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: - Epic Grandeur.
What makes this album great is also its greatest flaw: the ambitious length of the songs. I'm all for pushing the boundaries of music, regardless of genre, so don't get me wrong. I plan on revisiting this album many times in the future. However, patience and free time are required for the full appreciation of this galactic creation. Some of the sound samples are interesting, eccentric, annoying, and provocative. While the instrumentation is awe-inspiring at times and echoes within infinite space. Waxing rhapsodic is not a normal reaction for me so take my comments semi-seriously. This is an admirable effort and worthy of recognition.

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Note: - Classic!!!!
Got it over the holiday season after hearing so much about it and I consider it a CLASSIC!

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Note: - * A Must Have ...
Wow this is an incredible double CD. GYBE! had been on my radar for some time, but I had not bought anything by them and now I wish I could have enjoyed this much earlier. Other reviewers have tried to sum up the sound through description, I will try through comparison (BTW I hate reviewers who criticize the use of comparisons to other bands in reviews--music does not exist in a vacuum and bands listen to other bands!).

Sigur Ros is the most common comparison, and apt as far as the album has a mixture of strings and guitars and use them in long droning passages. I would say that GBYE! is more traditional in its instrumentation and song structure, and not so precious as Sigur Ros. The music, (mis)informed by GYBE!'s WTO bashing politics has a harder edge.

Almost all good music produced in the last 20 years comes back to Sonic Youth and this is no exception. There are parts here that will remind you of "Providence" from Day Dream Nation, and the overall mood and atmosphere I would liken to the Bad Moon Rising CD.

Overlooked similarities are with some early 4ad bands: Cindytalk, and Dead Can Dance (but angrier and less sophisticated), and if you like Medicine, And they will know us by the trail dead, My Bloody Valentine you will most likely eat this up too.

The engineering is great for the music, instead of cleaning up the tracks, they left the mix raw so that it sounds as if it were (and maybe was) recorded all at once, almost a live feel.

One of the best albums I have purchased in the last 2 years.

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Note: - doesn't quite live up to the hype
Superlatives are a bit strong. The form of the extended tracks is episodic, and the harmonic and melodic material is entirely modal, grounded in unremarkable ostinato drones. Much of the music is spent building up to climaxes in which the band falls into a groove that is largely the same from one song to the next.

Those aren't necessarily flaws, if you happen to like the groove and the small set of modal figures the band repeatedly employs. I do, and I especially enjoy the ambient sections, which feature some very nicely constructed timbres. But there's nothing really new in any of this, so listeners hungry for quirky, genre-busting music should ignore the hype and keep looking.

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Note: - * Rock for the Avant-classical Fan ...
Godspeed you Black Emperor! have been a band that has impressed me with every release that I have heard. Beginning with first hearing "Broken Flag Blues" on a friends mix tape, I was intrigued by this wierd and wonderful music, with its long extended forms and crescendos. Reading up about it, I have found post-rock to be a most enjoyable music, one that takes elements of rock in its made-for-radio original format and trasnplants it into something new, something that follows instead a more classical bent with churning guitars and lush strings creating a new avant-garde style of classical music.

This album is probably the best Godspeed album. It features some of their best work and is also a very varied and unpredictable listen, especiall compared to their earlier work with its 'rise-and-fall' predictability of its crescendos. Those of you familiar with other bands in the post-rock field may know that many of these bands are more electronic and a word of advice; these guys are acoustic apart from reverbed guitars.

I highly recommend this album to people who are interested in experimental music, not simply because it is 'hardcore' (which this is not) but because it is good music. This music is very beautiful and with patience to listen to the lengthy pieces, it is a highly rewarding experience.