Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Alright, so this wraps up another year. Not only that, but this is the blog's 800th post, and as you might know, I like to feature a major, noteworthy band for every 100 posts. This long-awaited, highly requested, and absolutely essential band seemed like the perfect choice for this for this milestone and year end. As always, thank you guys so much for your continued support, I'm happy to keep this thing going well past the expiry date of the mp3 blog. I'll see ya in the New Year (though I won't feel any different).

It's difficult to even know where to begin with a band this gargantuan. They're momentous in their respective genre, and very well known and loved across the musical spectrum for their orchestrated apocalypse, reaching new heights in post-rock and drone music. Of course we're talking about Godspeed You! Black Emperor, one of the most essential and breath-taking bands ever to exist. I'm not going to go into much detail about their history (since it's fairly well-known and documented), but they're (currently) a 10-piece post-rock band that originated in Montreal, Quebec (Canada) in 1994. They began as a small outfit (3 musicians and 1 film projectionist, the visual component has always been massively important to them). They released the limited hallowed cassette All Lights Fucked On The Hairy Amp Drooling, which was limited to 33 copies and has never been unearthed since its release. To this day, there are no copies online. Allegedly it sounds very different from the band we know today (they utilized vocals), and as their line-up expanded, so did their sound.

By 1997, they had rounded out a large line-up of musicians and instrumental variety, as they crafted these massive pieces marked by movements, crescendos and desolate atmosphere. This resulted in F# A# ∞, the band's debut record. Initially released on vinyl, it was re-recorded and re-arranged for a CD release the following year. Their next major output was a two-track EP, which is just as essential as any of their full-lengths. "Moya" in particular is an incredible piece on that EP. Y2K rolls around, and the world implodes at the release of their magnum opus, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. This is one of my favourite albums ever, one of the best and most highly regarded post-rock albums ever released, and all in all an incredible listening experience. It ranges from drone passages to gorgeous heaven-reaching crescendos, with incredibly layered instrumentation and seamless movements. It's been discussed to death, just listen to this masterpiece if you have not already. Following Lift Your Skinny Fists... they released Yanqui U.X.O., which was a much more raucous affair than its predecessor. It unfortunately didn't live up to the group's first few standout projects, but it's still a very solid album and well worth the listen. In 2003 they disbanded, though many of its members were active in other projects such as Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Fly Pan Am.

The GY!BE spark was reignited in 2010, as they started to play shows again. In 2012 they came out with a new record, which consisted of material recorded both before they broke up and after they reunited. Their sound alternates between the massive ebb-and-flow movements of their early records and these new, droning interludes, providing something familiar and something new. It's a phenomenal record, and an absolute staple in their catalogue. They've since released two new albums in this decade, both of which are very solid outings, but again don't quite hit the same highs as their best albums. Having said that, even relatively "decent" GY!BE is still absolutely outstanding in the canon of post-rock. There's really not much more that needs to be said, this band and their music are super well-known and often discussed. The only thing I would like to add is if you get a chance, pick up physical copies of their material. The visual components of each album are integral to the full vision of these projects, and the artwork is always amazing. Thanks for another good year, and enjoy.

F# A# ∞ (Vinyl) (1997)

1. Nervous, Sad, Poor...

2. Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful...

F# A# ∞ (CD) (1998)

1. The Dead Flag Blues

2. East Hastings

3. Providence

aMAZEzine 7" (1998)

1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Sunshine + Gasoline

2. Fly Pan Am - L'espace Au Sol Est Redessiné Par D'immenses Panneaux Bleus

John Peel Session (1998)

1. Hung Over As The Queen In Maida Vale

Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada (1999)

1. Moya

2. BBF3

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000)

1. Storm

2. Static

3. Sleep

4. Like Antennas To Heaven...

Yanqui U.X.O. (2002)

1. 09-15-00

2. 09-15-00 (cont.)

3. rockets falls on Rocket Falls

4. motherfucker=redeemer

5. motherfucker=redeemer (cont.)

