Godspeed You! Black Emperor
PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 12:06 am
If you've ever heard of them, then you should know enough already.
Formed in 1994, the ensemble has been quite influential in its genre, with bands from as far as Hong Kong and Singapore citing them as influences in their musical work, such as Mono, one of my favorites. Working on a near orchestral scale, the nine-piece group has been known to create wide dynamic ranges, unique use of instrumentation and sounds, large songs that are composed almost classically with multiple movements within itself, and engrossing use of art and visuals in both their album packaging and live performances.
They took their name from God Speed You! Black Emperor, a little known 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors. The band is most commonly classified as post-rock, but they exist outside any established scene and take influences from a range of styles including progressive rock, punk, classical music and avant-garde. Each record consists of a few fairly long tracks (mostly between 15 and 25 minutes), divided into "movements" which are sometimes specified in the record sleeve.
The band formed around 1994 with three members, but its lineup has changed frequently. The band has had as many as fifteen members at one time, but has tended to settle down to a group of nine. The instruments played vary with the lineup, but the music tends to be based around electric and bass guitars, strings and a percussion section. Other instruments such as the Glockenspiel and the French horn make more occasional appearances. The music on some of their records is accompanied by spoken samples recorded by the band across North America, including an apocalyptic street preacher from Providence, Rhode Island, an announcement at a gas station, a group of children talking and singing in French, as well as many recordings taken off shortwave radio. Most of the members are also anarchists, and their music has strong political overtones.
I own all of their albums, none of which are availible in any major retail stores. Believe me, I've checked. You'll have to get them off of amazon, although only Yanqui is availble on CD. All others are vinyl only, although you can buy them off of iTunes, which is what I had to do.
"though godspeed is guilty of profiting from hateful chain-store sales, we encourage you to avoid giving money to predatory retailers and superstores" -Yanqui UXO CD release album footnotes
Here's a small sample of a song from the Yanqui album, 09-15-00 part 1.
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/godspeed_you_black_emperor-09_15_00-1.mp3
Note before that, there's about a 5 minute build-up.
Here's a sample from Rocket falls on Rocket Falls, which is purley ambiance
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/godspeed_you_black_emperor-rockets_fall_on_rocket_falls.mp3
And finally, the dead flag blues, which is the intro to F#A#oo, my personal favorite album.
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/godspeed_you_black_emperor-dead_flag_blues_intro.mp3
And here's a link to the rest of the samples.
http://brainwashed.com/godspeed/music.html
So give it a good listen and tell me what you think. =D
Formed in 1994, the ensemble has been quite influential in its genre, with bands from as far as Hong Kong and Singapore citing them as influences in their musical work, such as Mono, one of my favorites. Working on a near orchestral scale, the nine-piece group has been known to create wide dynamic ranges, unique use of instrumentation and sounds, large songs that are composed almost classically with multiple movements within itself, and engrossing use of art and visuals in both their album packaging and live performances.
They took their name from God Speed You! Black Emperor, a little known 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors. The band is most commonly classified as post-rock, but they exist outside any established scene and take influences from a range of styles including progressive rock, punk, classical music and avant-garde. Each record consists of a few fairly long tracks (mostly between 15 and 25 minutes), divided into "movements" which are sometimes specified in the record sleeve.
The band formed around 1994 with three members, but its lineup has changed frequently. The band has had as many as fifteen members at one time, but has tended to settle down to a group of nine. The instruments played vary with the lineup, but the music tends to be based around electric and bass guitars, strings and a percussion section. Other instruments such as the Glockenspiel and the French horn make more occasional appearances. The music on some of their records is accompanied by spoken samples recorded by the band across North America, including an apocalyptic street preacher from Providence, Rhode Island, an announcement at a gas station, a group of children talking and singing in French, as well as many recordings taken off shortwave radio. Most of the members are also anarchists, and their music has strong political overtones.
I own all of their albums, none of which are availible in any major retail stores. Believe me, I've checked. You'll have to get them off of amazon, although only Yanqui is availble on CD. All others are vinyl only, although you can buy them off of iTunes, which is what I had to do.
"though godspeed is guilty of profiting from hateful chain-store sales, we encourage you to avoid giving money to predatory retailers and superstores" -Yanqui UXO CD release album footnotes
Here's a small sample of a song from the Yanqui album, 09-15-00 part 1.
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/godspeed_you_black_emperor-09_15_00-1.mp3
Note before that, there's about a 5 minute build-up.
Here's a sample from Rocket falls on Rocket Falls, which is purley ambiance
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/godspeed_you_black_emperor-rockets_fall_on_rocket_falls.mp3
And finally, the dead flag blues, which is the intro to F#A#oo, my personal favorite album.
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/godspeed_you_black_emperor-dead_flag_blues_intro.mp3
And here's a link to the rest of the samples.
http://brainwashed.com/godspeed/music.html
So give it a good listen and tell me what you think. =D