Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Written by Dan on July 16, 2009
Home >> Album Reviews >> Godspeed You! Black Emperor
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Just in case I haven’t made it clear enough how eclectic my taste in music is, I decided to pull out an old gem by the name of Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GYBE). Yes, their name includes an exclamation point… shouldn’t yours? GYBE is a nine piece post-rock band from Canada. To be honest, I never thought to call them post-rock until I researched them a little bit before writing this post. I always thought of them more as a mixture of rock, classical, and experimental meant to be played as a movie soundtrack. Personally, I think they’re a little too abstract to be called post-rock… but what do labels really mean anyway, right?

The band hasn’t realized anything in quite a while. They have a few albums, but my favorite is Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000). This album consists of two CDs and only 4 tracks; each track being roughly 20 minutes with several movements and they all flow seamlessly into one another. More often than not, I feel as though I’m listening to classical music. You’ll likely get that feeling given the use of strings, horns, and other orchestral instruments. More than that though, sometimes there’s little repetitious song structure which seems to be more prominent in classical pieces than rock. Additionally, the tracks are often riddled with sampled audio pieces (not necessarily looped) as well as big dynamic and tempo changes. I know that I tend to write about the music itself rather than how the music makes me feel, but to ignore that would be no different than ignoring a giant squid at the head of your dinner table. I find it highly unlikely to listen to this album and not think it belongs as a movie soundtrack and it’s because of all of the aforementioned characteristics. Am I reading into things too much… maybe. But then again, one of the band members is dedicated to film production for shows…

Enjoying this album requires an appreciation of various genres and the acknowledgement that music is indeed art. Is this album weird? Sure. But I don’t think this album is so abstract to deter someone foreign to this sort of music. For the most part, this band uses sounds common in western music which makes it a little easier on the ears. It really boils down to the loose song structures and lack of the usual verse/chorus routine that makes this band out of the ordinary. I’ve mentioned gateway bands before in other genres, and I think GYBE is a great gateway band into experimental and abstract rock.

Viewing 9 Comments

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    I saw GYBE! 2 times in concert (Paris and Lyon) 8 years ago. This was one of the most amazing concert experience that I had in my life. I was a pure fan so I knew perfectly all the songs even the ones which were note released like Albanian. The concerts were even better than my dream. The live experience is defintively the best way to feel this music. Since that day, I hope to be able to feel an experience like this one again during a concert..so far this is not the case. I hope that I will see again GYBE! during my life but I doubt...
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    I came across this just googlin' GY!BE to see if anything new was happening, and this was on the top. As a long time listener of Godspeed, I can agree wholeheartedly. They are definitely a band that takes a little getting used to, as he mentioned. I would recommend a couple listens, maybe once with some decent headphones. Once it clicked, it was amazing for me. They are one of the only bands that I can just pick up my violin and play along by feeling... without hesitating, or thinking. Some of my friends (my girlfriend included) think they are a bit too melancholy, but I disagree. There are some definitely post-apocalyptic sounds and passages in songs, but they are typically balanced with triumphant sections, and things that make me happy.

    As for the poster earlier mentioning Explosions in the Sky, they are in the same basic genre of music I'd say. I saw the Pumpkins that same tour (in NC) and I had a terrible experience during the Explosions show. I was a long-time fan of Godspeed at the time, but I never got to see them live. Listening to Explosions was amazing, I had never heard of them, and they had an overall sound in the realm of Godspeed's so I was excited... but it was impossible to lose myself in the music because some obnoxious teenage girl had seats right in front of us, and she was bitching and moaning to her boyfriend, and laughing and being loud and distracting in general, talking on her phone, basically acting like she was the only one who paid for a ticket. It was particularly annoying because it wasn't a general admission show, so they could've just waited in the lobby with the other half of the crowd that didn't care about the opener. Many people throughout the theater showed the same disrespect, and just treated the openers like background music to their meaningless conversations. I would like to go to an actual Explosions show where I can enjoy their performance with other music appreciators.

    Some of the key members of Godspeed's very large linep of musicians are in a band called A Silver Mt. Zion, which is also pretty experimental sounding. I think most of it is at least decent, it has never been able to slip into my soul like Godspeed could. Worth checking out at any rate. Nice to see new articles about Godspeed.
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    Godspeed You! Black Emperor has no new albums, but they do indeed have unreleased songs.
    Such includes: Hung Over as The Queen in Maida Vale (John Peel Session), Albanian (live only), Gamelan (live only), etc.
    Albanian and the John Peel Session are two simply fantastic pieces of music. Anyone who likes this kind of art/music or art in general will find this amazing.
    Many of their live performances were recorded and uploaded to archive.org; all legal no copyright, free to listen.
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    GYBE, still the best post-rock I've ever heard. I still keep crawling back to their website once or twice a year in the vain hope that their 'hiatus' will come to an end. I'm not optimistic, though. Godspeed, there are those of us out there whose gifts lie outside of the realm of music and who miss you very, very much.
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    is there any new releases by GYBE?!?!?!
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    Not that I've seen... they haven't released anything in a long while, but from what I can tell never officially broke up either.
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    You make a valid point in the intro... I gotta find a way to squeeze an exclamation point into my name somehow.
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    I'll admit that I'm no expert when it comes to experimental rock, abstract rock, post-rock, ambient rock or whatever-you-want-to-call-it. But this review reminded me of a band called Explosions In The Sky. I don't even know that much about Explosions (I've never heard any of their albums), I only know about them because I saw them open for The Smashing Pumpkins a couple years ago. last.fm says they're similar to GYBE, so I guess I can't be that far off. If you don't already know about Explosions In The Sky, you might want to check them out.

    I've never heard of GYBE, but I'm intrigued by your review, so I'll check them out.
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    GYBE hasn't really done anything in a while. I first heard them back in high school and haven't much about then since. I can see them being compared to Explosions in the Sky. I have one of their albums, but apparently it didn't strike me well enough to remember the name off the top of my head. They're good too, I just haven't explored much of thier stuff.
 
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