'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (2012)

1. Mladic

2. Their Helicopters' Sing

3. We Drift Like Worried Fire

4. Strung Like Lights At Thee Printemps Erable

'Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress' (2015)

1. Peasantry or 'Light! Inside Of Light!'

2. Lambs' Breath

3. Asunder, Sweet

4. Piss Crowns Are Trebled

Luciferian Towers (2017)

1. Undoing A Luciferian Towers

2. Bosses Hang

3. Fam / Famine

4. Anthem For No State

G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! (2021)

1. A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) / Job's Lament / First of the Last Glaciers / where we break how we shine (ROCKETS FOR MARY)

2. Fire at Static Valley

3. "GOVERNMENT CAME" / Cliffs Gaze / cliffs' gaze at empty waters' rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE

4. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)

“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” (2024)

1. SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS

2. BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD

3. RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD

4. BROKEN SPIRES AT DEAD KAPITAL

5. PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS

6. GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS

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Have a Nice Life

Have a Nice Life are a two-piece experimental rock band from Middletown, Connecticut that began in 2000. The band consists of Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga. Since their formation, they have been sparsely active, but have garnered a cult following thanks to their incredibly unique style of music and magnum opus, 2008's Deathconsciousness. The band blends elements of post-punk, shoegaze, post-rock, industrial, drone, doom, and ambient music to create one of the darkest, depressing and most existential records of all time. In its near hour and a half run-time it explores a litany of expansive sounds, themes and emotions, making the final project a work of absolute genius. I consider it to be one of the most personally affecting works of art ever made, and (as cliché as it sounds) sitting alone listening to Deathconsciousness in a dark room is an experience (as pretentious as that sounds). By the culmination of the album in the final minutes of "Earthshaker", it's hard not to be truly moved, like standing on a mountain of solitude watching your life flash before your eyes. It's an album that stands on its own without any clear contemporaries, which is fitting considering the isolating nature of the music. The production and recording quality is another major contributor to the feel of this album, with it being recorded for less than $1000, giving it a lo-fi sound that still feels full, warm, and organic. It's truly cut from its own cloth, and there hasn't been a record before or since that can truly compare to it. Even the bands often cited as being its influencers (Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine) don't really capture the same sounds that Have a Nice Life do on this album, and those are the titans of their respective genres. To cut this short and avoid further ranting, just listen to this album.

Their debut album was the sole occupant of a desolate island until 2014, when Have a Nice Life released their follow-up album, The Unnatural World. It follows a similar aesthetic to their debut, but with a significantly shorter run-time. It still reaches incredible heights, and puts the listener in a mood torn between life-affirming and death-approaching. Additionally, they have also released one EP (Time Of Land) and two compilations that contains b-sides and demos from throughout their career that were not included on their two studio albums. The two musicians comprising Have a Nice Life are also active in many other projects, most notably (and also recommended) Dan Barrett's Giles Corey, who released an incredible LP in between the two Have a Nice Life albums. Enjoy.

Deathconsciousness (2008)

Disc 1: The Plow That Broke the Plains

1. A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut

2. Bloodhail

3. The Big Gloom

4. Hunter

5. Telefony

6. Who Would Leave Their Son Out In The Sun?

7. There Is No Food

Disc 2: The Future

1. Waiting For Black Metal Records To Come In The Mail

2. Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000

3. The Future

4. Deep, Deep

5. I Don't Love

6. Earthmover

Voids (2010)

1. The Big Gloom

2. Waiting For Black Metal Records To Come In The Mail

3. The Future

4. Earthmover

5. Who Would Leave Their Son Out In The Sun?

6. Human Error

7. Trespassers W

8. Defenestration Song

9. I'm Doctor House

10. Sisyphus

11. Destinos

Time of Land (2010)

1. Wizard Of The Black Hundreds

2. Woe Unto Us

3. The Parhelic Circle

4. The Icon And The Axe

The Unnatural World (2014)

1. Guggenheim Wax Museum

2. Defenestration Song

3. Burial Society

4. Music Will Untune The Sky

5. Cropsey

6. Unholy Life

7. Dan And Tim, Reunited By Fate

8. Emptiness Will Eat The Witch

Voids II (2014)

1. Knife Throwing Contest

2. Basic

3. Death By Death

4. Swords To Plowshares

5. Telefony

6. Earthmover

7. Saving Throw vs. Paralysis

8. Quote

9. Deep, Deep

10. I Left And My House Burned Down

11. All Teeth (Afterlives cover)

12. Hunter

13. Feral Optimists

14. Stars And Air

Note: I'm not sure if this is an official release, but it contains a lot of the band's earliest material in one place, so here it is anyway

Sea Of Worry (2019)

1. Sea Of Worry

2. Dracula Bells

3. Science Beat

4. Trespassers W

5. Everything We Forget

6. Lords of Tresserhorn

7. Destinos

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meth.

meth. are a six-piece "noisecore" band from Chicago, Illinois that have been around since 2017. They play an incredibly dark, noisy, and dissonant style of music that blend genres such as metalcore, black metal, drone, powerviolence, screamo, and grindcore to form this bludgeoning sound. It's an orchestra of drills and hammers, with shrieks and guttural moans as its conductor. These tracks come together in menacing chaos and hyperactive tension, and this band has truly blown me away. They released an EP earlier this year, the wonderfully titled I Love You, and another incredible one last year. I cannot recommend this enough for fans of music that's been pushed past an extreme limit, because this has definitely knocked me on my ass. Enjoy.

