Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Classic or Dud?

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