Emperor Of The Sea Songs

[Kassim Bisaillon]

Theband has gained a dedicated cult following and remains very influential in the post-rock genre.[6][7][8][9] Their music, mainly instrumental in nature, has been noted for its contrasts between ambient soundscapes and chaotic crescendos; use of field recordings and spoken word monologues; and focus on dystopian, anarchist and anti-war themes. Members of the group have formed a number of side projects, including Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Fly Pan Am, HṚṢṬA, Esmerine, and Set Fire to Flames.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor was formed in 1994 in Montreal, Quebec, by Efrim Menuck (guitar), Mike Moya (guitar), and Mauro Pezzente (bass).[12][13] The band took its name from God Speed You! Black Emperor, a 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors.[12] The band initially assembled after being offered a supporting act for another local band named Steak 72.[14] Thereafter, the trio performed live on a few separate occasions. Previously, the name "God Speed You Black Emperor!" had been used by Menuck on a limited cassette entitled All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling that had been recorded the year prior, with limited contributions by Pezzente on bass, although it would not be until 1994 that the actual band formed.

The group was once misconstrued as being a band of terrorists.[18][19] After stopping at a local gas station for fuel in the town of Ardmore, Oklahoma, during their 2003 tour of the United States, the station attendant working that day believed the group of Canadians to be terrorists. She quickly passed a note to another customer asking them to call the police. When the local police appeared, the group was held until it could be questioned by the FBI. Although the police were suspicious of the band's anti-government documents and some photos it had (such as those of oil rigs), they found no incriminating evidence. After background checks were run, the ensemble was released from custody and continued on its way to its next show in Saint Louis. Efrim Menuck later spoke to the crowd during their appearance in Missouri about what happened to them and speculated that their origin was a motive for being released quickly ("It's a good thing we're nice white kids from Canada").[20] The incident was mentioned in Michael Moore's book Dude, Where's My Country?.[21]

In 2010, the band reported it was reuniting for an All Tomorrow's Parties music event in the UK as well as further US dates. Mike Moya re-joined the band for the reunion, while original cellist Norsola Johnson declined to participate. The band played a full North American and European tour in 2011, and more dates in the UK including an appearance at the ATP 'I'll Be Your Mirror' music festival in London.

The following year, the band appeared at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Coachella in California, and the All Tomorrow's Parties I'll Be Your Mirror festival in New York.[22][23] Drummer Timothy Herzog began touring with the band after the departure of Bruce Cawdron.

In 2013, the band won the Polaris Music Prize, but it criticized the cost of the ceremony during the time of austerity, stating, "Maybe the next celebration should happen in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords."[24]

In February 2022, a copy of All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling was posted to 4chan's music board.[a][26][27] The band eventually uploaded the full audio of the tape to its official Bandcamp page on February 14.[28]

After a break for much of 2014 the band embarked on a busy schedule of concert and festival dates across North America, Europe and around the world during 2015 and 2016.[35] Two new songs were previewed in many of the shows picking up the fan titles "Buildings" and "Railroads" from the projections that accompanied them. The band also lent live performances of some of their older and current tracks to a revival of the 2005 work "monumental", by Canadian dance troupe, Holy Body Tattoo during 2016.[36]

The Guardian wrote that Godspeed You! Black Emperor "don't simply espouse anti-capitalism but embody it, rejecting the selfish individualism at its core", pointing out how the band's operation as a collective challenges traditional notions of hierarchy. In a 2012 interview, Menuck said, "All music is political, right? You either make music that pleases the king and his court, or you make music for the serfs outside the walls ... We started making this noise together when we were young and broke. Whatever politics we had were born out of living through a time when the dominant narrative was that everything was fine."[37]

The leader of our local community choir is very keen on Georgian music and we have over the years performed some astonishing songs from that part of the world. The soundscape of this music is initially a bit alien to western ears: the bass part is often just a drone, the individual parts on their own sound a bit odd and the harmonies frequently clash in a completely unexpected way.