The Children Are Watching (2017)

1. The Bed In The Forest

2. Hazelona

3. The Mother's Garden

4. It Wasn't An Accident

5. Elder Body

6. Buried In The Woods (Bonus Track)

I Love You (2018)

1. Opaque Release

2. Shuttering Impulse

3. Prayer In Shallow Water

4. Ascend And Dispose

5. You Are Home

Mother of Red Light (2019)

1. Failure

2. Child of God

3. Swallowed Conscience

4. Her Womb Lays Still

5. Inbred

6. Cold Prayers

7. Psalm Of Life

8. Return Me (My Body)
9. The Walls, They Whisper

SHAME (2024)

1. Doubt

2. Compulsion

3. Blush

4. Give In

5. Cruelty

6. Shame

7. Blackmail

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This Will Destroy You

This Will Destroy You are a post-rock band from San Marcos, Texas that formed in 2004. They self-recorded and self-released their debut EP Young Mountain in 2005 before giving it a proper release in 2006. Ten years later, the band is still celebrated as being one of the best post-rock acts to come out in recent years, and have established themselves as a name of their own. However, to return to Young Mountain, it's hard not to bring up this fantastic debut without making a very strong comparison to a certain other Texas post-rock band, Explosions In The Sky. The gentle guitar arpeggios, reverberated tremolo picking, and climatic build-ups are all staples of both band's sounds.

This Will Destroy You continued this guitar-driven atmospheric sound into their debut full-length, where they crafted even grander sonic landscapes that are as immersing as they are soaring. They expanded their palette to include more electronic tinkerings and longer, more ambient breaks in melody. Essentially they were setting themselves apart from the "Your Hand In Mine" comparisons of their still-gorgeous sound they established on Young Mountain.

2011 brought a large shift in tone for the band, with the release of their second full-length Tunnel Blanket. For one, it's a much darker record than their previous efforts, both in terms of sound and visual aesthetic. It's a little more comparable to a band like Russian Circles, though still very much set apart as its own entity. The band brings in elements of drone and doom metal, with a more despairing tone that eschews the cliche crescendo/climax format of their earlier material. Another Language furthers this, bringing in a noisier, heavier, and more chaotic sound to their now very diverse arsenal of sounds to experiment with. Like any great band in this realm of music, This Will Destroy You can perfectly balance violent storms with serene calms, and this juxtaposition makes for some very captivating and endearing music. I know this band has been highly requested, so I'm happy to finally have them up on here. Enjoy.

Young Mountain (2006)

1. Quiet

2. The World Is Our ___

3. I Believe In Your Victory

4. Grandfather Clock

5. Happiness: We're All In It Together

6. There Are Some Remedies Worse Than The Disease

This Will Destroy You (2008)

1. A Three-Legged Workhorse

2. Villa Del Refugio

3. Threads

4. Leather Wings

5. The Mighty Rio Grande

6. They Move On Tracks Of Never-Ending Light

7. Burial On The Presidio Banks

Field Studies (2009)

1. This Will Destroy You - Brutalism & The Worship Of The Machine

2. This Will Destroy You - Freedom Blade

3. Lymbyc Systym - Processed Spirits

4. Lymbyc Systym - Notations

5. Lymbyc Systym - Narita

Moving On The Edges Of Things (2010)

1. Rituals

2. Woven Tears

Communal Blood (2010)

1. Communal Blood

2. Reprise

Tunnel Blanket (2011)

1. Little Smoke

2. Glass Realms

3. Communal Blood

4. Reprise

5. Killed The Lord, Left For The New World

6. Osario

7. Black Dunes

8. Powdered Hands

Live In Reykjavik, Iceland (2013)

1. A Three Legged Workhorse (Live)

2. There Are Some Remedies Worse Than The Disease (Live)

3. Black Dunes (Live)

4. Burial On The Presidio Banks (Live)

5. Glass Realms (Live)

6. Communal Blood (Live)

7. Quiet (Live)

8. They Move On Tracks Of Never-Ending Light (Live)

9. Little Smoke (Live)

10. The Mighty Rio Grande (Live)

11. Threads (Live)

Another Language (2014)

1. New Topia

2. Dustism

3. Serpent Mound

4. War Prayer

5. The Puritan

6. Mother Opiate

7. Invitation

8. Memory Loss

9. God's Teeth

Doused In Mud, Soaked In Bleach (2016)
6. Paper Cuts (Nirvana cover)

