Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
Constellation
2015
Rating: Yep.
I'm not entirely sure what to say about a Godspeed You! Black Emperor recording after this many years...they have a sound all their own, and this new record very much sounds like their sound. Spacey, doomy, loud, symphonic, dark, abrasive, beautiful...you know what you're getting here, and I highly doubt anyone interested in these Canadians needs to be sold on it. If you need something that differentiates this from their other records, it feels like there might be more violins this time around, or they're at least louder in the mix. The final song "Piss Crowns are Trebled" is amazing, very dynamic. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'm not sure why you would be looking at this dumb review on this obscure blog to start with. Just go check out their album "Yanqui UXO" and go from there.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend
Constellation
2012
Rating: 7.5 double plays out of 10
I often think of Godspeed You! Black Emperor as the godfathers of instrumental post-rock... not because they were the first to play this style of music or are the most popular, but they just seem the most...important. I realize this is mostly me talking out of my ass, but their music seems like it is more than just a gang of Canadian musicians playing long songs with no vocals, it feels much more special than that. Maybe I'm reading more into their music than I should, but based on the most recent live viewing of the band a lot of other guys between 30 and 40 who don't like to shave feel the same way.
Anyways, first record in a decade, four songs in a little under an hour, blah blah blah, all the shit all the other reviewers are saying. Bottom line - it's awesome. Opening track "Mladic" at nearly 20 minutes long is worth the price of the album by itself. The song gets so heavy around the middle that they venture into metal territory. Really beautiful stuff. The other epic track "We Drift Like Worried Fire" is also a fine addition to their canon, though not as heavy as the first. The other two are just noisy filler for my money, but I'm sure the avant-whatever folks will dig it.
Frankie Sparo
Welcome Crummy Mystics
Constellation
2003
Rating: 6.5 lead weights out of 10
I have to admit, I wasn’t terribly excited when I got this CD to
review. I had heard the previous full length "My Red Scare" by Frankie Sparo and it hadn’t done much for me at all. I don’t know if
Frankie is now writing songs that are more along my lines of enjoyment, or if my tastes have changed, but either
way I enjoyed this record much more.
Frankie is from Montreal, so I guess that makes him
French-Canadian (insert jokes here). The foundation most of his songs are built on are simple singer/songwriter fare
– but it’s the flourishes he adds to it that makes it unique. Shades of Tom Waits in his voice (only nowhere near
as gruff as Waits) with highlights reminiscent of a lounge singer; the music is somewhat similar to what you expect out
of Constellation, walking a fine line between the mellower moments of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Dirty
Three, and Barry Black (solo project of Archers of Loaf/Crooked Fingers front man Eric Bachmann).
Some of the songs just sit there as background music, some perk your
ear from time to time, but one is really terrific. It’s called "Akzidenz Grotesk," and it’s Frankie’s
closest foray toward a more classic "pop" song. The rest of his tracks are enjoyable enough in a meandering sort
of way, but this one really seems
like it’s going somewhere. Actually, it did go somewhere, straight into
my brain to get stuck for days on end.
