Chroniques et points de vue:

Un incontournable québécois:
C'est loin des projecteurs que Godspeed You Black Emperor ! a concocté Lift Your Skinny Fists…, un impressionnant enregistrement post-rock qui a voyagé discrètement mais sûrement autour du globe. 0n y trouve un travail des atmosphères qui séduit autant qu'il commotionne.

From :
Canada's Godspeed You Black Emperor raise the ante on their already ambitious orchestral rock by releasing a double CD of material as their second full-length album. The group combines the drums and guitar of typical rock-band instrumentation with horns and strings to create a music built around drones and slowly evolving melodic figures. lt rises and falls from delicate introductory passages to unabashed grand climaxes. Their juxtaposition of drums with violins and lush romantic tonality brings to mind Rachel's, but their compositional scale and the pounding repetitive intensity of their dynamic peaks evoke Glenn Branca's The Ascension. Although the two discs are indexed at only two 21-minute tracks each, the package includes a handy road map to the movements into which each is subdivided. The opening piece starts with five minutes of a 15-beat circular melodic pattern that is gradually embellished as the volume swells to an ecstatic roar. The release drops down to a pastoral drone that rebuilds to support an acid-etched guitar solo, which in turn yields to a unified 4/4 kraut rock pound that eventually explodes, leaving behind field recordings of public announcements mingled with wandering late-night Swell Maps piano. The other pieces use a similar set of sonic building blocks to take the listener on comparable journeys. Fans of Godspeed's previous work will be very happy, and the curious might want to hop on board as well. --Bob Bannister

Amazon.ca:
Godspeed You Black Emperor! récidive avec son rock instrumental somptueux et ses paysages musicaux enveloppants dans sa troisième production, Levez vos skinny fists comme antennas to heaven!. Le collectif montréalais – deux batteries, deux basses, trois guitares, un violon et un violoncelle – livre ici un disque double où l'expérimentation sonore, parfois proche du bruitage, se fait plus présente, l'orchestration encore plus riche, la charge émotive toujours puissante.

Les quatre morceaux, d'une vingtaine de minutes chacun, sont divisés en sections qui s'enchaînent à la manière des mouvements d'une symphonie. À partir d'un motif répété en sourdine, Godspeed échafaude de lancinants crescendos, qui aspirent inéluctablement l'auditeur dans des tourbillons de guitares bourdonnantes et de percussions appuyées. La tempête finit par s'apaiser, mais la quiétude cède bientôt le pas à l'intervention lyrique des cordes, à l'irruption solennelle des cuivres, à l'orage affolant des guitares.

Les compositions quasi filmiques du groupe incorporent des voix, captées hors du studio, qui donnent à l'ensemble un incroyable pouvoir d'évocation. lci, un vieil homme se remémore le paradis de sa jeunesse, Coney lsland ; là, un duo de glockenspiel débouche sur des comptines d'enfants, comme autant d'hommages à l'innocence dans un monde en décrépitude. Une sorte d'espérance obstinée, de foi enragée, affleure, malgré les ambiances angoissantes qui baignent l'album. Levez vos skinny fists comme antennas to heaven! est une bouleversante invitation au rêve et au cauchemar de la part d'un groupe qui échappe aux comparaisons. --Noémi Mercier









Disponibilité: Usually ships in 24 hours

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Note: - needs to be heard with both ears and an open mind
To some people, this album will be worth 5 stars. To some it won't even scrape 2. To some it'll be off the scale.
This kind of music needs a certain kind of person to appreciate it. Like listeners of Australia's The Avalanches, you'll either pick up on the subtleties or it'll go right over your head.

To me, however, this album is...amazing. I've never heard anything like it. There's an extemely spontaneous yet organised feeling throughout it, almost as if the band made up the songs as they were going. Who knows, maybe they did? This is not a bad thing, however. To me there's nothing worse than an over-refined bit of artwork/music, and this is pretty raw as albums go. If you can't stomach rare though, be careful about this one.

