Jump to content

Post-VC: Official Post-Rock/Post-Metal Discussion


mrewest
 Share

Recommended Posts

This post is mostly for Shelby, since I told him I'd elaborate on the Godspeed show last night. But I figured a few others may be interested to read it.

It was my second time catching them, and it was probably just as magical (if not more) than the first time around. I wasn't nearly as close to the stage as I was for the first go, but I still had a fantastic review of their projections and the full band. The opened with the signature Hope Drone, obviously, and at one moment I closed my eyes and imagined myself in the threshold of a turbine engine, running at full speed. Just immense. But for as crushingly loud as they were, I got lucky in the sense that it wasn't a punishing kind of loud. I had forgotten my hearing protection in the car - something I never do - and was weary of the results... but it wasn't bad at all. A bit surprising when you consider how much is happening at once on the stage, and just how loud each respective band member is.

Hope went straight into Storm. They played it the last time I saw them - and even used the same footage - but it was every bit as breathtaking. But this is where I have to point out my one gripe with the band, or perhaps the venue – even though they're a clean, satisfying level of loud, they were coming out of the gates at volume 11. So when the song builds and builds, and layers are added and eventually emphasized... the change in dynamic just wasn't really there. As a result, I wasn't really getting the shifting and building that I was so accustomed to hearing from the MP3s / CDs / vinyl. When everyone was doing their thing at full force, there wasn't a lot of wiggle room to up the ante. And as a result, parts of their movements sounded a bit more repetitive than they should've been. More on that in a second.

From Storm they went straight into playing their last album, Asunder, in all of its glory. Efrim's noisy solo in the middle of Peasantry sounded just as gritty as I hoped it would, and the band even took the liberty of condensing a bit of the drone out of Lambs' Breath. They wasted very little time getting into the meat of the album – before I knew it, the ghostly, melancholic strings that pave the way for Piss Crowns were met with some haunting footage-loops of deer in the dark of the night. What caught me off guard (and resonates so well with me, even 24 hours later) was the projectionist's timing in that moment. For those quite familiar with Asunder – in that last track, you know when the drums just kick in and thud, and you can tell shit is about to go down? As soon as that sound came crashing in, he flipped the footage to dedicate the entire half of the stage to a close-up of a gigantic fucking ghost-deer. It was jarring to say the least. The tension at the beginning of that track and the way he was timing the footage was just unsettling in the best way possible. I can't really describe it, but it gave me goosebumps.

Piss Crowns Are Trebled was basically everything I wanted it to be. Being my second time seeing it perform – while also far more familiar with it, this time around – all of its twists, turns, rises, and falls were doubly appreciated. Sophie's violin highlight and solo just... soared. Gorgeous stuff. But going back to the volume issue; one of the best parts about Piss Crowns – and more specifically, the finale of the entire album – is how it has that stretch towards the last minute or two where everything gradually crashes harder and harder. It builds, and builds, and gets more intense with each passage, reaching a point where you assume it couldn't possibly get any more climactic and loud... at which point it kicks your teeth in and continues to raise the bar. But with the bar already so high, for every moment of the entire night, that build just wasn't there and it was a little disappointing. They just kind of played the same sequence of notes on loop. I hope someone can understand what I mean and where my [ever-so-slight] disappointment stems from, with the final moments of that song.

Then the band debuted a new song, aptly titled "Buildings" to tie in with the footage of skyscrapers mid-construction, stock numbers, and city life. The bluesy guitar near the beginning caught me off guard, but this thing truly takes off and shines. I'm confident that it's the "dance" song that Gumbo referred to, when he caught them back a while ago. It was surprisingly bright and upbeat for the band, and the crowd was very aware of it – everyone was bobbing and swaying more than they did at any other point in the night. All I can say about this song, based off my one time hearing it, is that the melodies are incredibly strong and infectious. It has a great hook going for it almost immediately, and it just works and builds off of that in a very satisfying manner. It's a little optimistic for GY!BE, but I really liked it. It could sit very well on a fully fleshed album, and act as a counterweight to some of the somber material the band writes so well.

Speaking of which – the band's closer. East Hastings. They didn't play it the last time I saw them, and as soon as I heard those gloomy guitar notes pierce the air, I got chills. That song begins so slow, with Efrim taking lengthy gaps in-between each bit of guitar, and out-of-focus police cars flashing their sirens on the projector. But as the songs culminates and grows, the footage gets more intense, and it's probably the coolest thing I've seen Godspeed produce in a live setting. It felt so much more intense, noisy, and dynamic than the studio version everyone is so familiar with. The climaxes were absolutely insane, and the entire thing went out in noisy glory that left me dumbfounded and grinning like an idiot.

Time to sate my Godspeed kick for a few weeks, while praying to Efrim that the new album drops in 2016.

I have seen them live only once (in Vancouver 2013) but I feel every word you've written.

Easily the best Post-Rock Band I've seen live!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This post is mostly for Shelby, since I told him I'd elaborate on the Godspeed show last night.  But I figured a few others may be interested to read it.

 

It was my second time catching them, and it was probably just as magical (if not more) than the first time around.  I wasn't nearly as close to the stage as I was for the first go, but I still had a fantastic review of their projections and the full band.  The opened with the signature Hope Drone, obviously, and at one moment I closed my eyes and imagined myself in the threshold of a turbine engine, running at full speed.  Just immense.  But for as crushingly loud as they were, I got lucky in the sense that it wasn't a punishing kind of loud.  I had forgotten my hearing protection in the car - something I never do - and was weary of the results... but it wasn't bad at all.  A bit surprising when you consider how much is happening at once on the stage, and just how loud each respective band member is.

