GY!BE returns with another soundtrack for our times, like only this inimitable and venerable ensemble can forge. As the heretical anarcho-punk spirit of the title implies, Godspeed harnesses some particularly raw power, spittle and grit across two riveting 20-minute side-length trajectories of noise-drenched widescreen post-rock: inexorable chug blossoms into blown-out twang, as some of the band’s most soaring, searing melodies ricochet and converge amidst violin and bassline counterpoint. Field recordings and roiling semi-improvised passages frame these fervent epics, and two shorter self-contained 6-minute pieces find the band at its most devastatingly beautiful, haunting and elegiac. Poignant atmospherics, noise-drenched orchestration, drone, hypnotic swingtime crescendos, inexorably-layered towers of distorted clarion sound: “STATE’S END” encapsulates every beloved facet of the band. Twenty-five years on, this new album is as vital, stirring, timely and implacable as any in Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s storied discography.
Just as “STATE’S END” summons the gamut of Godspeed’s constituent sonic trademarks, so the album artwork spans the entirety of the band’s visual history: the grainy monochromatic photography of recent releases finds its way onto the inner sleeves, while the gatefold cover art harkens back to the iconic graphics of earlier classic records like “Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada” and “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven”. “STATE’S END” features illustrations by William Schmiechen, with the front cover taijitu flowers and back cover tear gas canisters rendered in raised thermographic black ink on the double-vinyl album jacket. The illuminated cross from Godspeed’s debut “F#A#∞” also makes a reappearance on the inside gatefold drawing, in recurrent homage to the electrified hilltop landmark crucifix of the band’s Montréal hometown.
“STATE’S END” was recorded and mixed in Montréal in October 2020 at the group’s homebase studio Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango by Jace Lasek, the veteran award-winning indie producer (and co-founder of The Besnard Lakes), who works with Godspeed for the first time on this recording.
Thanks for listening. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN. (R.I.P. D.H.)
Pre-order “G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!” here.
Tracklist:
1. A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) (4521.0kHz 6730.0kHz 4109.09kHz) / Job’s Lament / First of the Last Glaciers / where we break how we shine (ROCKETS FOR MARY) video
2. Fire at Static Valley
3. “GOVERNMENT CAME” (9980.0kHz 3617.1kHz 4521.0 kHz) / Cliffs Gaze / cliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE
4. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)
Recorded and mixed by Jace Lasek.
Tracked live at thee mighty Hotel2Tango, 6-11 octobre 2020.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a string of albums from 1997-2002 widely recognized as redefining what punk- and politically-informed music can be, where longform instrumental chamber rock compositions of immense feeling and power serve as soundtracks to late capitalist alienation and resistance. “F#A#∞” (1997), “Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada” (1999), “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven” (2000) and “Yanqui U.X.O.” (2002) are all variously regarded as classics of the era and genre. Godspeed’s legendary live performances, featuring multiple 16mm projectors beaming overlapping analog film loops and reels – along with the distinctive iconography, imagery and tactility of the band’s album artwork and physical LP packages – further defines its sui generis aesthetic substance.
GY!BE has issued two official band photographs in its 25 year existence (the 2nd, pictured above, being a 2010 recreation of the 1st from 1997) and has done a half-dozen collectively-answered written interviews over that same span. The band has never had a website or social media accounts. Few rock bands in our 21st century have been as steadfast in letting the work speak for itself and maintaining a simple rule about minimising participation in cultures of personality, celebrity, access, commodification and co-optation.
Following a seven-year hiatus that began in 2003, Godspeed returned to the stage in December 2010 and its post-reunion period has now lasted a decade, marked by hundreds of sold-out live shows and three additional albums (aside from the just-announced “G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!”), which have all been been met with high acclaim.
Weblinks:
cstrecords.com/artist/godspeed-you-black-emperor
godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com
Just as “STATE’S END” summons the gamut of Godspeed’s constituent sonic trademarks, so the album artwork spans the entirety of the band’s visual history: the grainy monochromatic photography of recent releases finds its way onto the inner sleeves, while the gatefold cover art harkens back to the iconic graphics of earlier classic records like “Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada” and “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven”. “STATE’S END” features illustrations by William Schmiechen, with the front cover taijitu flowers and back cover tear gas canisters rendered in raised thermographic black ink on the double-vinyl album jacket. The illuminated cross from Godspeed’s debut “F#A#∞” also makes a reappearance on the inside gatefold drawing, in recurrent homage to the electrified hilltop landmark crucifix of the band’s Montréal hometown.
“STATE’S END” was recorded and mixed in Montréal in October 2020 at the group’s homebase studio Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango by Jace Lasek, the veteran award-winning indie producer (and co-founder of The Besnard Lakes), who works with Godspeed for the first time on this recording.
Thanks for listening. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN. (R.I.P. D.H.)
Pre-order “G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!” here.
Tracklist:
1. A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) (4521.0kHz 6730.0kHz 4109.09kHz) / Job’s Lament / First of the Last Glaciers / where we break how we shine (ROCKETS FOR MARY) video
2. Fire at Static Valley
3. “GOVERNMENT CAME” (9980.0kHz 3617.1kHz 4521.0 kHz) / Cliffs Gaze / cliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE
4. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)
Recorded and mixed by Jace Lasek.
Tracked live at thee mighty Hotel2Tango, 6-11 octobre 2020.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a string of albums from 1997-2002 widely recognized as redefining what punk- and politically-informed music can be, where longform instrumental chamber rock compositions of immense feeling and power serve as soundtracks to late capitalist alienation and resistance. “F#A#∞” (1997), “Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada” (1999), “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven” (2000) and “Yanqui U.X.O.” (2002) are all variously regarded as classics of the era and genre. Godspeed’s legendary live performances, featuring multiple 16mm projectors beaming overlapping analog film loops and reels – along with the distinctive iconography, imagery and tactility of the band’s album artwork and physical LP packages – further defines its sui generis aesthetic substance.
GY!BE has issued two official band photographs in its 25 year existence (the 2nd, pictured above, being a 2010 recreation of the 1st from 1997) and has done a half-dozen collectively-answered written interviews over that same span. The band has never had a website or social media accounts. Few rock bands in our 21st century have been as steadfast in letting the work speak for itself and maintaining a simple rule about minimising participation in cultures of personality, celebrity, access, commodification and co-optation.
Following a seven-year hiatus that began in 2003, Godspeed returned to the stage in December 2010 and its post-reunion period has now lasted a decade, marked by hundreds of sold-out live shows and three additional albums (aside from the just-announced “G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!”), which have all been been met with high acclaim.
Weblinks:
cstrecords.com/artist/godspeed-you-black-emperor
godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com