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May 10, 2005
A metallic taste in the mouth
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - J.L.H. Outro
Arguably, GY!BE is one of the catalysts for Montreal's slow but strong emergence as a sort of (perceived) Candian musical nexus- the band garnered so much attention when "F#A# Infinity" and "Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada" were released, and a lot of the focus on the band was on their reluctance to do interviews, the cryptic liner notes they included in their (gorgeously packaged) LPs, and their mysterious home/studio, the Hotel 2 Tango. I can distinctly remember reading a review in the summer of 2000 that said something idiotic along the lines of "guess we have to start paying attention to Canada now", etc. A stable roster of staggeringly good bands on the Constellation label and on Alien 8 Recordings has ensured that Montreal is indeed regarded as a sort of hot-bed of (interesting, compelling) musical activity. I for one will admit that, during my sophomore year in college, I had the unlikely and slightly insane idea of moving up to Montreal to work for Constellation Records, perhaps helping out by gluing together LP sleeves for 8 or 10 hours a day. But no. I chose a philosophy degree instead, and now peddle my wares (existentialism, symbolic logic, hard-thinking) on the streets every day, scraping together enough money for a watery bowl of flour soup (if I'm lucky) for dinner each night (kidding, of course).
'J.L.H. Outro' (John Lee Hooker) was included as a CD-version-only hidden track (the vinyl version has an infinite loop as the last track) on "F#A# Infinity", which was the band's debut album (unless you count "All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling", of which there were only like 33 copies made, and which really has just reached the level of Grailness among some hardcore GY!BE fans). When I first heard this song, it was like being hit with a train after being dropped from an airplane. As overwhelming as the album itself is, 'J.L.H. Outro' is like consecutive shots of adrenaline to the heart. People like to accuse GY!BE (especially recently) of structural monotony (crescendo....decrescendo....crescendo...end), but I think anyone that listens to their music realizes that there's a little bit more to it than that. This song goes from a soft loop to massive, incandescent filigrees in the space of about a second. 'J.L.H. Outro' is like a perfectly masoned and clean brick wall (for the first two mintes) out of which emerges a gnarled and steady hand that graffitis whirling, ribboned designs (and tags). Hearing this song (and the album it's from) for the first time was nothing short of a revelation (it was just so unlike anything else I had ever listened to).
GY!BE are on hiatus right now, but that's supposedly (and hopefully) just on account of the fact that all the members wanted some time to work on their many side projects (of which there's a new one to add to the family- the Mile End Ladies' String Auxiliary (or MELSA), which features Sophie from GY!BE and A Silver Mount Zion, Beckie from Esmerine, ASMZ, and Fifths of Seven (which also features Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade), and someone else whose name I do not know. They have a record coming out soon though- watch out for that) and chill the fuck out. However, if you're jonesing for new material, the band did play two new tunes on the road when they toured last- the excellent 'Gamelan' and 'Albanian'- which can both be found on SLSK or wherever. But if you're going to start with something, start with F#A#...
Posted by Kevin at May 10, 2005 11:49 PM
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