Customer Reviews

Yanqui U.X.O.

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To many this Canadian nonet is pretentious. And while that may be true, but it really seems to be an irrelevant point when they create music so good. Now known as Godspeed You! Black Emperor (rather than Godspeed You Black Emperor! -- they moved the exclamation point), they are probably making the best music of their careers.

_Yanqui U.X.O._ marks some other transformations aside from a simple name change. The music at its core is still the same: powerful movements of orchestral colossi, always opening with hermetic sparseness that is slowly hammered into shape with layers and layers of shifting guitars, bass, violins, and drums, until it finally rises into the heavens with towering crescendos. The differences, GY!BE has dropped those weird field recordings and the long ambient sections in between movements. Instead, on _Yanqui U.X.O._ when one movement ends, the other is just about to begin.

Their emblematic build-ups are protracted compared to previous releases, making them more difficult to absorb. Songs from earlier albums felt segmented in obvious ways, making it easier to mentally grasp them. Here, movements are longer, blend together more smoothly, and climb higher -- at their peak these songs are far more densely layered and exhilarating, achieving biblical emotional force. I think the songs are also more droning on the whole, but there is an ineffable beauty to GY!BE's luminous melodies that makes even the most clamorous orchestral swell spine-tinglingly sublime. Here also, the music seems like a liquefied version of the band's methodical language (build-build-build-crescendo), making it seems less calculated and more authentic. This is probably because of the inescapable sense that this album has a decisive inevitability about it, like the songs could have been no other way. More than ever before, the individual movements patch together like pieces of a puzzle, so the music sounds less disjointed and far purer.

Some have griped about the predominance of guitars over the violins in the mix, though I love what they did here. The mix gives the music a more quiet yet devastating power that is joined with a ghostly, mysterious element of more subdued and echoic strings. This gives the whole album a concurrent grandiosity and mystical flow. The entire album shimmers with a dim mystique, and everyone involved deserves the highest praise for the wealth of detail in this recording.

Despite that detail and sonic clarity, musically this album is something of a blur. I find it to be their least accessible work in that a sense of human touch has gone perceptibly missing. The songs are monochromatic, abandoned environs heavy on ambiance but never comforting. But once the initial distancing effect of the music wears off, the power and drama of these incredible works come through.

"09-15-00" is classic GY!BE/GYBE!: the myriad instruments are pockets of static, hissed soughs, liquid riffs, and ritual hymns. The musicians skillfully time themselves to allow ever-so-slight pauses where subtle musical breaths blow through the arrangement. The piece rises and falls beautifully and rather unpredictably, which surprises me. The second part (track two) in particular is one of the most beautiful things ever -- a grand monument being melted away by acid rain.

"rockets fall on Rocket Falls" is a slow flight on perpetually discomfiting and wavering chords towards black-iron spires on the horizon. After the initial disorientation passes from the first peak, there is an insidious unctuosity felt as it breaks into a brief, disturbingly funny cartoonish effect of a falling bomb. From there, the final crescendo is a lonely, percussive funeral march across a boundless wasteland, assailed by a vindictive specter.

"mother****er=redeemer" builds formally on its thin percussion-and-guitar arrangement when suddenly transformed (though not much has actually changed) into an bold rush across a span of glistening energy, the ideal musical accompaniment for the artwork of Alex Gray. It has that same spiritual intensity; that same chilling sense of exaltation. The rest of the track is a slowburn wind of echoic instrumentation that whispers of hope and dreams. The final part of the song, on track five, is like the musical prophecy of the end of all things we know...and the dawn of something infinitely greater.

_Yanqui U.X.O._ is not just the best music this band has to offer, but some of the best music that music itself has to offer, period.

It's only within the last few months that I've seen GYBE's stuff showing up in music stores in this backwater of a city that I live in. So it was by sheer luck, that while I was looking for Sigur Ros' Aegatis Byrjun that I found this, and GYBE's older CD.
I actually bought "Skinny Fists" on a whim because I thought the name was so original that the music must be good. Thankfully, I was right. But having only heard "Skinny Fists" before this, it's the only thing I can compare "Yanqui UXO" to.

