#F♯ A♯ ∞ by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

[sexhaver]

im begging u for music recs

[petluck]

"You grabbed my hand and we fell into it, like a daydream or a fever.

We woke up one morning and fell a little further down - for sure it's the valley of death.

I open up my wallet, and it's full of blood."

[axxonn84]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor: F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997)

[rastronomicals]

10:22 PM EDT October 26, 2024:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "The Cowboy" From the album F♯ A♯ ∞ Constellation (August 14, 1997)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

Taken from the rip of the Constellation vinyl

File under: Post-Apocalyptica

[sadisticfervor]

Funny that you mention Godspeed You! Black Emperor, that's lowkey that's the only one I've heard of, of the ones you mentioned 😅 Anyway a friend of mine who has a really out there music taste ( shoegaze, black metal, whitenoise, you name it ) tried getting me to listen to F♯ A♯ ∞ and I inadvertently fell asleep listening to it, to this day it's a running joke between us that it's good sleep music :D

Falling asleep to Dead Flag Blues is the #1 way to have a terrible capitalism-induced nightmare, I think, but hey, if it works

Most of my listening falls into ambient, post-rock, or some horrible variant of hardcore and prog rock/metal. I'm a slut for techy guitar (and guitarists and bassists are my weakness...)

[mywifeleftme]

24: Hangedup // Kicker in Tow

Kicker in Tow Hangedup 2002, Constellation (Bandcamp)

Hangedup were the twelfth band signed to Montreal’s Constellation Records, and they’re emblematic of the city’s experimental music scene of the era. The general Godspeed You Black Emperor! cinematic universe was basically a rat king of oddly-named projects involving the same twenty or thirty musicians, so you understandably hear a lot of the shared DNA between them. Hangedup are of the string and percussion sturm und drang branch, and despite being a mere duo they manage to kick up a racket that rivals the ten-piece Godspeed at their most frenetic.

Kicker in Tow is pretty evenly split between sparse, rusty free improvisations and songs to soundtrack being chased by steam-driven automata with moustaches and Romanian accents. Drummer Eric Craven plays like an absolute maniac on a kit that sounds like it was Frankensteined out of the bicycle cemetery he hoarded in his backyard. Violinist Genevieve Heistek keeps up with him, bombastically sawing away at her amplified instrument, often with the recursive aid of a looping pedal. These guys were probably a mesmerizing live act, and the unobtrusive production makes it easy to close your eyes and pretend you’re there.

I bought my copy second-hand, and it still contained the circa-2002 Constellation catalogue booklet pictured here inside. Reading it was a reminder of how special a label Constellation has been for more than 25 years now. Of Godspeed’s F♯ A♯ ∞ the booklet notes, “This record remains in print, with hand-glued covers & insert envelope including blueprint & crushed penny. Do not pay ‘collector’ prices for this release.” That’s still true as of 2023 (and in fact as I understand it the label will buy pennies off you if you’re in Montreal and have any lying around, as Canada discontinued their production in 2012). I was talking to a friend at the bar the other day who has a record out with Constellation, and they mentioned how important it was to them when signing to know the label has kept its entire catalogue in print since day one. I can only imagine how much of a pain in the ass this must be to manage, given the bespoke nature of their releases’ packaging, but it speaks to their dedication to their artists and their fans. They, and even their lesser-known acts like Hangedup, are a big reason a lot of people I like ended up in this city. For that I thank them.

24/365

[coraniaid]

Top 5 songs for rainy weather

1. The Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You! Black Emperor (from F♯ A♯ ∞)

The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel.

I have been listening to a lot of post-rock this year -- possibly too much? -- but I think this whole album is a great soundtrack for staring out of the window on a gray and rainy day.

2. Teardrop by Massive Attack (from Mezzanine)

Gentle impulsion shakes me, makes me lighter

… okay, I realized while I was typing this that I probably just picked it because Elizabeth Fraser is singing about rain in the chorus. But it's a good song anyway.

3. Distintegration by The Cure (from Disintegration)

Songs about happiness murmured in dreams when both of us knew how the ending would be

I think my subconsicous has decided that rainy weather is a good time to play albums I listened to too much as a teenager.

4. Drown So I Can Watch by The Twilight Sad (from Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave)

I put you through hell but you carry it oh so well

I really like The Twilight Sad and I would advocate for them about 1000% more often if their name wasn't so embarrassing to say out loud. (Yes, I know it's a reference to the poetry of Wilfred Owen: that makes it worse.)

5. A River Don't Stop To Breathe by múm (from Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know)

Leave us these moments, they're the only things we have

… I already said I was listening to too much post-rock, right? (Though I guess that's not the right label by this point in their career.) Anyway, this is a nice countpart to the GY!BE album, I think: something to listen to while the rain clears and the clouds start to part.

[sleepycap]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997)

An interesting and equally freaky album. The intro for the first track is genuinely one of the most terrifying monologues I've ever heard. And while it's terrifying, this album is also kinda relaxing to listen to? I don't know how to explain it, the slow bpm of the tracks really have a mood to them.