Note: Full comp here

New Others Part One (2018)

1. Melted Jubilee

2. To Win, Somebody's Got To Lose

3. Syncage

4. Allegiance

5. Weeping Window

6. Like This

7. Go Away Closer

New Others Part Two (2018)

1. Sound of Your Death

2. Lie Down in the Light

3. Clubs

4. Jesse Ray

5. Cascade

6. New Promise Land Inc.

7. Provoke

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Full Of Hell

Full Of Hell are a four-piece hardcore/noise/experimental band from Maryland and Pennsylvania formed in 2009. They are known for their insane blend of punk, sludge, grindcore, powerviolence, noise, and electronic experimentation into their sound, which makes them stick out as one of the most blistering acts modern hardcore has to offer. They also put on a crazy live show, so be sure to take advantage of that if the opportunity is ever presented.  Their sound is incredibly dark and dissonant, and can at times be droning, and others completely frenzied. So far, they've put out two crushing full-lengths, as well as numerous splits with other great bands. Most recently, they released a collaborative album with the legendary Merzbow, which has been getting a ton of attention, and for good reason. As the year ends, I'm sure it'll slide into a lot of best-of 2014 lists very soon. Enjoy.

The Inevitable Fear Of Existence (2010)

1. Intro/Lead Tongue

2. Black Iron

3. Horus

4. The Inevitable Fear of Existence

FOH NOISE VOL 1 (2011)

1. there is a beginning...

2. a dream

3. walking dissonance

4. and an end...

Full Of Hell/Goldust (2011)

1. Full Of Hell - Vessel Deserted

2. Full Of Hell - Kopf Meines Vaters

3. Full Of Hell - The Void Awaits

4. Full Of Hell - Rat King

5. Goldust - Entrails

6. Goldust - Ruine

Roots Of Earth Are Consuming My Home (2011)

1. Pile Of Dead Horses

2. Endless Drone

3. The Bed Is Burning

4. Rat King

5. The Mare

6. Dregs Of Pluto

7. Black Iron

8. Roots Of Earth Are Consuming My Home

9. Pisces Legs

10. The Oars Are Broken

11. Affirmation of Nothing

FOH NOISE VOL 2 (2011)

1. Deafening Echoes

2. ...Of A Vacant Dwelling

Full Of Hell//Code Orange Kids (2012)

1. Full Of Hell - Fox Womb

2. Full Of Hell - Damp Reeds In A River, Dry

3. Code Orange Kids -  IV (My Mind Is A Prison)

4. Code Orange Kids - V (My Body Is A Well)

FOH NOISE VOL 3 (2012)

1. Dead Mudlark In Thames

2. Output 1-2 6

3. Atmosphere

The Guilt Of/Full Of Hell (2012)

1. The Guilt Of - Election Of The Severed Hand

2. Full Of Hell - Attrition of The Elm Claw

Full Of Hell/Calm The Fire (2012)

1. Full Of Hell - Return To The Mines

2. Full Of Hell - Kopf

3. Full Of Hell - The Lonely Path Of The Cestoda

4. Full Of Hell - Molluck

5. Calm The Fire - Paralyzed

6. Calm The Fire - We'll Be Fine

Epilogue Of A Car Crash... A Tribute To Orchid (2013)

2. Framecode (Orchid cover)

FOH NOISE VOL 4 (2012)

1. Passed Past

2. Airstrike #304 : Civilians Become Soot

3. Secular Form

4. Birth Of Trog

5. Paint Peels Listless From Every Wall

Rudiments Of Mutilation (2013)

1. Dichtomoy

2. Vessel Deserted

3. Coven of The Larynx

4. Throbbing Lung Fiber

5. Indigence And Guilt

6. Embrace

7. The Lord is My Light

8. Bone Coral And Brine

9. Rudiments of Mutilation

10. In Contempt of Life

Music From The Dial (2013)

1. Dichotomoy / Vessel Deserted

2. Coven of The Larynx

3. Return To The Mines / Throbbing Lung Fiber

4. Fox Womb

Full Of Hell/Psywarfare (2014)

1. Full Of Hell - Thee Unsurmountable Wall

2. Psywarfare - The Exotic Sounds Of...

Full Of Hell/Merzbow (2014)