It's certainly a departure in terms of sound from their previous CD. While Skinny Fists was interspersed with lengthy monologues, bizarre static interludes and ear-wrenchingly distorted feedback, Yanqui UXO has left out all of that. There's not a spoken word in any form, than I can distinguish, on this CD, nor are there huge gaps between songs composed entirely of feedback whine. GYBE gets straight to the point on this one, but their message is somewhat confused...
This CD may seem to have a war theme throughout it, especially if you go by the packaging, which comes complete with a schematic showing how major music labels endorse weapons-making companies..or something of that sort. But don't let it fool you, this CD shouldn't be taken as a musical response to current events...maybe it is, but the message is deeper than that.

This is not a happy-sounding CD. Apparently GYBE doesn't like their music being referred to as "apocalyptic", but I can't think of a better word to describe the first four out of five tracks. It's depressing the whole way; no shaft of sunlight to brighten the corners like on Skinny Fists. It almost sounds like the band have suffered some sort of defeat and they're trying to climb their way back up after it. This is an expression of sorrow...until the last track, which is so very different from the others I had to remind myself it was GYBE I was listening to.

Well, back to the actual music.

Track one and two, while sharing a name, are very different. Track one is composed of two movements, both eerie, atmospheric; dark and creepy. About 7 and a half minutes in it sounds almost like a lullaby, but not any that would lull you into sleep.
Track two is more of the same but more subdued, with that very original screwdriver-guitar sound in the background. This song doesn't really climax anywhere, but is still loaded with emotion.

Track three is probably the oddity of the CD, more warlike than the rest, twisted-sounding, screaming with the roar of jet engine sounds and, somewhere in the middle, violing making an almost cartoon-style sound of a bomb falling...whereupon the song changes to the sound of slow bass drums and clarinet, building back up to raging guitar.

Track four begins with tinkly glockenspiel-ish dings, which mutate into guitar and violin, and then with typical Godspeed style reaches a screaming climax only to fall back down. The violin sound on this song is particularly wonderful.
After the initial emotional pain of the first half, the second movement is repeated deep shimmery guitar sound at glacial pace. This part doesn't really go anywhere, but still manages to be beautiful.
Now comes my personal favourite, the last track. This song is very different from the others, and the emotion is indefinable. It's not happy, but it's not quite depressed. It's by no means passive, but it's not truly angry either. The closest I can come to decribing it is the sound of determination. This is a truly beautiful creation, evil and elated at the same time.

While the riddance of the monologues and feedback loops that GYBE became famous/infamous for makes the album a little less annoying than the last, it also gives the listener no handholds. Without them, on first (or second, or third) listen, it's very easy to become lost between songs. The lack of voice anywhere makes this a terribly difficult album to understand, but in my opinion that's one of the good things about it; the music isn't telling you anything; it's up to you to decide what the songs are about, what their message is, and while it'll probably seem muddled the first few times, it'll swing into focus after a while, and it's worth the wait.

When I heard what GYBE! (or GY!BE if you prefer) produced with Lift Your Skinny Fists..., I was convinced they'd foreseen the apocalypse and I wondered what they could do next. And shook with fear just a little. But somehow they upped the ante on every front with Yanqui U.X.O. It's even more dynamic, better produced & sequenced, and more peaceful/soothing in spots - and utterly terrifying in others - than before. The intense total-entropy sections are overwhelming, and still the flow between the quiet and crashing parts never quite seems contrived. It still amazes me how GY!BE can continue with the same methods they've showed on past albums and still avoid sounding like they're merely rehashing.