Also it often calls for singing in a calling voice, imagining that you are trying to make yourself heard across fields or on the other side of a valley. That takes a bit of practice as, at least to begin with, it feels like being asked to shout. But there is an energy and vitality to it that completely carries you away.

In the Greek Orthodox Church it is used in a similar way, with the cantor or priest saying the name of the person to be commemorated and then the choir responding by chanting 3 times. It originated in Byzantium when the Polychronion was used as a chant to greet the Byzantine Emperor when he entered Haghia Sofia through the Imperial Doors and at the end of the Divine Liturgy.

In fact it is an adaptation of the Latin acclamation Ad multos annos (Many Years) used by the people to acclaim the Roman Emperor. It is remarkable that through singing and celebration we have this living link with such a remote past.

You might be right, but my understanding is that in Georgia it comes from the Orthodox Church which was based in terms of liturgy on Byzantine worship. This in turn came from the traditional form of acclamation of used for Roman Emperors.

Please discuss this band and their music. I can never decide if they produce works of genius or works of utter boring drivel. I read Rate Your Music and come to the conclusion there are 3 camps of opinion. The first is the listeners who just hate them and as previously mentioned just create utter boring drivel, the second the ones who you can genuinely tell love their music and the third who are definitely sucking hipster bandwagon cock and think they are great but you know have only listened to the album once, and only bought it because they heard about it via the I Suck Hipster Bandwagon Cock Grapevine.

I'm in the second camp. They developed a style completely of their own, which can be at once heart-rendingly melancholic and joyfully uplifting. They definitely retread the whisper-to-a-storm formula over and over... but that's what they do so amazingly well, and it's not like they're releasing an album every other year.

It was coney island ? they called Coney Island ?the playground of the world there was no place ? like it in the whole world like Coney Island ?when I was a youngster no place in the world like it it was so fabulous now it's shrunk down to almost nothing you see and uh I still remember in my mind how things used to be and uh you know I feel very bad but people from all over the world came here from all over the world it was the playground they called it the playground of the world over here anyways you see I uh you know I even got when I was very small I even got lost at Coney Island ? but they found me on the on the beach ???and we used to sleep on the beach here sleep overnight they don't do that anymore they don't sleep anymore on the beach ???

I liked them in the nineties and early naughts, listened to a lot of Tortoise, Mogwai, GY!BE and the like back then and thought it was the shit. They're still good and I can still get into it, I just never put them on anymore. Boring drivel? No.

Edit: I always wanted that vinyl version of that album that came with the flattened dollar (was it a dollar ?) which was supposedly run over by a train or whatever, cause I found that really cool and a nice gimmick at the time; I think an acquaitance of mine even sold his copy, but I slept on it, and nowadays it's probably unobtainium.

They are one of those bands that on paper I should be into since I'm a fan of a lot of post-rock, but the stuff that I've heard has never been able to click with me. I never could get into Skinny Fists, even though on numerous occasions I had people tell me I needed to check it out. I think the last album of theirs I listened to was Allelujah, and I thought it was OK but nothing special.

I think their songs have a ton of buildup with short bursts of pure awesome, kind of like Swans. Hipsters will hate bands far less guilty of this for the same reason, but will cum tiramisu for GY!BE and Swans every thyme

Tortoise is considered post rock, and they're one of my favorite bands. I'm not sure it's the best label for them, since they have a totally different take on it and have very different musical leanings than post-anything bands. They're like accomplished jazz musicians making some kind of posh modern kraut-rock. TNT and Standards are my favorite albums by them but they have brilliant tracks scattered throughout the discog

Postrock is kinda dated in a bad way and it's difficult to listen to without imagining all the self-absorbed, angsty humanities undergrads who must have gobbled it up over the decades. I like their schtick but I don't devote a ton of time to them. The quiet and brooding passages of Yanqui are my favorite. There's a good sense of space in that album, and all the lofi equipment buzz and feet shuffling give it a natural, live feel. Everything's too clean nowadays. I feel like Yndi Halda grew up and refined their sound better than GY!BE. Postrock elements seem to work better in other genres, where there's less room to jerk off.

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