OFF: Godspeed You Black Emperor!

[Brian Halligan]

Someone mentioned this band a few days ago...Here's a review from the av
club at http://www.theonion.com/

Brian

Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Slow Riot For Zero Kanada EP
(Kranky)

EPs recorded between studio albums are often little more than
filler-bespattered singles conceived to dupe collectors and completists
into acquiring an act's every needless remix and outtake. But that
doesn't mean Slow Riot For Zero Kanada, a two-song set by the Montreal
ban Godspeed You Black Emperor!, isn't remarkably essential. With
guitars, drums, and an assortment of strings, the instrumental group's
nine members build the 11-minute "Moya" and 17-minute "Blaise Bailey
Finnegan II" into diverse, shape-shifting, mood-swinging epics. Opening
with creeping, beautiful strings, "Moya" slowly dissipates into languid
quietude before swelling into a full-blown orchestral
arrangement--albeit one with loud electric guitars--that recalls a more
refined variation on Dirty Three's cataclysmic instrumental explosions.
The song eventually bleeds seamlessly into "Blaise Bailey Finnegan II,"
which at first seems like a bit of a throwaway: Behind a dissonant
soundtrack of guitars and strings, a paranoid, anti-government
conspiracy theorist rants, tells stories, talks about his guns, and
reads a scary poem. The music feels secondary, even perfunctory, until
about 12 minutes in, when GYBE! takes over and delivers the apocalypse
the narrator suggests is coming. It may be a low-priced EP, but Slow
Riot For Zero Kanada delivers more intensely beautiful moments than
you'll find just about anywhere else for twice the price. (Kranky, P.O.
Box 578743, Chicago, IL 60657) --Stephen Thompson


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