This is underrated af. I could only find one Godspeed You! Black Emperor video essay and finding this is like finding a four leaf clover. Legendary video as always👏
I saw them about 2-3 weeks after 9/11 in Toronto, and during the gig, they played film visuals throughout their set. The most penetrating was of a group of people standing around watching a controlled demolition of an old Apartment or Business Building. It was so bloody prescient, as the mood even before the film was heavy due to the violence that the whole world just watched. But the weird thing was after the building falls, everyone ( in the footage shown), just turn around and walk away like they were now indoctrinated by some mysterious overlords. Kind've like us Patrons at said gig, listening to the soundtrack of an apocalypse, all dazed and only shaking it off when the House lights came on and the Stormtroopers came in and mopped up our Beer cups, Joint Roaches, etc. Where they found this visual piece, and then decided to use it basically mere days after 9/11 was brilliant and of course shocking, and shook me to the core. Genius, without an ounce of pretension.
The Dead Flag Blues is the darkest piece of music I have ever heard. The atmosphere in this song is just unparalleled. It sends you right into the pithole of hell. And when you've gone through the painful purgatory, it ends with the faintest glimmer of hope possible. To me, this is the peak of modern music to date. And iam so grateful i've witnessed it.
Everyone always talks about “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven” as their masterpiece, and while I do think that album is a masterpiece, F# A# will be the crown jewel of their discography for me. Both the vinyl and expanded cd versions
I think their first four albums (+ Slow Riot) are all masterpieces. But there's no denying that Skinny Fists probably is the most accessible of the bunch, which is why it's got the most praise. Imho.
An absolutely phonomenal video essay on one of my favorite albums of all time. Your editing was tastfully done and your research tought me new things about the bands background i never knew. Again, well done my friend and God Speed!
Fantastic video, very deep and insightful. This is probably my favourite Godspeed album you perfectly summarised why it’s so special. Finding video essays about this band is the TH-cam equivalent of trying to hunt down a physical copy of Hairy Amp Drooling lmao so I really appreciate this
Thank you! I'm happy to fill in that gap, although I think I've seen a couple around, so probably easier than finding a tape of hairy amp ;) Cheers again.
Love these guys. I saw them in Melbourne the first time they toured Down Under in February 2013. In August that year - I spent a month in B.C and Alberta on the homeward leg of my holiday in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and I listened to "East Hastings" as I wandered down East Hastings Street in Vancouver. Surreal. Saw them again 2 years later in Manchester, England. Majesty.
Broooo, I should have watched this video for my English essay! It really captures the background information, reality of “the dead blue flags” and the other songs.
Mate that was an amazing video, I've listened to that album so much over the years and yet I feel like watching your video I have learnt so much and now have so much more love and appreciation for it. I'm going to try and get a copy of that book 'fearless', Sounds like a good read... and maybe listen to some Hazel Dickens as well haha... Thanks!
Thank you! 🙏 "Fearless" is definitely worth a read. Lots of interesting stuff on bands like GY!BE, Mogwai, Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky. Also chronicles the history of and proto post-rock like Talk Talk. Highly recommended.
Great. Thanks so much. Heard the Dead Flag Blues on the radio in a sunday night program here called "Space and Time" in 1998. I was doing my architectural /urban planning degree then on a plot of abandoned Cargo railroad tracks. Was Sure, if I got to get a good animation done, parts of that should be the soundtrack. I don't know, whether the video tape is still alive. Would love to watch it again. Anyway. Saw them live then on stage at Cologne in summer 2000. Stunning. I agree: The Dead Flag Blues is just a cinematographic and compository masterpiece. Still love it most of their albums. Live they are just amazing performers. Thanks so much for that great review, Bro, giving such a lot of amazing background Information about this masterpiece and their sources. Hope!
I've known a fair amount of Godspeed fans over the years, and they all appreciate the band as a whole. That said, those that prefer F# A# and Slow Riot are generally darker, more pessimistic folk who also listen to Crust Punk and Doom Metal, Anarchists and horror movie fans. Those who favor Skinny Fists and later tend to be more nerdy, artsy people who listen to a lot of Post-Rock and appreciate the music more than the vibe. I'm definitely more towards the former...F# A# is one of the most powerful albums ever IMO, in any genre. All of Godspeed's stuff is exceptional but that album is just special.
