Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Godspeed You Black Emperor!: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000)

Untitled
Spread over two CDs or two LPs are four pieces entitled Storm, Static, Sleep, and Antennas to Heaven.

The full track listing is:

Storm:
Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas To Heaven...
Gathering Storm / Il Pleut À Mourir [+Clatters Like Worry
"Welcome To Barco AM/PM..." [L.A.X.; 5/14/00]
Cancer Towers On Holy Road Hi-Way

Static
Terrible Canyons Of Stati
Atomic Clock.
Chart #3
World Police And Friendly Fire
[...+The Buildings They Are Sleeping Now]

Sleep
Murray Ostril: "...They Don't Sleep Anymore On The Beach..."
 Monheim
Broken Windows, Locks Of Love Pt. III. / 3rd Part

Antennas To Heaven...
Moya Sings "Baby-O"...
Edgyswingsetacid
[Glockenspiel Duet Recorded On A Campsite In Rhinebeck, N.Y.]
"Attention...Mon Ami...Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La..." [55-St.Laurent]
She Dreamt She Was A Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone In An Empty Field
Deathkamp Drone
[Antennas To Heaven...]

It seems that the reviewers at Allmusic are fans, as they wrote:

"Storm" vents a powerful frustration (each listener can insert their own reasons why) with majestic screams of strings, guitars, and layers, resulting in a climactic and passionate soaring. It eventually winds down into an exhausted aftermath of piano, underlying drones, and frustrated rants. The second piece, "Static," is a wandering, isolationist piece of bleak expanses shaded with darker emotions, but the remaining two works raise the album back up to the impressive standard set by the opening cut, though with less furor and even more loveliness. "Sleep" opens with an elderly gentleman reminiscing about Coney Island, and his frank and amusing narration briefly recalls the recordings of David Greenberger and scenes from the documentary Vernon, FL. This narration is followed by a slow and melodic piece featuring a pseudo-theremin effect amidst all of the other instrumentation. "Antennas to Heaven" opens with someone playing acoustic guitar, singing "What'll We Do with the Baby-O," soon washed over with sound, which then gives way to a brief chorus of glockenspiels, and on. [source]

The site awards 4.5 stars. Pitchfork said that the record "is a massive, achingly beautiful work, alternately elegiac and ferocious." [source]

My only criticism is with the pressing. One of the records in the set is not flat. It plays fine, but it has what I would call a slight warp. This really irritates me.

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