Godspeed Returns!

This appeared on the internets last week and shook the foundations of the world just a bit.

If you are too lazy to click on the pic, it is a message from Godspeed You! Black Emperor announcing their return after a nearly seven-year absence. For those who missed them the first time around, GYBE, along with Mogwai, were THE seminal "post-rock" band. Now, while "post-rock" may have long fallen out of favor, GYBE's legacy has easily withstood the rising and falling tides of musical trends. Their intense mixture of ambient, classical, metal, folk and Ennio Morricone-styled guitar, coupled with their fiercely D.I.Y. attitude, ensured that long after their countless imitators ceased to matter, GYBE emerged as musical legends. Although the band went silent years ago, their influence looms large over everything from black metal and drone, to Canadian indie rock acts like Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. Radiohead long ago added them to their list of influences, and even Seth Rogen immortalized the band with the best line from the film "Pineapple Express." Finally, for what it is worth, your humble writer considers their album "Life Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven" to be the very best - numero uno - album of the aughts.

What is most telling is that years after their original run, you will still meet people who have just discovered Godspeed undergoing what could pass for a religious conversion. You can usually tell these folks by the rabid obsession in their eyes when discussing the band.

Yes, years later, this band will still blow you away. So, if you haven't picked up your necessary allotment of GYBE, get thee down here and grab their three excellent albums; "F#A# (Infinity)," "Lift Your Skinny Fists...," and "Yanqui U.X.O.," as well as their superb ep "Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada."

While you are at it, pick up some of the killer side projects that grew out of this band, like Silver Mt. Zion and Set Fire to Flames.

Godspeed is hitting the road this December to present a live experience like no other. Are you going to be ready?

Great Fan Video for "Dead Flag Blues"



"Blaise Bailey Finnegan III" live pt. 1



"Blaise Bailey Finnegan III" live pt. 2