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: - As progressive as it gets...
This double-CD "only" contains four tracks, but what a piece of work!!! All the songs exceed eighteen minutes in duration. You can begin guessing now... Think King Crimson, think Radiohead, think Sigur Ros, think BJork, think wild... then think godspeed you black emperor! This is as progresive as music gets for a while. These Canadian guys are way at the forefront of music creation, where some bands will eventually arrive at some point in the next few years.

Disc: 1
1) Storm: progresively takes you through curtains and curtains of sound as the band travels through reeds, wind pipes, and guitars, driven by a drums marching down... until it seems to simply die of exhaustion, to be picked up!
2) Static: the song builds from conversations with a static sound evolving into a pizzicatto of strings that grows more and more mysterious...

Disc: 2
1) Antennas To Heaven: the guitars in this song are more than hipnotizing. So are the synth choirs. They're both so beautiful that they will stir up your soul, and maybe, just maybe, make you cry, if you let them.
2) Sleep: can the name of a piece be any more ironic? I mean... if I sleep to it, I might actually be having a nightmare, but the matter of the fact is that this 23-minute-piece is simply brilliant, sheer genius... This is not an easy piece to listen to, but it's brilliant: the gradually growing pain coming out of it almost becomes unbearable as distorted shrieking guitars built up by the percussion lead to a state of "all tension and no release, merely dissipation and noise" (no way to put it in better words than how pitchforkmedia.com did)... and then comes the peace... like a plateau where you sit for several minutes to give your heart and soul some rest, throught some very melodic and pleasant chords. The last song is the best song of the album and the best overall musical work I've heard in a long time.

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Note: - Like falling through mud, and then being raised up from it
If, by some chance, you have just stumbled around ... and found this album, purchase it. If you do not like the album give it to someone who will apreciate it.

When you listen to it, listen to it the whole way through...do not skip tracks or CD's. Lie down on your bed, and hold your breath. Do not stop holding until the album is over.

If you are an honest person this album will make you feel euphoric. Waves of heat will flush throughout your body. Curl up into a fetal position, with a mint in your mouth. This is music to die to.

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Note: - * Very let down ...
I good comments about this CD, then I bought it. Ouch. This music is so long and drawn out that it gave me gas.

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Note: - Oh come on...
I bought their CD and saw them live. Everything about them is boring. Take a lesson from Mogwai or Windy and Carl.

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Note: - * Darkness and air ...
If Stars of the lid represent light and water then Godspeed represent Darkness and air.This is music that can be intense and almost claustrophobic and then majestic and uplifting.
Imagine the sort of music they would play in a Tibetan shopping mall in the year 2042.