Imo I think that Skinny Fists is the ultimate apocalyptic soundtrack, its like what i imagine the biblical apocalypse will be like, whereas F# to me doesn't sound hopeful at all, it sounds alien like an alternative universe where the world got taken over by an evil extraterrestrial force to its end
This album was the soundtrack to my life during COVID. Learning to drive while listening to this on CD in my moms car and seeing the empty and desolate roads around the city will forever be a core memory of my teenage years.
i totally agree with you on everything, i love godspeed you black emperor so much. but Natural Snow Buildings are somehow JUST as amazing and somehow tell better stories than gybe. you should check them out
I actually really liked his analysis of the samples, like the Gathering Storm sample and the Godspell sample (even though I already knew about the Godspell one, having played Judas about 25 years ago - my older brother played Jesus).
"i open up my wallet, and its full of blood" I always wondered about this line. Is the narrator saying that our capitalist society has perished? The money has been replaced with blood. Any thoughts? I think its a metaphor because it doesnt make much sense if not.
Given GY!BE's history of being anti-establishment, it's most likely a jab at capitalism. Blood money, or that the money is made through forever wars or something in the likes? But yeah, I'm just speculating, I guess we'll have to get a hold of Efrim's script to really find out :)
@@AlbumAffairs cheers for replying. It's a haunting, powerful line, much like the rest of the narration. But it's that line in particular that gets me thinking. You routinely check your wallet for money to use in our system, our huge market full of vendors. Money is the contents of this wallet which makes it a wallet, but it's also what the world is made of, this money has been replaced by our baseline, our biology which makes us. Blood and DNA. The apocalypse has reverted us back to our true nature and the very idea of a wallet seems trivial. Blood, violence and death was the outcome to capitalism. The blood being in the wallet is not necessarily a devolution from money being in there, it's a natural, inevitable consequence of money.
The wallet might be a metaphor, a synecdoche, for capitalism, which basically is a wealth creation mechanism based on surplus extraction from an upper class to a lower class. The blood in the wallet is the violence of this process. Pretty impactful.
Earlier in the monolog, the narrator says that "the machine is bleeding to death," so his wallet being full of blood shows that money is the blood of the machine. It ties into the image of "blood money" as well: if the machine can only exist through the pain and suffering of the people it exploits, all money is blood money.
This honestly is one of my least favorite GY!BE albums. I'd only put _Yankee U.X.O._ lower, and that's because it's not recorded well. Still, even their worst is a 7.5/10 at the lowest. And them live is a 12.
Which is your favourite Godspeed album? Comment below 👇
Lift your skinny fists! 🙌🏻
f sharp a sharp
Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada
So far it’s Lift Your Skinny Fists and Yankui UXO
f sharp, but after that its Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada
This is underrated af. I could only find one Godspeed You! Black Emperor video essay and finding this is like finding a four leaf clover. Legendary video as always👏
Many thanks, glad you enjoyed it! 🙌
Boneless Benny released a good video about them not too long ago. th-cam.com/video/mmMKOmN71_E/w-d-xo.htmlsi=xiZVxjQOedfcT92s
I saw them about 2-3 weeks after 9/11 in Toronto, and during the gig, they played film visuals throughout their set. The most penetrating was of a group of people standing around watching a controlled demolition of an old Apartment or Business Building. It was so bloody prescient, as the mood even before the film was heavy due to the violence that the whole world just watched. But the weird thing was after the building falls, everyone ( in the footage shown), just turn around and walk away like they were now indoctrinated by some mysterious overlords. Kind've like us Patrons at said gig, listening to the soundtrack of an apocalypse, all dazed and only shaking it off when the House lights came on and the Stormtroopers came in and mopped up our Beer cups, Joint Roaches, etc.
Where they found this visual piece, and then decided to use it basically mere days after 9/11 was brilliant and of course shocking, and shook me to the core.
Genius, without an ounce of pretension.
