Album: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O. (2002)5 tracks / 75:00
Acquired: July 2007
Guitars: David Bryant, Efrim Menuck, Roger Tellier-Craig
Bass: Thierry Amar, Mauro Pezzente
Drums: Bruce Cawdron, Aidan Girt
Cello: Norsola Johnson
Violin: Sophie Trudeau
I discovered the Canadian instrumental band Godspeed You! Black Emperor (henceforth abbreviated as GY!BE) some five years ago, back in '06, but it took me almost a year to come across one of their records (well, I wasn't really looking for them, just hoping if you could stumble across one). It was this one - the last album they have recorded to this date.
Yanqui U.X.O. is somewhat unlike the previous works of the band. The album has less ambient sounds than the previous ones, and the songs are long, instrumental rock epics that go under a single title, whereas their earlier works have relied much on field recordings and the songs have been composed of several, specifically titled movements that together make a massive song - not unlike classical music.
I haven't really decided on my favorite GY!BE album, because every single one of them is pure bliss to my ears, but if I really have to put my money on one, I'd pick this one. Though their debut album, F♯ A♯ ∞, contains "East Hastings" - my favorite post-rock song of all time - I guess this album is the one I enjoy most from the first moments to the last fading notes.
1. 09-15-00 (Part One) (16:27)
Opening with complete silence, this song starts to grow and evolve into a surreal, sprawling soundscape of dreams. After several minutes of this movement, the mood shifts and the song's pulse becomes more pronounced with subtle differences in drumming and bass lines. In time, they cease, giving way to a melancholic string instrument melody, that marks the end of the first half.
The second half begins with a quiet interlude in to which a cello, a violin and finally a guitar join in, one after another. The quiet and calm atmosphere starts to crumble as the intensity grows along with distortion, dissonance and increasing tempo. After ten minutes, this song that was reminiscent of modern classical music interspersed with electric guitars, has evolved - slowly, steadily, and without warning - into a massive, galloping instrumental rock epic - until coming to an almost complete halt.
During the course of final minutes the song manages to grow once again into massive, majestic proportions, that grow and grow, until the song reaches its discordant climax and wailing, crumbles back into silence.
A massive masterpiece, showing the true colors from the band. The amazingness of this song - and this band - doesn't come from clever riffs or insightful lyrics; it comes from the interplay of those instrumental textures, that weave themselves into each other, creating whole world within the frame of one single song. Almost every movement is impressive, touching or simply pleasing, yet it would be impossible to put them in an order. This band can express more feelings and impressions within one song that a normal band could during one album - or even a career.
10/10
2. 09-15-00 (Part Two) (6:17)
Length-wise, this is a real GY!BE hit single - it is their shortest song after the 5-minute "Sunshine + Gasoline" on Amazenine 7"-split - and the only track clocking under 10 minutes on any of their official full-length records.
"Part Two" is a lot calmer than "Part One", mostly consisting of reverbing bass chords, chiming guitar notes and ambient noise over a quiet cymbal beat. It isn't such an emotional rollercoaster as the first part was, but instead a quiet and dreamy transition track or outro.
9/10
3. Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls (20:42)
Beginning with muted and delayed guitar figure, this song slowly begins to sprawl and unravel all around. Instrument after another join in, creating melodies, rhythms, harmonies and textures that overlap, intertwine and support each other.
Then suddenly you realize that the song has grown into majestic proportions, being a massive, rumbling giant, smashing everything around it with such a power and force you can't fathom where it really comes from. And it continues, and it continues, and it continues, and it fades.
The song progresses on with a very Stravinsky-esque loan into a movement, that could easily be a GY!BE-rendition of The Rite of Spring. The band remain in this funereal procession movement for some time, bringing up slowly a texture after another over it, playing with the atmosphere and intensity, until the mood begins to progress further.
Yet the oppressive march movement dominates the majority of the song, making it feel like as if you are falling down, without ever hitting a surface, almost like a slow-motion soundtrack to a dream in which you keep falling. However, the song finally ends with massive, crashing coda section that finally dies away, leaving a bass and the string instruments playing, like a small house band playing over a scene of great destruction.
"Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls" is maybe a slightly too repetitive or long, to make it to my favorite tracks, but still it remains incredibly impressive when regarded as a whole.
9/10
4. motherfucker=redeemer (Part One) (21:22)
And thus begins the biggest mammoth of the album - the majestic first part of "motherfucker=redeemer".
Beginning with quiet chimes becoming more and more frequent, the song itself rolls in very slowly. After several minutes, a distant riff of several guitars playing each other starts to emerge, repeating this circling pattern over and over again, being suddenly joined by surprisingly fast-paced drums and strings.