For those who haven't heard it - there aren't songs per se, but unstructured melodies that drift and groove and explore all kinds of rich aural textures as they go along. The musical sensibility & writing style is somewhere between classical and minimalist, though the instrumental lineup adds guitar, bass and drums to the strings, spiced up with random samples and non-instrument noises. All the sounds are blended into a richly textured mix that's simple and grand all at once. There's plenty of variety.. quiet muted strings building beds of soft clouds, thunderous roars of symphonic evil to scare the unsuspecting listener senseless, and everything in between.. but they wander from one extreme to the other gradually, taking five or ten minutes at a stretch. Unlike before this disc flows through its whole 75 minutes continuously, rather than moving from one definite section to the next with buffers and transitions between.

It's hard to form a real idea of the whole thing until after a good few listens. Some parts are so quiet and dreamy that keeping your mind from wandering is all but impossible. And on the other end of the scale some parts simply cannot be ignored, any more than you could ignore an earthquake as it collapses your house all around you. One way or another it draws you in, if you let it (and sometimes if you don't). It conveys powerful emotions, from wonder to calm to horror, with no words at all. How they can make sounds convey so much so clearly is still a marvel to me, but it's there to be felt and experienced, not analyzed.

Start with Lift Your Skinny Fists. Give it time. Let it paint its own pictures. If you want more, come right here.

Until just a year ago my feelings towards Godspeed...! mirrored those of Pitchfork reviewer Chris Ott; I, too, considered myself a mortal enemy of the nine member "collective." I remember my first reaction to their cinematic post-rock on the Slow Riot EP; initial interest, followed by disappointment, followed by... well, uncontrollable laughter. Eight minutes into Moya, I was laughing hysterically: how could anyone take themselves so seriously as to create TEN minutes of what boiled down to an overwrought scale exercise? 3 years later, Yanqui U.X.O. has made me a fan, and even made me go back and reevaluate their earlier catalogue... Why?

I guess I have an obligation to mention the changes Godspeed have made (awww...Do I have to?) No "found sound" street preacher rants, no samples, a massive cut in time dedicated to ambient washes, they moved a friggin exclamation point... Frankly, I find it surprising how much discussion these detours have generated. More important is the inclusion of Steve Albini as producer, though he didn't radically change their sound. No, largely the basic elements of the music remain intact. What I find so intriguing is the massive overhaul in approach. They've moved considerable distance away from doing cinematic soundscapes, towards a more purposeful minimalist symphony. They've moved from making "sound" to making "music."

The opener, 9-15-00 part 1, illustrates this albums more pointed focus perfectly. Despite a 16.5 minute runtime, this achingly beautiful dirge is more focused than anything in Lift Your Skinny Fists..., and easily outdoes Moya in depth and emotion. The key here is the dynamics. While on earlier releases they perfected the highs, they always seemed to noodle around too long on the ebbing, slower movements. On 9-15-00, the touching, most-searing moments are inbetween three all-out blitzes; that quiet, simple violin melody at 12.5 minutes gets me every time. Part 2 is pure floating, the fog settling in the early morning around a desolate city. Its dreamlike haze is not dissimiliar from Radiohead's "Treefingers" from Kid A, but the mourning violin over the top gives the piece more resonance. Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls, aside from being one of the catchiest song-titles ever, is the most martial-sounding piece of the group. The cascading opening and subsequent build invokes images of tumbling bombs, like the one depicted on the cover or the final scene from Koyaanisqatsi. A orchestral descent falls into an insidious tribal beat, the pulse of death and destruction.

Yanqui U.X.O. is perhaps the bleakest of their releases. The cover artwork attempts to illustrate the connection of large recording companies to the American industrial-military complex. Realistically, your agreement with their political leanings matter little, as everyone can agree that the aftermath of war- the horrible destruction and the cost- is what is being articulated here, not politics. Part one of motherf*cker=redeemer continues in the same vein- another dark, beautiful vision. By this point, 65 minutes in, the blackness feels oppressive, but part 2 arrives just in time. The most overtly-rock song they've ever done, it's also easily my favorite piece, a pointed, masterful 10 minutes of layered guitars overstuffed with melody and grim optimism. The song passes too quickly, sucked into the void it seems, and the impact is cathartic. You'll want to go back again. It's the best moment of the groups existence.