There seems to be about 6 actual songs on this double-CD - two songs on the first "song", one on the second, two on the third and one on the fourth. The rest of it seems to be interlude between them. The first (which, as far as I can gather, is entitled "Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven") starts quietly, gathering up to a roaring crescendo of guitar, trumet and jangly-sounding drumming, which somehow doesn't seem to climax despite the ear-splittingness of it. This leads straight into the second song, "Gathering Storm", which follows the lines of the first one, but instead of sounding hopeful like its predecessor, it's apprehensive and has an unfinished air about it.
The next couple of "songs" I don't particularly like, a lot of it is just static buzz and weird samples. The third song, "Word Police and Friendly Fire", however, is about as different from the first two as you can get. It starts sinuous and angsty, and builds up to a heavy, almost Tool-style scream of guitars and other unidentifiable instruments. This seems to just collapse afterwards and drone out.

The second CD starts with a very odd sample of an old man talking. This leads into "Monheim", the fourth proper song. Depressing to say the least, this song grates a little and is probably the most repetetive of the 6, but it leads into my personal favourite, "Broken Windows, Locks of Love". Like all the others this is dominated by guitar, and roars up to a climax and ending that is very different from its beginning. There's not really any particular feeling about this song, it's a bit of a mix between hopefulness and hopelessness.

The sixth song, "She dreamt she was.." begins very slowly and quietly like the others, but instead of building up to a height, it seems to start right in the middle of one and then winds down to a slow, sad ending that reflects its beginning.

Overall this is not a happy CD. There are moments that are happy, and some of the samples might even make you laugh, but even the semi-cheerful songs have a depressing air about them, like the false cheerfulness of someone who's dying. The best way to sum this CD up would be in the words of the band themselves, or whoever wrote the liner notes: "We dedicate it to every prisoner in the world...(we dedicate it to empty streets at dawn.)

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Note: - Excellent
This album is incredible. It is all instrumental. A mix of droning guitars, propulsive drums, beautiful strings, this album takes its predecessors into great territory. Those influences being Glenn Branca's guitar symphonies, Brian Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" and also being similar to the way Spiritualized songs build to a climax. Inventive and never formulaic. Neither album in this two-disc set will disappoint.
If you like: Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca.

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Note: - * Deep Space Nine ...
Although Deep Space Nine serves no relevence to this cd I thought that it was an appropriate title. With that being said, I just want to say that this is the sort of music that I have been looking for. When I first put it in, and the soaring drums and orchestrations kicked in I knew that this was good. The cd has many great emotions in it, and all are done very well. They can make the simplist sounding noise and have it go on and on and on... and make it be worth while. This is both very simplistic and complex, done very well. I suggest you pick this cd up if you like Confederate Rock

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Note: - Ever buy an Album that Just Kind of Blows You Away?
This is the album. I don't know if you call it an orchesteral masterpiece, but I would venture to say that this is a "very special album"

What do I mean by this? I talked to my buddy Mario about this album after I had just finished disc one and he was not surprised by my statement "its a very special album."

Very rarely do albums cause a completely sober person to be taken to another place or world, the listener is so drawn in by the complialtion of noises, sounds, and musical arrangements that one's heart actually begins to beat faster and slower as the music reaches its climax and then subsides only to begin another journey.

I still don't know how the group can put together such an album, let alone rehearse it, but I am excited to say that this album is one that will change your opinion on the future of modern music.

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Note: - * Buy This Now! ...
ok, this is easily THE BEST album I have heard since Dark Side Of The Moon, which is still my favorite album. Godspeed creates music that is relaxing, yet haunting, yet uplifting. It's very odd, they can create a song that is depressing and sad, but be uplifting at the very same time. My favorite track on this album, and my current favorite song period, is Sleep. I recommend you not hear this track until you buy the album, this song alone is worth every lasy penny that you pay for the cd. It is unbelievable and I can't even begin to explain just how.......well, how god damn good it is, for real. I highly recommend this to fans of Mogwai and Sigur Ros. So, if you like any kind of spacey, relaxing, classical/rock music, I urge you to get in your car right this very moment, drive to your nearest record store, and pay whatever amount they are asking for it, it is worth whatever they are charging. Enjoy it!