Band of the week :GYBE!

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (formerly known as Godspeed You Black Emperor!) is a Canadian post-rock band based in Montreal, Quebec. They take their name from Godspeed You Black Emperor!, an obscure 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Ynagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors. The band is most commonly classified as post rock, but they exist outside any established scene and take influences from a range of styles including progressive rock, punk, classical music and the avant-garde .Their records each consist of a few fairly long tracks (mostly between 10-20 minutes), divided into "movements" which are sometimes specified in the record sleeve.

The band formed around 1994 with three members, but its lineup has changed frequently. The band has had as many as fifteen members at one time, but has tended to settle down to a group of nine. The instruments played vary with the lineup, but the music tends to be based around electric and bass guitars, strings and a percussion section. Other instruments such as the glockenspiel h horn more occasional appearances. The music on some of their records is accompanied by spoken samples recorded by the band across North America , including an apocalyptic street preacher from Providence, Rhode Island, an announcement at a gas station, and a group of children talking and singing in french.

The band members have in the past been reluctant to go in for the traditional self-publicising interviews, and have openly expressed their distaste for the mainstream, corporation-owned music industry. This has given them a reputation as shadowy, even anti-social figures, and not a great deal is known about them personally. They did, however, become considerably more widely known after appearing on the cover of NME in 1999.

The member who interacts with the press the most is Efrim Menuck, and for this reason he is sometimes presented as a front-man. However, he has strongly repudiated this label.

Members of the group have formed a number of side-projects, including A Silver Mt. Zion, Fly Pan Am and Set fire to flames . The band contributed the song "East Hastings" to the soundtrack of theUk film 28 days later , although it is only featured in the film and not on the soundtrack available for purchase.

The band released the cd versions of its first two albums on the Kranky record label, with the Lps being published by Constellation Records ; the contract with Kranky having run out, both the LP and the CD of Yanqui U.X.O were produced by Constellation.

In 2004, long-time guitarist Roger-Tellier Craig left the band on amicable terms and to devote more time to Fly Pan Am.

The band has often played an unrecorded song entitled "Albanian" when touring. Efrim has said that when the band reform they will record it for their next release. Another unreleased song, "Gamelan," may also be recorded. However, due to the band's open taping policy, both these songs are available as high quality audience recordings. It has frequently been the case, in fact, that new material is released through the fans before its official recording.

Godspeed you black emperor! are currently on extended hiatus but the collective has not disbanded.

GYBE! DISCOGRAPHY:

Lights Fucked On The Hairy Amp Drooling LP - No label (1994)

TRACKS:

Side 1:

1. Drifting Intro Open

2. Shot Thru Tubes

3. Three Three Three

4. When All The Furnaces Exploded

5. Beep

6. Hush

7. Son Of A Diplomat, Daughter Of A Politician

8. Glencairn 14

9. $13.13

10. Loose The Idiot Dogs

11. Diminishing Shine

12. Random Luvly Moncton Blue(s)

13. Dadmomdaddy

Side 2

1. 333 Frames Per Second

2. Revisionist Alternatif Wounds To The Hair-Cut Hit Head

3. Ditty For Moya

4. Buried Ton

5. And The Hairy Guts Shine

6. Hoarding

7. Deterior 23

8. All Angels Gone

9. Deterior 17

10. Deterior Three

11. Devil's In The Church

12. No Job

13. Dress Like Shit

14. Perfumed Pink Corpses From The Lips OfMs. Celine Dion

(cassete only, limited to 33 copies)

F# A# (Infinity) EP - Constellation Label (1997)

TRACKS:

Side1

1. Nervous, Sad, Poor...

Side 2

2. Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful...


F# A# (Infinity) LP – Kranky Label (1998)

TRACKS:

1. The Dead Flag Blues

1. The Dead fag Blues (intro)
2. Slow moving trains
3. The Cowboy…
4. (;Outro)…

2. East Hastings

1. Nothing’s alrite in your life/dead fag blues (reprise)

2. The Sad Mafioso…

3. Drugs in Tokyo/Back Helicopter

3. Providence

1. Divorce & fever…

2. Dead metheny…

3. Kicking Horse on brokenhill

4. String loop manufactured during downpour…

4. JLH (John Lee Hooker)

Outro Re-Issue of the Constellation LP. Remastered and changed in some areas, with some new material, and some missing material.

Fly Pan Am/Godspeed You Black Emperor! x7" - aMAZEzine! label (1999)

TRACKS:

Side A

1. (L'espace au sol est redessine par d'immenses panneaux bleus)

Side B

2. Sunshine + Gasoline

Side A (L'espace au...) is by Fly Pan Am, Side B (Sunshine..) by gybe!

Though they were on the B-Side, GYBE! were given top billing. This was the first official release of FPA material. Given away free with Amazezine magazine.

Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP - Both Constellation and Kranky Labels (1999)

TRACKS:

Side1

1. Moya

Side2

2. BBF3 ("Blaise Bailey Finnegan" 3)

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven LP - Both Constellation and Kranky Labels (2000)

TRACKS:

Side1

1. Storm:

1. Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas To Heaven...

2. Gathering Storm

3."Welcome to Barco AM/PM"

4. Cancer Towers On The Holy Road Hi-Way

2. Static:

1. Terrible Canyons Of Static

2. Atomic Clock

3. Chart #3

4. World Police and Friendly Fire

5. ...The Buildings They Are Sleeping Now

Side 2

3. Sleep:

1. Murray Ostril:"...They Don't Sleep Anymore On The Beach"

2. Monheim

3. Broken Windows,Locks Of Love Part

4. Antennas To Heaven:

1. Moya Sings "Baby-O"

2. Edgy Swingset Acid

3. Glockenspiel Duet Recorded On A Campsite In Rhinebeck, N.Y.

4. "Attention...Mon Ami... Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La"

5. She Dreamt She Was A Bulldozer She Dreamt She Was Alone

6. In An Empty Field

7. Deathkamp Drone

8. Antennas To Heaven

Again, as with the F#A# LP album, each track is made up of several pieces.

Yanqui U.X.O. LP - Constellation Label (2002)

TRACKS:

1 - 09-15-00
2 - 09-15-00
3 - Rockets fall on Rocket Falls
4 - Motherfucker=redeemer
5 - Motherfucker=redeemer

Azadi! (various artists) - Fire museum records (2003)

Compilation cd for the revolutionary association of the women of afghanistan (rawa).

A diverse 2-cd set of avant-rock, electronic, world, experimental, jazz, folk, noise, improv, hip-hop, dancefloor, and modern classical music, featuring 34 artists from the sf bay area and other corners of the globe, over 2 hours of music.

Track 1,17 : george bush cut up while talking

Other parallel projects to check in:

- Silver Mt. Zion
- Bottleskup Flenkenkenmike
- Bakunin's Bum
- L-Speed Bike
- Exhaust
- Fly Pan Am
- Et Sans
- Set Fire to Flames
- Hrsta
- Molasses
- Esmerine
- Valley of the Giants

- Balai mécanique
- 'Gypt Gore
- Sam Shalabi
- Shalabi Effect

Related bands:

Mogwai

Tortoise

Explosions in the Sky

Cul de Sac

Aereogramme

Sigur Rós

The Sea and Cake

Mono

Flying Saucer Attack

Physics

Led