All things Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Jed Ochmanek

"Dead Flag Blues", 2012

for not updating this blog very often over the past year or so. My life has been hectic and things have slowed down enough to where I can spend time on Tumblr again. More importantly, I saw Godspeed for the second time on Monday the 21st. I spent 3.5 hours driving each way to get there and I emptied my bank account, but it was absolutely worth it. I got to meet the entire band, Xylouris White was incredible, and I even took my F#A#(Infinity) original pressing #462 there to get it autographed. I talked to Mike Moya all about the original album, and he was amazed to see one show up again. I learned a lot of details that aren’t floating around on the internet about how these first 500 albums were made and I’ll try to get around to scanning my copy and posting some new information about those original albums. I took a handful of videos that are currently uploading to my YouTube account and if they don’t sound too horrific because of my phone’s poor microphone, I’ll post them on here also.

Godspeed is playing completely new music at shows! There are supposedly two tracks and I saw at least one of them.

I received mention of this in a submission from Bob, who also sent in a link to a complete recording of the show on 2015-04-07 at Markthalle in Hamburg, Germany, where these two new tracks were first played. Check it out!

Thanks to Discogs, we now know what the inner sleeve notes will be for this album.

Oh! How we sallied 'round the roses: We writ, wrung, and ruined it in Montréal, Québec & Kernersville, North Carolina during all four seasons of 2013 & 2014. Greg Norman recorded it at the Fidelitorium, at thee mighty Hotel2Tango and at The Pines. Mixed by Greg Norman and God's Pee at Mixart and thee mighty Hotel2Tango. Mastered by Dr. Harris Newman at Greymarket. Pee'd Emperor : Thierry Amar - bass and contrebasse. David Bryant - Electric gtr., portasound, organs and drones. Aidan Girt - Drums. Timothy Herzog - Drums ans drones. Efrim Manuel Menuck - Electric guitar. Michael Moya - Electric guitar. Mauro Pezzente - Electric bass. Sophie Trudeau - Violins and drones. Karl Lemieux - 16mm film projections. SI - Live sound and assorted grains. Thanks, as always: Hugsam, Tommy W., Gref, CST MTL.            

Direct from Constellation Record’s website, here is a complete list of the stops Godspeed You! Black Emperor will be making on their April 2015 European tour, following the release of their 6th album, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress.

The Guardian is currently streaming ALL of GY!BE’s new album, “Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress“ through Soundcloud. If you don’t go check it out right now, you are wasting your time. Below is what The Guardian had to say about the release.

It’s a rare group that makes a point of noting their new LP is a single album, but that’s what Godspeed You! Black Emperor are doing with their new album, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress – which they observe is their first single album since their earliest days.

With four tracks, and clocking in at a shade over 40 minutes, this is not exactly a poptastic version of Godspeed, but it’s a more focussed version of the Canadian postrock giants than we’re used to. Some phrases from the press release should give you an idea of what to expect: “Huge unison riffage, savage noise/drone, oscillating overtones, guitar vs. string counterpoint, inexorable crescendos and scorched-earth transitions”. If you’re still thinking that maybe there’s a hitherto concealed Carly Rae Jepsen influence, let us note only that the final song is called Piss Crowns Are Trebled.

Will you be left recoiling in awe at the sheer majesty of these songs, left flattened by the avalanche force of 297 guitars? Have a listen and let us know what you think.

And here are links to the individual songs: Peasantry, or ‘Light! Inside of Light! (10:28) (Previously known as Behemoth) Lambs’ Breath (9:52) Asunder, Sweet (6:13) Piss Crowns Are Trebled (13:50)

You can pre-order Godspeed’s 6th album directly from Constellation Records if you live in Canada, or from a massive number of other distributors available on Constellation’s page for the album, which releases on March 31st.