Without the closing number, I'm not sure the album outdoes it's predecessors; with it, everything is tied together and the journey brought to a perfect close. Yanqui U.X.O. isn't for everyone, perhaps not even all Godspeed...! fans, but believe me- the songs (symphonies, more like) are the best they've ever done, and together make for one of the best albums of 2002. One things for sure- I'm definitely not laughing anymore!

I had heard of GSYBE several years ago but was keeping my distance; I thought they might be trouble--either pretentious or too cerebral and probably both. Who could blame me, what with that ridiculous band name? My concerns were quickly allayed upon a first listen. Some listeners will, unfairly I think, claim that they do not transcend pretension (some hidebound folk think that rock music's reach should not be this far), but it's very difficult for me to imagine listeners validly accusing the band of the latter--i.e., of being cerebral or cold. In fact, if this album were any more moving, it'd be dance music.

Every song is a stunner, though there are some languid, less inspired moments within songs--but they are few and far between. (Some may not find an orchestral interlude too appealing, but that bit certainly doesn't define the album, much less the song it's on.) On my initial listen, the first 10 minutes of track 4 sent chills up my spine, increased my heart rate, and caused me to shake my head in awe. Multiply that, to only a slightly lesser extent, by five, and you get my feeling for the album. With the intensity so up front, the only thing that I wonder is if it will hold up in say five or ten years.

Another note: this is possibly Steve Albini's finest hour. I'm not a big fan of much of his other production work (except with his own bands), as I think he levels all sounds too much causing a lack of separation; plus he tends to bury vocals too much. Of course, this band preempts the last problem by not having vocals. However, the sounds on this album, although very layered, are distinctive. Albini's colder, rawer production gives way to one that is very warm and inviting.

Last, fans of My Bloody Valentine take note: Kevin Shields may never pull a phoenix act but this album seems to be some compensation. Certainly there are significant differences between the two but the multilayered guitar-based sound and the stress on beauty connect MBV and GSYBE.

Play loud, in the sunshine or in the dark.

If this is to truly be GYBE's last piece of work, then they've concluded their brief and dynamic catalog on a fitting note.

While I still believe "Lift Yr. Skinny Fists..." is their masterwork, "Yanqui" is easily a close second. Where "Fists" had a broader range of sounds and textures - elements of sacred and profane - "Yanqui" is more balanced and focused. Although you could argue this point, I think "Yanqui" never gets as high or low as "Fists."

The sound on "Yanqui" is entirely consistent with their previous releases. As other reviewers mentioned, the only major change is the absence of field recordings, which actually helps to distinguish this album as the finale. The lack of human voice adds a new aura of mystery to the work.

Well, there is actually another surprising moment on this album: it happens during a movement about halfway into the album. The guitars drop off, leaving only a small ensemble playing dissonant woodwinds over a steady tribal percussion. For a few minutes it definitely doesn't sound like typical GYBE. In fact, the dissonant horns sound almost like a Ligeti composition (although Ligeti probably wouldn't have used a steady rhythm of any kind). Fear not. Not only does it work, but it swells nicely into a full band tidal wave.

But here's the most important point I want to make about Yanqui: To me, it resolves some of the musical themes "Fists" introduced, which makes U.X.O. a fitting conclusion. The last bit on "MFer=Redeemer P.1" slows way down, featuring one guitar with one violin (i think) playing together in fragile harmony, along with some distortion in the background. When I listen to this, I can't help but think of the very beginning of "Fists," except the melody changes just enough to resolve the paranoia that the "Fists" melody introduced. In other words, it's like I can hear GYBE - at last - acknowledging that there does exist some...hope!...some goodness!....some peace!...in this world - the very place that's inspired them to make such dissonant music. And, well, if GYBE can slow down and acknowledge something hopeful exists, well then, hope must exist. Indeed, mother****er does = redeemer.

Of course, they give us one last act on "Yanqui" just to kick our butts one final time. Yes, it gets so out of control that, at one point, the siren that's blaring in the background seems appropriate.

