Chroniques et points de vue:

From Amazon.co.uk:
Montreal-based anarchist collective Godspeed You Black Emperor are responsible for making some of the most awe-inspiring symphonic music of the last decade--but on their fourth record, Yanqui U.X.0, it sounds as if the wind in their sails has dropped from a gale to a breeze. By no means has their resolve faltered: Godspeed are still dedicated to autonomy from a music industry they view as corrupt--witness the sleeve of Yanqui U.X.0, which features a pen-scrawled chart that financially links major record labels to arms manufacturers and the American military itself. But the music here--recorded, for the first time, with Chicago-based producer Steve Albini--lacks the inspiring climaxes and dramatic manifestos that characterised the band's earlier works. The second movement of '09-15-00' displays a serene, windswept beauty. But all too often, individual instruments--celestial guitar roar, keening violin, martial drum signatures--aren't given enough space to breathe, gelling into one characterless drone. And with no atmospheric field recordings to section up its five plodding orchestral passages, Yanqui U.X.0 begins to feel like an awfully long 75 minutes. 0nly the closing 'Motherfucker = Redeemer' finds the band hitting their stride, but by then, you're mute with surprise that Godspeed have turned out an album that's anything other than totally excellent. --Louis Pattison

Amazon.ca:
Reprenant là où il avait laissé avec Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, le collectif montréalais Godspeed You! Black Emperor accouche, avec Yanqui U.X.0., de trois longues pièces qui approfondissent ses incursions en territoire post-rock. Cette fois, les vagues de ses magmas sonores denses et touffus n'explosent plus en d'inévitables catharsis musicales. La troupe affiche en effet une retenue qui l'amène à privilégier les spirales sonores hypnotiques où les crescendos marquent des passages, des étapes, plutôt que l'aboutissement de ses compositions.

Derrière la console, à Chicago, Steve Albini a fait du bon travail : le mariage des cordes et des guitares saturées de distorsion est parfaitement consommé, la maîtrise des atmosphères, excellente. Le réalisateur a préféré capter l'intensité de la bande à son meilleur au prix de quelques fautes techniques : quelques fausses notes et une certaine surenchère sonore s'immiscent çà et là, mais le voyage musical est diablement enivrant. Si les fans ne seront pas dépaysés par Yanqui U.X.0., ils ne seront pas déçus non plus. L'album, qui semble clore un cycle, constitue un chapitre pertinent dans l'histoire de ce collectif politisé, qui n'a pas hésité à dénoncer, au dos de la pochette, les actifs des multinationales du disque dans des compagnies d'armement. --Nicolas Houle









Disponibilité: Usually ships in 11 to 13 days

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Note: - Amazing. Period.
This disc takes you on an emotional, non-verbal adventure unparalelled by any I have ever heard. The beginning is so promising, the first track showing you hope for the future. Then, the bottom drops out and the album goes into a full out depression. This leads perfectly into the centerpiece of hte album, "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls" which gives you the feeling of urgency about the state of our world, and implies an explosive and crazy ending to it. This explosion leads into another grave lull that is track 4, which leads into a hopeful track 5. All of this hope contained in the music builds up more and more, you get the sense that it will explode into something great...and then it just ends. Just like that. That is a very general synopsis of how I experienced this CD, but to listen and absorb every little storyline containted in this masterpiece is an experience in and of itself, which will be different for each person that hears it. There are many subplots within the general story expressed by the music, and this art of storytelling has been almost perfected by this incredibly talented rock band from Canada. Buy this CD, it is one of the few that is worth the money. Then, turn of all the lights and put it on as soon as you get it, and just absorb the experience that it is, and enjoy the ride in your own way.

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Note: - Someone put classical in my rock and roll.
GY!BE are, simply put, putting out some of the finest music currently being produced. I won't overburden you with descriptions of their sound - you can get that elsewhere - but the music is epic. Anyone hearing this music in a movie would immediately go out and buy the soundtrack, but that's the beauty of GY!BE - you don't need visuals to appreciate the ghostly narrative. Good for people who like Pink Floyd, Beethoven, Can, and want to hear something truly unique.

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Note: - * It's music ...
This is currently my favorite album, and I have a feeling it will be for a long time...
Not having perviously heard any of GY!BE's albums, I picked this one up and listened to it. The first time I heard track 1 (09-15-00) I thought it was ok, but after the third time, I was obsessed. The combination of strings, pianos, e.guitars, and drums has always fascinated me, and this band pulls it off like no other. The strange rhythms and complex sequencing of notes makes it sound different everytime you listen to it.

All in all, a fantastic album, and I will shortly be recieving their other albums.

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Note: - See it for what it is
There is nothing to this band's music. It is simply turgid and slow without being in the least hypnotic. Yes, the volume and intensity rise and fall, and a few of their tracks do work as soundtrack material (one was effectively used in Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later"). But this is all ground that has been plowed many, many times before by bands with so much more to say. As has been pointed out, there is nothing new about this type of music. It's not so much like early Pink Floyd, in my view, as it is like any number of European art rock bands of the mid- to late-1970s that also recorded lengthy, slow, brooding instrumentals combining rock instruments with cellos and other strings. GY!BE's trademark move, the big crescendo, is a lame reworking in most cases of the wonderful work of Glenn Branca, to whom GY!BE owes a debt it can never repay. The band attempts to shroud its music in some kind of mystical aura, and this CD even includes a somewhat ridiculous diagram on the cover attempting to link major record labels with arms manufacturers. It's all muddle-headed nonsense. After listening to this, I put on Captain Beefheart's "Strictly Personal" and felt a *whole* lot better!

There is slow and mournful music that is worthwhile out there, so seek it out. Try Mum or Sparklehorse or Album Leaf or Her Space Holiday, all leagues beyond what these guys can do.

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Note: - * The Sad Truth ...
To all you folks out there thinking of buying this album - Think again. I'm a huge fan of all GY!BE albums besides this one. Those are your best bet. "Yanqui U.X.O." on the other hand, is a pile of boredom. The production is muddy and one-dimensional. The field recordings which boosted the magnificence and relevance of their earlier works is completely absent, the song structures are horribly predictable to anyone familiar with GY!BE and post-rock in general. But most of all, the music just isn't that great. Right in the middle of the album i got excited, because i thought it was about to get good. I was soon disappointed, and almost couldn't get through the whole thing.

Do yourself a huge favor and pick up "& Yet & Yet" or "Winter Hymn, Country Hymn, Secret Hymn" -- both vastly superior works by GY!BE's labelmates Do Make Say Think.