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









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Note: - Beauty
This is Godspeed and their predictable best. So amazing, so powerful. In my humble opinion, they don't need to waste all the time they waste getting to the climaxes which are the only reason I listen, and I'm sure everyone agrees. But they are to inept to go from climax to climax with out crescendos, and some of the crescendos are pretty amazing anyway, so good job GYBE!

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Note: - Flawless. Musically perfect in every way.
I know that some people have been a fan of GYBE! since, say, the beginning. I've only been one for about 5 months now, but I can honestly tell you, I have been nothing but impressed with this ensemble since day one.
Okay, let me just say Lift your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven is one of my all-time favorite records. It's epic, it's huge, and it's constant. It's heartfelt, it's emotional, it's intense, sometimes even frightening, yet beautiful. The sonic landscapes produced by GYBE! are increcible, original, and entertaining to listen to. I still get a huge grin on my face every time my CD player hits 14 minutes on the second track on the first disk.
This album doesn't deserve 5 stars. It deserves 10.

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Note: - * Whoa ...
I'm going to pull a Keanue Reeves here and simply respond to this amazing piece of work with that one word in my review title.

Not in a long time has an album moved me as much as Lift Your Skinny Fists. The juxtaposition of strings with distorted, ringing guitars and sometimes funk-influenced (see the second CD; the DJ Shadow reference one reviewer mentioned is pretty right on), straight-forward drum breaks is amazing. Each piece of music is about twenty minutes long with the music building, falling apart, and starting anew. The first song on the second CD is worth the price alone. One of the most haunting, beautiful songs I've heard.

The plethora of negative reviews is a little shocking to me. Godspeed's music on Lift Your Skinny Fists... constantly changes and moves in different direction so the "boring soft-to-crescendo" factor some mention is a little odd to me especially with the last track on the second CD. And I can't possibly see how some could see this CD as being bad enough to earn one-star.

Ignore the negativity on the review page and get this. This is not something to miss out on.

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Note: - yah it good
me likey dis vork. yah. it kinda like my bloody val but longer pieces. trying to do da rock/classical thing. yah me like. da first dics inst that good for me but da second uhhuh zuper! da big thumbz up from he'ah. kinda like mogwai but not as depressing and it has more strings hmm not like mogwai that much. dat stinkers. dis disc really gets me going doh, like ven me going out in da stuff uhhuh i lost my thought. but it is so nice and it gets me going with its crescendo like tabula rasa. hey i am comparing this work alot but im just trying to help you know what its like if youve never heard it or anything like it ok? so chill. sheeesh. (some people, i swear). but it has like people talking on it and stuff like mogwai. yah. not really much zinging at all. yah. but no like da danzing stuff we do in da clubs yah like when haha! we go and go crazy hahaha! wow! oh. sorry. but yah it is like dat. not five starts because i only like the second disc, but that one's so good it compensates enough for the first one to make it four stars instead of the two and a half that normal equality between the discs would imply through mathematics. hey! oh i forgot.

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Note: - * By Far The Best Godspeed Album. ...
Okay, so some people argue that perhaps Gospeed are a little predictable. Fair enough. However, the manner in which they are predictable is one which make the most sense to human beings: eg- building from small fragments to immense climaxes. To me this seems a perfectly decent compositional mode, and one in which Godspeed are the masters. No one has ever produced music that sounds this BIG. Even the most expansive orchestras fail to conjure quite such a vast sense of scale, such a huge sounding, dangerous wall of vibrating sound. The variety on offer in this album is excelllent, everything from romantic classical inspired romps, to dark skeletal psychedelia, an almost DJ Shadow goes prog rock moment at the end of the 3rd track, ambient hymns to the fallen, death marches and pulsating sinister classical-metal. To me this album is their most textured, atmospheric, and downright interesting work to date, and one of a handful of albums that I can never tire of listening to.
It is also interesting to note that, on the whole, Godspeed are a band that you can platy to any open minded person, (even some not-so open minded ones) and they understand what the music is about.