[duchess-music]

1997

Expect reviews of these albums from 1997:

Earthling - David Bowie

OK Computer - Radiohead

Homogenic - Björk

F♯ A♯ ∞ - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Either/Or - Elliott Smith

Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club

Around the Fur - Deftones

Consume Red - Ground-Zero

The Fat of the Land - Prodigy

Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan

The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Blur - Blur

[madmoth64]

Isnt that the cover of Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞?

Fall Out Boy - Flu Game

[mortirolo]

10, 13, and 23

№10 - holland 1945 - neutral milk hotel. I sobbed when I heard it live. I still get emotional when I hear it or what should be obvious reasons

№13 - mystify - inxs. I loved listening to inxs (still do) and kick is such a good album!

№23 - nervous, sad, poor... (in particular the intro section, which is called dead flag blues) by godspeed you! black emperor off the album f♯a♯∞. this could double up for the saddest track, but I put it here for different reasons. ideally it would be the lp version, since there are marked differences across the entire album between that and the cd version but the cd version is just as good

[twunny20fission]

My thoughts on Pitchfork's 150 best albums of the 1990s; #90-#81

Reminder: three completely subjective criteria. 1: do I like it, yes or no? (Basically, is this for me?) 2: Would I recommend it to anyone, yes or no? (is this for anyone else?) and 3: Is it better than STPs "Core"? (The lowest bar. Few things are better than "Purple," but Core should absolutely be in the top 150, so that's the bar.)

90: Ghostface Killah: Ironman (1996). It was fine. Doesn't hit as hard as I wanted it to.

Like it: sure. Recommend: sure. Better than "Core": no.

89: Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages (1991). I'd heard of Sharrock, but never listened to a full album. I enjoyed it greatly. Very glad it was included. It is very tricky to compare against pretty much anything else on this list.

Like it: yes. Recommend: yes. Better than "Core": yes.

88: Sonic Youth: Goo (1990). This band never sounds like I think they're going to. I simultaneously don't get what all the fuss is about and understand why people who really like them like them.

Like it: yes. Recommend: no. Better than "Core": no.

87: DJ Screw: 3 ’N The Mornin’ Part Two (1996). Didn't love it. It was theoretically divided into separate pieces, but really sounded like one big DJ jam-session that went on way too long and lacked inspiration for most of it.

Like it: no. Recommend: no. Better than "Core": no.

86: Spiritualized: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997). Ahead of their time. In that, this album sounded like a movie soundtrack to a pretentious early-aughts movie, more than an album from 1997. It was crowded, far-out (for better or worse,) and deep (usually for worse.)

Like it: no. Recommend: no. Better than "Core": no.

85: Godspeed You! Black Emperor: F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997). Again, very soundtracky. It should have been nowhere near this list. It's not a "best album" album; it's a "album my weird friend left on repeat in college when he took a 6-hour nap one time and I varied between thinking it was cool and hating everything about my life because all that existed was the Sound" album.

Like it: no. Recommend: no. Better than "Core": no.

84: OutKast: ATLiens (1996). Friends, I don't want to hate on OutKast. So I won't. This isn't the best shit I've heard, but I liked it.

Like it: yes. Recommend: yes. Better than "Core": maybe.

83: Slint: Spiderland (1991). I don't know much about this band. Wikipedia claims they are seminal, which means...let me see here..."of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen." Sure. I understood so little of the lyrics that I can't deny that may be accurate. Kyuss is better.

Like it: no. Recommend: no. Better than "Core": no.

82: The Chicks: Fly (1999). I'm no longer in high school. I no longer have to listen to country music so that I can have something to talk to my high school girlfriend about. And I no longer have to pretend any more. I am no longer surrounded by either A) people who think country music sucks or B) so-called 'purists' who think the Chicks aren't "real country." If those people are nearby, they can go to hell. The Chicks RULE. "Fly" RULES. And, while we're talking about it, "Wide Open Spaces" rules, too. (I'm not as familiar with the other albums.

Like it: yes. Recommend: yes. Better than "Core": yes.

91: Radiohead: The Bends (1995). I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't get Radiohead. So strongly do I NOT get them, I firmly believe that anyone who is obsessed with Radiohead (you know the type) is delusional. I'd say I don't hate them as much as Weezer. But I don't get them. You know those bands you love, and you've never been able to articulate why? It's just like...your molecules vibrate the right way when you hear them? I get the opposite of that with Radiohead. My molecules just tilt their little bonds and say "can we change it to something else"?

Like it: no. Recommend: no. Better than "Core": no.

[bynectario]

F♯ A♯ ∞, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, 1997

[rastronomicals]

6:07 PM EDT September 2, 2024:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "The Dead Flag Blues" From the album F♯ A♯ ∞ (August 14, 1997)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

★★★★

We are trapped in the belly of this horrible machine And the machine is bleeding to death

The sun has fallen down And the billboards are all leering And the flags are all dead At the top of their poles

File under: Post-Apocalyptica

[baconlettucetomatoeggs]

We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine And the machine is bleeding to death

-"Dead Flag Blues (Intro)" on "F♯ A♯ ∞" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor