Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Classic or Dud?

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