Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Yanqui U.X.O.

By Myke Atkinson

Some call them chamber rock; others call them new age classical. Whatever the case, Godspeed You! Black Emperor orchestrates some of the best music ever recorded. As a nine-piece democracy, the band combines violins, cellos, xylophones, tape loops and anything else they get their hands on, with the elements of a traditional rock band. They write songs that take listeners on twenty-minute excursions from the sparsest trickles to the densest, pummeling walls-of-sound one could ever imagine.

Yanqui u.x.o. is a five song, 75-minute album recorded with famed indie-rock producer Steve Albini that has captured the emotion of the group’s live performances to tape. Compared to its predecessors, Yanqui u.x.o. is no far reaching record for the band-it displays Godspeed! in all their instrumental bliss. And really, what does it matter if a group pushes sonic boundaries when they have already perfected the formula?



2-Sigur Ros – ( ) (Fatcat)

3-Boards of Canada – Geogaddi (Warp)

4-DJ Shadow – The Private Press (MoWax)

5-Archive – You All Look The Same To Me (D7)

6-Tori Amos – Scarlet’s Walk (Epic)

7-Isis – Oceanic (Ipecac)

8-The Reindeer Section – The Son of Evil Reindeer (Pias)

9-Stars of the Lid – The Tired Sounds Of…(Kranky)

10-Doves – The Last Broadcast (Capitol)