The motif of this movement is varied over and over with a constant and fast pulse of drumming, becoming more and more complex, growing and sprawling, becoming in the end a massive, orchestral wall of sound, led by a sorrowful violin melody, until it feels as if it can't withstand its own weight and starts to collapse, crashing.
The song calms down and slowly progresses on to the next section, still maintaining that steady drum beat for a while, until it dies too, leaving nothing but echoing guitars that play broken chords over each other.
For a small eternity, the band moves nothing from there, just painting aural sonicscapes with guitars, until a high-pitched, desperate lead melody emerges and leads the song to its closure.
A breathtaking masterpiece, that first wears the listener down with the vigorous first part, and then gives a long moment to catch breath with the ethereal last part.
10/10
5. motherfucker=redeemer (Part Two) (10:10)
The album closes with the second part of "motherfucker=redeemer" that is only half in length compared to its bigger sibling - a short and radio-friendly 10-minute hit single (by GY!BE standards).
The long, calm section during the previous song was well placed and well needed, for the song quickly evolves into an exhilirating pulse of bass and crashing drums, backed by heavily effected guitar buzz.
The song gains more speed and force as it progresses through the main section, becoming the fiercest and rawest song of the whole album, as if releasing all the anger and pressure that had been building along the album.
As the song, and the album, are reaching the end, the song grows even more before exploding into an ocean of noise that begins to die out, slowly, until being suddenly gobbled up by an abrupt ending.
The final track of Yanqui U.X.O. is definitely more straightforward and "rock" compared to the rest of the album, but also succeeds in bringing the album alive after songs that have been very dreamy and minimalistic, before a stylish close.
10/10
***
Final verdict
This album - or any work of this band, for that matter - is not music for a person that has an attention span of an average chicken. With one exception, the songs exceed 10 minutes - three out of four easily - and they can circle round a single motif for more than an average pop song's length. Most parts are very minimal, having a very simple structure, and the appeal of the songs comes how the band can play with those simple parts, putting ideas in, taking them out, evolving them on and on, until you realize you are listening to something completely different from moments ago.
Yanqui U.X.O. is generally not as highly praised album as their earlier works, due to its obvious lack of samples, but the way I see it, the band have let the songs speak for themselves, not letting other people's voices come in the way.
It is also angrier, more raw and more straightforward than their earlier works - still, with over 20-minute epics, they are pretty far from MTV material. Though for a listener not used to post-rock or classical music, listening to this album might be as boring as watching paint dry, but with any appreciation to skillfully crafted music, that grows and evolves almost like a living being, this album is a must.
Score: 96/100
Yanqui U.X.O. is somewhat unlike the previous works of the band. The album has less ambient sounds than the previous ones, and the songs are long, instrumental rock epics that go under a single title, whereas their earlier works have relied much on field recordings and the songs have been composed of several, specifically titled movements that together make a massive song - not unlike classical music.
I haven't really decided on my favorite GY!BE album, because every single one of them is pure bliss to my ears, but if I really have to put my money on one, I'd pick this one. Though their debut album, F♯ A♯ ∞, contains "East Hastings" - my favorite post-rock song of all time - I guess this album is the one I enjoy most from the first moments to the last fading notes.
1. 09-15-00 (Part One) (16:27)
Opening with complete silence, this song starts to grow and evolve into a surreal, sprawling soundscape of dreams. After several minutes of this movement, the mood shifts and the song's pulse becomes more pronounced with subtle differences in drumming and bass lines. In time, they cease, giving way to a melancholic string instrument melody, that marks the end of the first half.
The second half begins with a quiet interlude in to which a cello, a violin and finally a guitar join in, one after another. The quiet and calm atmosphere starts to crumble as the intensity grows along with distortion, dissonance and increasing tempo. After ten minutes, this song that was reminiscent of modern classical music interspersed with electric guitars, has evolved - slowly, steadily, and without warning - into a massive, galloping instrumental rock epic - until coming to an almost complete halt.
During the course of final minutes the song manages to grow once again into massive, majestic proportions, that grow and grow, until the song reaches its discordant climax and wailing, crumbles back into silence.
A massive masterpiece, showing the true colors from the band. The amazingness of this song - and this band - doesn't come from clever riffs or insightful lyrics; it comes from the interplay of those instrumental textures, that weave themselves into each other, creating whole world within the frame of one single song. Almost every movement is impressive, touching or simply pleasing, yet it would be impossible to put them in an order. This band can express more feelings and impressions within one song that a normal band could during one album - or even a career.