 

Hope went straight into Storm.  They played it the last time I saw them - and even used the same footage - but it was every bit as breathtaking.  But this is where I have to point out my one gripe with the band, or perhaps the venue – even though they're a clean, satisfying level of loud, they were coming out of the gates at volume 11.  So when the song builds and builds, and layers are added and eventually emphasized... the change in dynamic just wasn't really there.  As a result, I wasn't really getting the shifting and building that I was so accustomed to hearing from the MP3s / CDs / vinyl.  When everyone was doing their thing at full force, there wasn't a lot of wiggle room to up the ante.  And as a result, parts of their movements sounded a bit more repetitive than they should've been.  More on that in a second.

 

From Storm they went straight into playing their last album, Asunder, in all of its glory.  Efrim's noisy solo in the middle of Peasantry sounded just as gritty as I hoped it would, and the band even took the liberty of condensing a bit of the drone out of Lambs' Breath.  They wasted very little time getting into the meat of the album – before I knew it, the ghostly, melancholic strings that pave the way for Piss Crowns were met with some haunting footage-loops of deer in the dark of the night.  What caught me off guard (and resonates so well with me, even 24 hours later) was the projectionist's timing in that moment.  For those quite familiar with Asunder – in that last track, you know when the drums just kick in and thud, and you can tell shit is about to go down?  As soon as that sound came crashing in, he flipped the footage to dedicate the entire half of the stage to a close-up of a gigantic fucking ghost-deer.  It was jarring to say the least.  The tension at the beginning of that track and the way he was timing the footage was just unsettling in the best way possible.  I can't really describe it, but it gave me goosebumps.

 

Piss Crowns Are Trebled was basically everything I wanted it to be.  Being my second time seeing it perform – while also far more familiar with it, this time around – all of its twists, turns, rises, and falls were doubly appreciated.  Sophie's violin highlight and solo just... soared.  Gorgeous stuff.  But going back to the volume issue; one of the best parts about Piss Crowns – and more specifically, the finale of the entire album – is how it has that stretch towards the last minute or two where everything gradually crashes harder and harder.  It builds, and builds, and gets more intense with each passage, reaching a point where you assume it couldn't possibly get any more climactic and loud... at which point it kicks your teeth in and continues to raise the bar.  But with the bar already so high, for every moment of the entire night, that build just wasn't there and it was a little disappointing.  They just kind of played the same sequence of notes on loop.  I hope someone can understand what I mean and where my [ever-so-slight] disappointment stems from, with the final moments of that song.

 

Then the band debuted a new song, aptly titled "Buildings" to tie in with the footage of skyscrapers mid-construction, stock numbers, and city life.  The bluesy guitar near the beginning caught me off guard, but this thing truly takes off and shines.  I'm confident that it's the "dance" song that Gumbo referred to, when he caught them back a while ago.  It was surprisingly bright and upbeat for the band, and the crowd was very aware of it – everyone was bobbing and swaying more than they did at any other point in the night.  All I can say about this song, based off my one time hearing it, is that the melodies are incredibly strong and infectious.  It has a great hook going for it almost immediately, and it just works and builds off of that in a very satisfying manner.  It's a little optimistic for GY!BE, but I really liked it.  It could sit very well on a fully fleshed album, and act as a counterweight to some of the somber material the band writes so well.

 

Speaking of which – the band's closer.  East Hastings.  They didn't play it the last time I saw them, and as soon as I heard those gloomy guitar notes pierce the air, I got chills.  That song begins so slow, with Efrim taking lengthy gaps in-between each bit of guitar, and out-of-focus police cars flashing their sirens on the projector.  But as the songs culminates and grows, the footage gets more intense, and it's probably the coolest thing I've seen Godspeed produce in a live setting.  It felt so much more intense, noisy, and dynamic than the studio version everyone is so familiar with.  The climaxes were absolutely insane, and the entire thing went out in noisy glory that left me dumbfounded and grinning like an idiot.

 

Time to sate my Godspeed kick for a few weeks, while praying to Efrim that the new album drops in 2016.

Fuck yeah dude.

As far as the new song goes, the "dance" part that I was referring to is the build in the middle, when the drummers are doing a 4-on-the-floor beat with the kick drum, and doing 16th notes on the hi-hats. I also believe that song started with some super heavy bass chords, and sweet, yearning slow melody.

This song:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fuck yeah dude.

As far as the new song goes, the "dance" part that I was referring to is the build in the middle, when the drummers are doing a 4-on-the-floor beat with the kick drum, and doing 16th notes on the hi-hats. I also believe that song started with some super heavy bass chords, and sweet, yearning slow melody.

This song:

Yup, that's the one. I dig it. The bluesy guitar bit at the beginning and end are some surprising (albeit welcome) bookends.

And it usually takes a few days (or a few weeks) for Audio Tree to upload their sets. It's random, from my experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First time really dipping into this thread...not sure why I haven't before...but since I'm now listening to entire LP, I highly recommend the Death Index s/t. Deathwish is putting it out and it's very much all things post-punk/metal. 

 

 

(If it's been mentioned before...then D'oh!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • jhulud locked this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist