Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Classic or Dud?

New album's not the best thing they've done, but it's the heaviest certainly. I like it quite a lot, though.

If anyone's interested there are a couple of new tracks played live here:

https://archive.org/details/gybe2015-04-07.aud.flac24

They first new track's *kinda* derivative of Asunder etc but the second one sounds pretty awesome to me, getting more of a Yanqui feel from it.

I'm warming up to Asunder... was initially put off because, in contrast to the 4 distinct 'pieces' on Allelujah!, none of the 4 tracks here is satisfying taken on its own, & the album as a whole seems kinda monochrome & short on ideas compared to any of their previous releases. still, I'll be damned if it doesn't suck me in and hold my attention for 45 minutes, drone interludes and all.

agree with Ultros on the heaviness too -- "Piss Crowns" sits pretty comfortably alongside the fuzzed-out Sabbath-worship of Boris's Feedbacker (another record I'm playing a lot these days)

this album i do not like at all

i don't even want to listen to it again, but i'll force myself to and see if that changes anything

https://www.normanrecords.com/images/godspeed-luciferian-towers/0001.jpg

Luciferian Towers is a heavyweight 180gram audiophile pressing from Optimal (Germany) and comes in a gatefold jacket printed on uncoated paperboard with a printed inner dust sleeve and a 24"x24" pull-out poster that re-caps all four of the artwork panels created by Godspeed You! Black Emperor for the gatefold jacket. Also includes a DL card for 320kbps MP3 album.

This, this long-playing record, a thing we made in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. eyes up and filled with dreadful joy - we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. we recorded it all in a burning motorboat.

1. UNDOING A LUCIFERIAN TOWERS - look at that fucking skyline! big lazy money writ in dull marble obelisks! imagine all those buildings much later on, hollowed out and stripped bare of wires and glass, listen- the wind is whistling through all 3,000 of its burning window-holes!

2. BOSSES HANG - labor, alienated from the wealth it creates, so that holy cow, most of us live precariously! kicking at it, but barely hanging on! also - the proud illuminations of our shortened lives! also - more of us than them! also - what we need now is shovels, wells, and barricades!

3. FAM / FAMINE - how they kill us = absentee landlord, burning high-rise. the loud panics of child-policemen and their exploding trigger-hands. with the dull edge of an arbitrary meritocracy. neglect, cancer maps, drone strike, famine. the forest is burning and soon they'll hunt us like wolves.

4. ANTHEM FOR NO STATE - kanada, emptied of its minerals and dirty oil. emptied of its trees and water. a crippled thing, drowning in a puddle, covered in ants. the ocean doesn't give a shit because it knows it's dying too.

Finally and in conclusion; The "luciferian towers" L.P. was informed by the following grand demands:
+ an end to foreign invasions
+ an end to borders
+ the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex
+ healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right
+ the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again

much love to all the other lost and wondering ones,
xoxoxox god's pee / montréal / 4 juillet, 2017

Tracklisting:

1 Undoing A Luciferian Towera
2 Bosses Hang
3 Fam/Famine
4 Anthem For No State

Release date: 22 September 2017

If the music is anywhere near as good as the press release this will be an absolute stormer. Prime god's pee'd antics there, I love it!

I've enjoyed their more modest post-reunion albums so far

I was thinking of bringing this up but didn't reckon anyone else gave a shit! This is probably going to be as good as their other recent stuff, not matching up to their heyday but more godspeed is always welcome imo

New album streaming at NPR

Sounding enjoyable

New album came today and I'm really enjoying it.

"undoing a luceferian towers" is immense

It is, but I liked the last track the best.

Very much business as usual, but they're a band I don't mind essentially doing the same thing over and over again. Yeah, it's good.

Efrim released a solo album last week:
https://efrimmanuelmenuck.bandcamp.com/album/pissing-stars

hate the industry.
hate all industries.
no more beers.
co-owner of thee mighty "hotel2tango" recording studio.
recorded good and bad bands there.
a loudmouth sometimes.
and can be a moody motherfucker
and a total drag.

stubborn.
worried.
out of step.
ezra's father.

Don't enjoy his Silver Mt Zion stuff at all, but really liking this

This is an audiophile 180gram pressing in midnight ultra-black vinyl

lmao

Good to see efrim still has a sense of humour

Wow this is gorgeous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKnFtgaMfmk

has anyone seen Efrim solo recently? he's in town soon-ish and i am very curious. is he great? terrible? somewhere in between?

i liked that album he put out last year.

Haven't seen him solo but his between-song banter at ASMZ shows is usually great so I would say go for it.

New album April 2nd!

Hope it's better than the last one, which was fine but lacking inspiration. Looking forward to it anyway

Now more than ever

It's out there, and it's really really good. More krautrock like than I've heard them before and the end of the third song is just about the most triumphant, uplifting music they've ever written as a band. Maybe the spirit of Conny Plank was in the studio or something, but this one's got juice. Immediately loved it on first pass, something I haven't really felt with their music since Yanqui.

A Dutch national newspaper published an article about the album, which is basically a long review/description of the music.

there's a very pink floyd moment toward the end of the first suite and it's fucking great

best record since allelujah definitely

I like the new one quite a bit. It's surprisingly uplifting (but maybe I shouldn't be so surprised).

They are selling the CD on the Bandcamp without shipping charges so I picked it up for #BandcampFriday today.

I've only had a cursory listen but I'm enjoying it so far. The production is nice and crunchy. For all I love the first three records, I'm not a massive fan of the production - especially Skinny Fists.

there's a very pink floyd moment toward the end of the first suite and it's fucking great

I've only had a cursory listen but I'm enjoying it so far. The production is nice and crunchy. For all I love the first three records, I'm not a massive fan of the production - especially Skinny Fists.

man i really love this record

fuck yeah!!!! this album!!!!!

Gotta say I read a “premature evaluation” for this on Stereogum and thought it was an April Fools prank

excellent soundtrack for running errands during a global pandemic

octobeard otm upthread, that section near the end of track 3 ("cliffs' gaze" etc.) is quite a blast of overt hope!

surprisingly uplifting was my initial reaction too but now i think its more like accepting what they've known or predicted all along. amazing album

^^^
"this record is about all of us waiting for the end.
all current forms of governance are failed.
this record is about all of us waiting for the beginning,
and is informed by the following demands=
empty the prisons
take power from the police and give it to the neighbourhoods that they terrorise.
end the forever wars and all other forms of imperialism.
tax the rich until they're impoverished."

"OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN"

yes yes lovely sentiment and all

found the album a bit boring tbh. then put on Yanqui UXO again and it was like leaping into 3D

i listened to this and yanqui back-to-back and it reinforced how strongly i feel about the new one

the drone tracks are freaking incredible

I like toying with the listening order.

the riffs in the longer suites are both lovely and unexpected and are impeccably layered with the other elements... the drums are really good... just keep getting transfixed and blown away by this thing

Loving the new album and the broadcast they did the other week of Karl Lemieux & Philippe Leonard's 16mm projections was fantastic.

They just announced a raft of tour dates for early 2022. Ticket bought for the Barrowlands here.

i don't live there so no skin off my back but why is there not a Montreal date lol

Venues are all closed at the moment.

I’m not keen on how this is mixed. It doesn’t sound good in comparison to the BCNR album. I may get over this. I hope I do.

pomentiful, i assume they won't still be closed in 2022? or are they not even taking any bookings?