The Dead Flag Blues is the darkest piece of music I have ever heard. The atmosphere in this song is just unparalleled. It sends you right into the pithole of hell. And when you've gone through the painful purgatory, it ends with the faintest glimmer of hope possible. To me, this is the peak of modern music to date. And iam so grateful i've witnessed it.
also full agree, peak of all time music, not just gybe or post-rock, the way this album hooks you into it is unmachable
Everyone always talks about “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven” as their masterpiece, and while I do think that album is a masterpiece, F# A# will be the crown jewel of their discography for me. Both the vinyl and expanded cd versions
I think their first four albums (+ Slow Riot) are all masterpieces. But there's no denying that Skinny Fists probably is the most accessible of the bunch, which is why it's got the most praise. Imho.
I think their new album is pure art it has it all
The best GY!BE video essay I've seen! Pushed me over the fence to buy a ticket for their live show in my city. I'm so excited!
Thank you! Nice! You won't regret it, they're amazing live.
Thank you so much for covering GY!BE, this was sick
Glad you enjoyed it!
An absolute masterpiece of an album
True words. Absolute banger. Thanks for watching!
An absolutely phonomenal video essay on one of my favorite albums of all time. Your editing was tastfully done and your research tought me new things about the bands background i never knew. Again, well done my friend and God Speed!
Thank you! God speed to you too :)
The production quality on this video is stellar. I love this album and this video!
Many thanks! 🙏
A masterpiece of a videoessay for an absolute masterpiece of an album. Thanks, brother!
Thank you bro that's kind.
You should make one on infinity. We need more godspeed video essays this one is amazing!
Thank you! Antennas you mean? :)
I love Godspeed so much. I loved your exploration on their work, thank you. Im excited to see what you do next!
Thank you!
Fantastic video, very deep and insightful. This is probably my favourite Godspeed album you perfectly summarised why it’s so special. Finding video essays about this band is the TH-cam equivalent of trying to hunt down a physical copy of Hairy Amp Drooling lmao so I really appreciate this
Thank you! I'm happy to fill in that gap, although I think I've seen a couple around, so probably easier than finding a tape of hairy amp ;) Cheers again.
I love that I immediately recognized The Great Day of His Wrath at 4:30
Thank you for creating this!
Love these guys. I saw them in Melbourne the first time they toured Down Under in February 2013.
In August that year - I spent a month in B.C and Alberta on the homeward leg of my holiday in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and I listened to "East Hastings" as I wandered down East Hastings Street in Vancouver.
Surreal.
Saw them again 2 years later in Manchester, England. Majesty.
this is a great tribute to the album. really interesting thoughts and comment on this fantastic record.
Wow. The editing that accompanies this video is gorgeous. Perfectly gritty, and visually GY!BE. Phenomenally underrated video essay.
Thank you! That's very kind.
Broooo, I should have watched this video for my English essay! It really captures the background information, reality of “the dead blue flags” and the other songs.
I mean “the dead flag blues”
Mate that was an amazing video, I've listened to that album so much over the years and yet I feel like watching your video I have learnt so much and now have so much more love and appreciation for it. I'm going to try and get a copy of that book 'fearless', Sounds like a good read... and maybe listen to some Hazel Dickens as well haha... Thanks!
Thank you! 🙏 "Fearless" is definitely worth a read. Lots of interesting stuff on bands like GY!BE, Mogwai, Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky. Also chronicles the history of and proto post-rock like Talk Talk. Highly recommended.
It's always a pleasure to watch your videos. You're able to create such great presentations of records... Once again, congratulations!
Thank you for the consistent support!
Great. Thanks so much. Heard the Dead Flag Blues on the radio in a sunday night program here called "Space and Time" in 1998. I was doing my architectural /urban planning degree then on a plot of abandoned Cargo railroad tracks. Was Sure, if I got to get a good animation done, parts of that should be the soundtrack. I don't know, whether the video tape is still alive. Would love to watch it again. Anyway. Saw them live then on stage at Cologne in summer 2000. Stunning. I agree: The Dead Flag Blues is just a cinematographic and compository masterpiece. Still love it most of their albums. Live they are just amazing performers. Thanks so much for that great review, Bro, giving such a lot of amazing background Information about this masterpiece and their sources. Hope!
Thank you! 🙏🕊
As a former Vancouver resident, the DTES and East Hastings in particular is apocalyptic.
It’s worth listening to Exhaust, specifically Enregistre, Pitchfork’s reviewer didn’t know what to make of it, it’s probably my favourite CST release.
