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: - wonderful
For anyone looking for a cd with, yes, emotion and, yes good melodies, listen to godspeed. To say this is a boring cd, is ridiculous. You can't just "sit down" and listen to godspeed's music, you have to hear it and apply it to whatever is going on. I about gagged when I read one reviewer inform us to RUN and buy Creed's Human Clay. That is disgusting. The crescendos on this album are excellent, that is the essence of the music. Every note and beat and crescendo has a purpose on this album. Don't start with Mogwai or anything else, start with this cd right here. Buy this cd.

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Note: - eh
Note how most of the folks reviewing this thing can't help but gush endlessly about it - were it not for the 1000-word limit there would be some novels posted here.

That's kind of how the music is... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I tend to go on autopilot every time I listen to it. Maybe some unknown piece of my subconscious is digging it though...

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Note: - * Phenomenal! ...
In a world full of Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, along comes this! "Orchestral" doesn't even do it justice. Sometimes bleak and often powerful, this is an incredible effort. Truly worth the money, a feast for your ears!

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Note: - A masterpiece, if not for everyone
Canadian nontet (give or take a musician or two) Godspeed You Black Emperor! have created an album filled with what is essentially the most beautiful noise ever recorded by man.

Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven, an album daunting even at pronounciation, is also possibly the most pretentious album ever created, which in part is why it's so impressive. GYBE! will cut no corners in creating what they view to be music taken to perfection, anyone who disagrees can go rot for all they care. This results in an album that is wholly unique in composition and execution. Also, an album that's, sadly, not for everyone.

This is music meant to create visions, this is the music of dreams, this is music that seeks to create emotion. Which it usually does, for better or for worse. The pieces are, with few exceptions, built around a slow, meandering crescendo that starts out with a few sparse instruments playing the simplest of melodies and ends in a screaming, cacaphonic landscape of compact noise, a landscape beautiful and disgusting, vast and cramped, harmonious and dissonant all at once. Then all crashes down like a house of cards and a new melody and a new rythm is slowly gathered from the pieces left. Spoken-word samples are sprinkled through the album with what I find to be good effect and the end result is something unlike anything you have ever heard before.

Of course, this music is not for everyone. Old men dreaming of better times appear not to interest some, the slow, methodic buildups take their time, the feedback and droning can sometimes grate on the most accustomed ears and the pretention rings true throughout, all of which can make this more than some can stomach. There are also those that find the buildup-crescendo-breakdown-repeat cycle gets boring quickly, a statement I personally think is a bit like saying that talking gets boring quickly because one must repeatedly use vowels, but I digress.

My personal opinion, in the odd case you failed to notice, is that GYBE! make the most harrowingly beautiful music today and anyone who can listen to the opening minutes of Storm and only feel boredom must've had their heart surgically removed at a previous date, but I imagine that the persons in question disagree. The end of the matter is that you owe it to yourself to try this album for a few listens. If you dislike it then that is that and I apologize for the time wasted, but if you refuse to even give Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven a try, you might be missing something truly wonderful.

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Note: - * What is this garbage? ...
When I bought this Cd, i went in with an open mind. I gave it a chance but i think it (is bad)!! How big of an art nerd do I have to be to like this (...). Please buy some new Cd's and do not listen to this(...)