The very end, I love, as it builds and builds and builds with distortion and droning until the music finally--

it suddenly ends.


"Yanqui U.X.O." is possibly the final act in a brief but brilliant catalog. It's an awesome finale.

GY!BE are unlike anything else I listen to, yet they've never fallen out of my rotation for very long. This is a pretty impressive thing, as the way I listen to music tends to be sorta streaming or cyclical, so things I listen to bring to mind something else I like so I go listen to that and so forth. This tends to mean the bands I like that are a bit different or don't fall into the typical genres I listen to tend to fall out of rotation without my really intending them to. GY!BE is probably the most different or incongrous band that I listen to, but they somehow manage never to be forgotten for very long. 'Yanqui U.X.O' is my favorite album of their's, and it's probably one of my 10 favorite albums of all time. It's good.

As many have noted, this album is a bit different from their earlier stuff as it lacks the samples and found sounds, and tends to build slower, and is generally calmer overall. This makes it take a bit longer to get into, or it did for me anyway, but once you've really listened to it thoroughly I think you'll find it to be their most consistently intriguing album. Certainly, GY!BE hardly ever got boring before, but their sound wasn't as tight, with lotsa outros and intermediary passages which may be somewhat interesting in and of themselves, but that didn't necessarily add to the whole composition all that much. Everything here seems to tie together a bit more cleanly. The sound, overall, is more desolate then before, but still with plenty of emotional power. (Moreso then any other band I've heard, as a matter of fact.) Still, the basic sounds are still their: roaring, wind-like guitars, some slowly chiming, repeating guitar lines, simple cyclical string sections, pulsing bass and inexplicably yet undeniabkt moving drums.

With 5 tracks, this album has 3 main compositions. The opening one, '09-15-00' is the weakest of them, but it's still fantastic. The opening movement is slow, dreamlike with simple melodies chiming one over another. The real power of the song, comes about 8 minutes in with the prominent strings combining with their electronic howling to create their patented GY!BE waves of sound, this time of a particularly dark and hypnotic variety. Sadly, the closing quarter of the track is the least interesting bit of the album, with some more minimalistic stuff that doesn't really add up to much melody or atmosphere. It's decent stuff, but not up to their standards. The first half of 'Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls' is more classicist GY!BE, building and crumbling again and again. The second half is more reflective of their newer style, incredibly slow building with the perpetual bass/percussive thudding and tremolo guitars/strings. I'll admit it, I find this portion to be a bit dull initially, but I've really gotten into it since. It's got some very nice woodwinds in it, and the extended prelude makes it all the more moving when it really kicks up the volume. 'Motherf---er = Reedeemer' is the best composition on the album, and the best thing I've ever heard from them. The first track of it, 21 minutes long, is some of the most low-key stuff they've done, but it's got the melody and textural variety to make it all work. The first 10 minutes, though low-key by their standards, still pulse with energy with some nice string lines and a driving, bass and cymbal drum patterns The next ten or so minutes, some of their absolutely most minimalistic stuff, minutes are what really shine, however. It's mostly just slowly cycling, 3-6 note guitar lines, with some windy atmospherics behind it and some beautiful, sorrowful bass lines. Eventually it allows for a bit of volume with a string and howling guitar combination punctuation the desolation periodically, allowing for some of the most powerful, moving moments I've ever heard from any band. I've listened to this so damn many times, but it always gets me. The volume finally kick in again on the final track, with some of the most sad yet triumphant music that GY!BE has ever made. It is the perfect punctuation mark to the album as a whole, and provides a nice bit of hope to the overall dreariness.

Writing a review for this is tough, cause I don't like to get all pseudo-poetic on everyone, but that's really all you can do if you wanna talk about GY!BE. The individual parts of their compositions tend to be simplicity themselves, but no one else can dream of understanding texture and tone and emotion the way they do. It all comes together to make some of the most beautiful and ethereal music you're ever gonna hear. Get it.