Im so glad i found your channel, hope you can continue doing these. 🤞
I'm glad too, welcome! 🙌
I always play F# A# ♾️ during the dead of January
Amazing video man well done
Thanks man!
such a beautifully made video 💖
Thank you! 🙏
I've known a fair amount of Godspeed fans over the years, and they all appreciate the band as a whole. That said, those that prefer F# A# and Slow Riot are generally darker, more pessimistic folk who also listen to Crust Punk and Doom Metal, Anarchists and horror movie fans. Those who favor Skinny Fists and later tend to be more nerdy, artsy people who listen to a lot of Post-Rock and appreciate the music more than the vibe. I'm definitely more towards the former...F# A# is one of the most powerful albums ever IMO, in any genre. All of Godspeed's stuff is exceptional but that album is just special.
Amazing job, thank you for the video. Would love a video like this for a A silver mt. Zion’s LP too.
Thank you!
Exploring why this video has only 4k views in 4 months when it has damn quality.
🙏
Great video for the best band
good one
I could be wrong, right, (or both) but wasn't the song played in 28 Days Later from the E.P Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada???
No it was East Hastings, just watched that film a few days ago
@ModernVagabondIsHere my fact checking Cuz!!! Thank-you
I'm thankful to God for bands like GY!BE
which God?
Imo I think that Skinny Fists is the ultimate apocalyptic soundtrack, its like what i imagine the biblical apocalypse will be like, whereas F# to me doesn't sound hopeful at all, it sounds alien like an alternative universe where the world got taken over by an evil extraterrestrial force to its end
lovely video
Thank you!
I have a huge LYSFLATH tattoo on my chest and the more I learn about the band, more I love my tattoo
This album was the soundtrack to my life during COVID. Learning to drive while listening to this on CD in my moms car and seeing the empty and desolate roads around the city will forever be a core memory of my teenage years.
An awesome essay! Is there any way to find and download Fearless: making of post rock?
Thank you! Download I don't know but It's available to borrow on archive.org.
i totally agree with you on everything, i love godspeed you black emperor so much. but Natural Snow Buildings are somehow JUST as amazing and somehow tell better stories than gybe. you should check them out
Sad to see you focus on the field recordings and not on the instrumental but i get it
I actually really liked his analysis of the samples, like the Gathering Storm sample and the Godspell sample (even though I already knew about the Godspell one, having played Judas about 25 years ago - my older brother played Jesus).
"i open up my wallet, and its full of blood"
I always wondered about this line. Is the narrator saying that our capitalist society has perished? The money has been replaced with blood. Any thoughts? I think its a metaphor because it doesnt make much sense if not.
Given GY!BE's history of being anti-establishment, it's most likely a jab at capitalism. Blood money, or that the money is made through forever wars or something in the likes? But yeah, I'm just speculating, I guess we'll have to get a hold of Efrim's script to really find out :)
@@AlbumAffairs cheers for replying. It's a haunting, powerful line, much like the rest of the narration. But it's that line in particular that gets me thinking.
You routinely check your wallet for money to use in our system, our huge market full of vendors. Money is the contents of this wallet which makes it a wallet, but it's also what the world is made of, this money has been replaced by our baseline, our biology which makes us. Blood and DNA. The apocalypse has reverted us back to our true nature and the very idea of a wallet seems trivial. Blood, violence and death was the outcome to capitalism. The blood being in the wallet is not necessarily a devolution from money being in there, it's a natural, inevitable consequence of money.
The wallet might be a metaphor, a synecdoche, for capitalism, which basically is a wealth creation mechanism based on surplus extraction from an upper class to a lower class.
The blood in the wallet is the violence of this process.
Pretty impactful.
Earlier in the monolog, the narrator says that "the machine is bleeding to death," so his wallet being full of blood shows that money is the blood of the machine. It ties into the image of "blood money" as well: if the machine can only exist through the pain and suffering of the people it exploits, all money is blood money.
Great video, very well done. Godspee.
This honestly is one of my least favorite GY!BE albums. I'd only put _Yankee U.X.O._ lower, and that's because it's not recorded well. Still, even their worst is a 7.5/10 at the lowest. And them live is a 12.
This review is shorter than every song on the album