^100% agreeing with this right now.

― cwkiii, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:21 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― Frederik B, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

Mladic is just glorious.

― owenf, Thursday, 11 October 2012 10:23 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Thursday, 11 October 2012 11:00 (7 months ago) Permalink

"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.

― I am the one and (onimo), Thursday, 11 October 2012 11:47 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― I am the one and (onimo), Thursday, 11 October 2012 11:47 (7 months ago) Permalink

and using the "wrong" date format!

― I am the one and (onimo), Thursday, 11 October 2012 11:48 (7 months ago) Permalink

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...

― J-Lo Biafra (Rob Mitchell), Friday, 12 October 2012 12:29 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― j., Friday, 19 October 2012 02:14 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― alex in mainhattan, Saturday, 20 October 2012 14:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Soundslike, Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:01 (7 months ago) Permalink

it just feels like a big fart

interesting criticism

― ogmor, Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:15 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― live or die merits of the button thread (wolves lacan), Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:49 (7 months ago) Permalink

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, 20 October 2012 18:33 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Saturday, 20 October 2012 18:39 (7 months ago) Permalink

Encountering Swans this year has made me shrug at Godspeed.

― comedy is unnatural and abhorrent (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 20 October 2012 18:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

I like both.

― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Saturday, 20 October 2012 19:12 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― Soundslike, Saturday, 20 October 2012 19:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

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.

― j., Saturday, 20 October 2012 22:06 (7 months ago) Permalink

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!

― ryan, Saturday, 20 October 2012 22:11 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Soundslike, Sunday, 21 October 2012 01:00 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Raymond Cummings, Sunday, 21 October 2012 01:11 (7 months ago) Permalink

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

― Raymond Cummings, Sunday, 21 October 2012 01:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

yah welcome to ilx

― my mansplain songz (some dude), Sunday, 21 October 2012 01:58 (7 months ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

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

― onimo, Monday, 5 November 2012 10:56 (6 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

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

― This Is Not An ILX Username (LaMonte), Thursday, 13 December 2012 00:45 (5 months ago) Permalink

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

― you are my capitalism (spazzmatazz), Thursday, 13 December 2012 02:56 (5 months ago) Permalink

* 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

― you are my capitalism (spazzmatazz), Thursday, 13 December 2012 02:58 (5 months ago) Permalink

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

― Walter Galt, Thursday, 13 December 2012 12:05 (5 months ago) Permalink

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Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Classic or Dud?