With their fourth release, "Yanqui U.X.O.," Godspeed You Black Emperor takes a step away from vastly thick soundcapes, creating here a more dense, menacing sound that seems to loom ever closer to the listener rather than expanding outward. It's a different direction than their last record, and it works.

This also marks the band's most overtly political record to date. Those who have followed the group know that have strong political opinions, firmly anti-corporate and left-leaning. Here the song titles, the dire nature of the sound (especially in the context of world events), and the liner notes make it clear the band wants to speak. Yet this is instrumental music, and so, unlike when other bands decide they want to offer a message, listeners who are simply not interested will never find this increasing vocal stance intrusive. But it's there for the grabbing for those who want to know more or get involved.

Built upon layers of instrumentation by a band that is at times more than a dozen members strong, Godspeed You Black Emperor - Gybe for short - mix airy, noisy guitar with strings, sound collages, piano, chimes, and more. They take fairly simple musical themes and, using this vast array of sounds, build them up over a long period, morphing simple melodies until they metamorphosis into something wholly different. This isn't simply droning music. This is a journey.

One could liken Gybe records to soundtracks for films that have never been made. It's a description that works, because their routinely music conjures images. It's epic noise rock on a classical music scale.

But none of that does the sounds here justice. Trying to describe the music of Godspeed You Black Emperor is like trying to describe a dream. You can describe the instruments and how they go about their business, but until you hear it, you won't have a clear picture of what this band is all about.

Godspeed You Black Emperor is a superb band for those who enjoy lengthy songs, sprawling soundscapes and music you can sink into. It's a heady experience listening to this stuff. And it's worth it.

This is a darker, bleaker record than their first three releases, proving the band is not a one-trick pony.

If you're into Spiritualized, Bardo Pond, Dirty Three, Labradford, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Flying Saucer Attack and others in this realm, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Lord Chimp's masterful review sums up this work perfectly, but here's my perspective on it anyway:

This album...man...here's the deal:

Before I picked up this album, I went on a total GYBE binge. I listened to their first 3 releases many, many times within the span of a month or so. Then I finally got _Yanqui UXO_. I listened to it and enjoyed it, but I was still disappointed. It was different (or so I thought) from the other stuff that I loved so much. That was 2 years ago.

After literally _years_ of listening to this album, I was finally able to enjoy it just as much (and perhaps even more) than the other GYBE releases. I think I can attribute the length of time it took me to truly appreciate this album to the fact that when I initially listened to it, I was expecting intense, fiery crescendos, spoken word bits, and dramatic shifts in texture and intensity. This album has none of those (or has them in small doses).

_Yanqui UXO_ is an album that takes patience. It is a very gradual and beautiful record. There are few dramatic shifts. The album simply pulses along, exploding when it is _necessary_, not when GYBE want to. This is certainly their most mature release.

Most discover GY!BE through their album F#A#(infinity) because of their popular song "East Hastings", and because of such, F#A#(infinity) often gets their "best album" vote. It's entirely deserving of being called a best album because it's incredible, but still, this album is better.

"09-15-00" starts off the album with something almost like a Lovecraftian horror story. Intensity and other-worldness mix with the usual post-apocalyptic doom and gloom of GY!BE's music. It is not a song to relax to, as even the most simple undertones keep the heart-rate going.

"Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls" is a story entirely befitting its title. Honestly, whatever image you get from the title will be re-enforced by the music instantly, but still in a surprisingly undertoned way. This is the shortest track on the album, but definitely has an impact.

"motherf***er=redeemer" is a lot more calm than the title first suggests. In fact, it is one of the calmest and most relaxing song GY!BE has ever composed, and it ends up being an awesome respite from the general edginess of the previous parts of the album.

If this album is lacking anything from GY!BE's usual style, it's the lack of voice-accomodation at beginning and end parts of some songs. However, I don't believe such a lack is a problem considering the songs in this album hold a lot more power on their own than do the songs in other albums with dialog included.

--PolarisDiB