1. Burst Synapse

2. Gordian Knot

3. Humming Miter

4. Blue Litmus

5. Raise Thee, Great Wall, Bloody And Terrible

6. Thrum in The Deep

7. Shattered Knife

8. Mute

9. High Fells

10. Ljudet Av Gud

11. Fawn Heads And Unjoy

Sister Fawn

1. Ergot

2. Merzdrone

3. Aphid

4. Crumbling One

5. Litany Of Desire

Amber Mote In The Black Vault (2016)

1. Halogen Bulb

2. Amber Mote

3. Barb And Sap

4. Oven (The Melvins cover)

One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (2016)

1. One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache

2. Fleshworks

3. The Butcher (Leonard Cohen cover)

4. Gehorwilt

5. World Of Hope And No Pain

6. Himmel und Hölle

7. Bottled Urn

8. The Little Death

9. Cain

10. Abel

Note: Collaborative album between The Body & Full Of Hell

Live At Roadburn (2016)

1. Halogen Bulb

2. Pile Of Dead Horses

3. Vessel Deserted

4. Burst Synapse

5. Humming Miter

6. Amber Mote In The Black Vault

7. Thrum In The Deep

8. Shattered Knife

9. Mute

10. The Lonely Path (of the Cestoda)

11. Barb And Sap

Nails/Full Of Hell (2016)

1. Nails - No Longer Under Your Control

2. Full of Hell - Thy Radiant Garrote Exposed

3. Full of Hell - Bez Bólu

Trumpeting Ecstasy (2017)

1. Deluminate

2. Branches of Yew

3. Bound Sphinx

4. The Cosmic Vein

5. Digital Prison

6. Crawling Back To God

7. Fractured Quartz

8. Gnawed Flesh

9. Ashen Mesh

10. Trumpeting Ecstasy

11. At The Cauldron's Bottom

Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light (2017)

1. The Body & Full of Hell - Light Penetrates

2. The Body & Full of Hell - Earth is a Cage

3. The Body & Full of Hell - The King Laid Bare

4. The Body & Full of Hell - Didn't The Night End

5. The Body & Full of Hell - Our Love Conducted With Shields Aloft

6. The Body & Full of Hell - Master's Story

7. The Body & Full of Hell - Farewell, Man

8. The Body & Full of Hell - I Did Not Want To Love You So

Full Of Hell/Intensive Care (2018)

1. Full of Hell - Loom Of Jewels

2. Full of Hell - Collateral Damage

3. Full of Hell - Latched And Snared

4. Intensive Care - Diprivan

5. Intensive Care - Cancer Causes Rats

Weeping Choir (2019)

1. Burning Myrrh

2. Haunted Arches

3. Thundering Hammers

4. Rainbow Coil

5. Aria of Jeweled Tears

6. Downward

7. Armory of Obsidian Glass

8. Silmaril

9. Angels Gather Here

10. Ygramul The Many

11. Cellar Of Doors

Garden Of Burning Apparitions (2021)

1. Guided Blight

2. Asphyxiant Blessing

3. Murmuring Foul Spring

4. Derelict Satellite

5. Burning Apparition

6. Eroding Shell

7. All Bells Ringing

8. Urchin Thrones

9. Industrial Messiah Complex

10. Reeking Tunnels

11. Non-Atomism

12. Celestial Hierarch

Aurora Leaking From An Open Wound (2022)

1. Aurora Leaking

2. Swarming Hornets

3. Blinding Erasure

Suffocating Hallucination (2023)

1. Full Of Hell & Primitive Man - Trepanation For Future Joys

2. Full Of Hell & Primitive Man - Rubble Home

3. Full Of Hell & Primitive Man - Bludgeon

4. Full Of Hell & Primitive Man - Dwindling Will

5. Full Of Hell & Primitive Man - Tunnels To God

Full Of Hell/Gasp (2023)

1. Full Of Hell - A Ladder Made Of Warped Light

2. Full Of Hell - All Knew None

3. Gasp - Impact Miracles

4. Gasp - Byflower Babel

When No Birds Sang (2023)

1. Full Of Hell & Nothing - Rose Tinted World

2. Full Of Hell & Nothing - Like Stars In The Firmament

3. Full Of Hell & Nothing - Forever Well

4. Full Of Hell & Nothing - Wild Blue

5. Full Of Hell & Nothing - When No Birds Sang

6. Full Of Hell & Nothing - Spend The Grace

Coagulated Bliss (2024)

1. Half Life Of Changelings

2. Doors To Mental Agony

3. Transmuting Chemical Burns

4. Fractured Bonds To Mecca

5. Coagulated Bliss

6. Bleeding Horizon

7. Vomiting Glass

8. Schizoid Rupture

9. Vacuous Dose

10. Gasping Dust

11. Gelding Of Men

12. Malformed Ligature

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