10/10
2. 09-15-00 (Part Two) (6:17)
Length-wise, this is a real GY!BE hit single - it is their shortest song after the 5-minute "Sunshine + Gasoline" on Amazenine 7"-split - and the only track clocking under 10 minutes on any of their official full-length records.
"Part Two" is a lot calmer than "Part One", mostly consisting of reverbing bass chords, chiming guitar notes and ambient noise over a quiet cymbal beat. It isn't such an emotional rollercoaster as the first part was, but instead a quiet and dreamy transition track or outro.
9/10
3. Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls (20:42)
Beginning with muted and delayed guitar figure, this song slowly begins to sprawl and unravel all around. Instrument after another join in, creating melodies, rhythms, harmonies and textures that overlap, intertwine and support each other.
Then suddenly you realize that the song has grown into majestic proportions, being a massive, rumbling giant, smashing everything around it with such a power and force you can't fathom where it really comes from. And it continues, and it continues, and it continues, and it fades.
The song progresses on with a very Stravinsky-esque loan into a movement, that could easily be a GY!BE-rendition of The Rite of Spring. The band remain in this funereal procession movement for some time, bringing up slowly a texture after another over it, playing with the atmosphere and intensity, until the mood begins to progress further.
Yet the oppressive march movement dominates the majority of the song, making it feel like as if you are falling down, without ever hitting a surface, almost like a slow-motion soundtrack to a dream in which you keep falling. However, the song finally ends with massive, crashing coda section that finally dies away, leaving a bass and the string instruments playing, like a small house band playing over a scene of great destruction.
"Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls" is maybe a slightly too repetitive or long, to make it to my favorite tracks, but still it remains incredibly impressive when regarded as a whole.
9/10
4. motherfucker=redeemer (Part One) (21:22)
And thus begins the biggest mammoth of the album - the majestic first part of "motherfucker=redeemer".
Beginning with quiet chimes becoming more and more frequent, the song itself rolls in very slowly. After several minutes, a distant riff of several guitars playing each other starts to emerge, repeating this circling pattern over and over again, being suddenly joined by surprisingly fast-paced drums and strings.
The motif of this movement is varied over and over with a constant and fast pulse of drumming, becoming more and more complex, growing and sprawling, becoming in the end a massive, orchestral wall of sound, led by a sorrowful violin melody, until it feels as if it can't withstand its own weight and starts to collapse, crashing.
The song calms down and slowly progresses on to the next section, still maintaining that steady drum beat for a while, until it dies too, leaving nothing but echoing guitars that play broken chords over each other.
For a small eternity, the band moves nothing from there, just painting aural sonicscapes with guitars, until a high-pitched, desperate lead melody emerges and leads the song to its closure.
A breathtaking masterpiece, that first wears the listener down with the vigorous first part, and then gives a long moment to catch breath with the ethereal last part.
10/10
5. motherfucker=redeemer (Part Two) (10:10)
The album closes with the second part of "motherfucker=redeemer" that is only half in length compared to its bigger sibling - a short and radio-friendly 10-minute hit single (by GY!BE standards).
The long, calm section during the previous song was well placed and well needed, for the song quickly evolves into an exhilirating pulse of bass and crashing drums, backed by heavily effected guitar buzz.
The song gains more speed and force as it progresses through the main section, becoming the fiercest and rawest song of the whole album, as if releasing all the anger and pressure that had been building along the album.
As the song, and the album, are reaching the end, the song grows even more before exploding into an ocean of noise that begins to die out, slowly, until being suddenly gobbled up by an abrupt ending.
The final track of Yanqui U.X.O. is definitely more straightforward and "rock" compared to the rest of the album, but also succeeds in bringing the album alive after songs that have been very dreamy and minimalistic, before a stylish close.
10/10
***
Final verdict
This album - or any work of this band, for that matter - is not music for a person that has an attention span of an average chicken. With one exception, the songs exceed 10 minutes - three out of four easily - and they can circle round a single motif for more than an average pop song's length. Most parts are very minimal, having a very simple structure, and the appeal of the songs comes how the band can play with those simple parts, putting ideas in, taking them out, evolving them on and on, until you realize you are listening to something completely different from moments ago.
Yanqui U.X.O. is generally not as highly praised album as their earlier works, due to its obvious lack of samples, but the way I see it, the band have let the songs speak for themselves, not letting other people's voices come in the way.
It is also angrier, more raw and more straightforward than their earlier works - still, with over 20-minute epics, they are pretty far from MTV material. Though for a listener not used to post-rock or classical music, listening to this album might be as boring as watching paint dry, but with any appreciation to skillfully crafted music, that grows and evolves almost like a living being, this album is a must.
Score: 96/100
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