I thoroughly enjoyed the other ones...there should be more of these. Here's a short guide to the most confusing career I know of.



Background: Godspeed is a massive, revolving collection of musicians from Canada who have been making hypnotic, twisted instrumental music for some time. They formed in 1994.

1994 All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling - This is not really a release, but rather a demo the band worked up. Only 33 copies exist, only in tape form.

1998 f# a# oo - It's not 'oo,' but rather an infinity symbol. This was originally released as an ep in 1997, but was altered in various ways for the final release as this CD. The band was still evolving its style and process, so the various musical themes here are more broken up than in later albums.

1999 Slow Riot for the New Zero Kanada - A 2 track, 27 minute EP. A huge step forward from the f# a# recordings, it includes the track Moya, which is arguably one of their best.

2000 lift yr. skinny fists like antennas to heaven! - One of the greatest records I have ever heard. 4 songs, 2 discs in length, it is the summation of what the band was capable of.

2002 yanqui u.x.o. - A more chaotic, violent, and generally less melodic approach. Where Slow Riot was mournful, and lift was hopeful, this music is destructive and nihlistic, even about its own formula.

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Now it gets confusing....
Godspeed contains so many members, and has so many side projects, that it's almost impossible to keep up. Many of these "side projects" are records that are created by a collection of members from the band, with no outside input. In other words, 4 members of godspeed recording without the rest of the group, but not including any nonmembers.

1999 Molasses, "you'll never be well no more" - A Montreal collective featuring two members of godspeed as well as Sam Shalabi from Shalabi Effect.

1999 Fly Pan Am, "Fly Pan Am" - One of godspeed's guitarists actually considers this his main project. Very similar to godspeed...very good. They actually have two other records out in 2000 and 2002.

2000 Molasses, "triloge: toil & peaceful life" - Second recording by the band.

2000 a silver mt. zion, "he has left us alone but shafts of light sometimes grace the corner of our bedrooms" - Probably the most significant and best of godspeed projects outside of the main band, featuring almost exclusively godspeed members. Amazing music. One warning is that Efrim sings on some Silver Mt. Zion tracks, which is definately not for everybody.

2000 Shalabi Effect - One member of godspeed is involved in this project, but apparently the two groups originally planned to issue a joint work together and never did.

2001 the silver mount zion memorial orchestra and tra-la-la band, "born into trouble as the sparks fly upward" - I heart this record.

2001 Hrsta, "l'éclat du ciel était insoutenable" - New band by Moya, the godspeed member whose departure inspired the above-mentioned track.

2001 Set Fire to Flames, "sings reign rebuilder" - This 13 person collective includes a whopping 5 members of godspeed, and is outfuckingstanding.

2003 Set Fire to Flames, "telegraphs in negative / mouths trapped in static" - Double album, rocks my socks.

2003 the silver mount zion memorial orchestra and tra-la-la band (with choir), "'this is our punk-rock,' thee rusted satellites gather+sing" - EP.

2003 Molasses, "a slow messe" - Third release, a double album.

2003 Esmerine, "if only a sweet surrender to the nights to come be true" - Multiple members of godspeed show up on this disc, including founding guitarist Efrim.

2004 thee silver mountain reveries, "the 'pretty little lightning' e.p." - I haven't heard this yet.

2004 valley of the giants, "valley of the giants" - Great album by members of Broken Social Scene, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Shalabi Effect, and a few other bands.

2005 silver mt. zion memorial orchestra and tra-la-la band, "horses in the sky" - There's a LOT of singing on this disc, which is a sign that the confines of instrumental work was getting to be aggravating for the group.



I've left off a number of side projects or unrelated things (i.e. out of print tapes, songs on compilations, guest appearances), because fuck if anybody could ever collect all of that.

If you wish to download a track or two to see what you may think, I would recommend Moya, off of Slow Riot for the New Zero Kanada, or Storm off of lift yr. skinny fists.

thx

Nice writeup. Definately a confusing band, but well worth the mental anguish suffered when trying to figure out what is going on.

The bands website http://brainwashed.com/godspeed/, contains a wealth of info on side projects as well. Also contains some audio clips (a clip being 3+ minutes of a 20 minute song).

They're like the Pink Floyd of post-shoegazing/post-rock

I own these five and I like them all, particuarly Lift.

j.

I got into Godspeed by listening to Storm almost a year ago. It was, and probably still is, among the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. Lift Your Skinny Fists is a masterpiece.

I also have Born Into Trouble..., and it's fantastic, the first song being especially moving.

I should get more, eh?

got it all cept for the demo (including the Amezine 7", which I think you missed), and the Esmerine and most of Silver Mt. Zion

Lift Your Skinny Fists... is a masterpiece. No other way to put it.

Nope, like I said, I skipped some stuff purposefully. I figure that by the time you get to the point of worrying about the Amezine 7", you don't need anything like this little guide.

I've been insane lately about collecting all these outside projects, both because they're so consistently good and because I picked up a drummer who was originally going to play on the songs I was writing, but we started jamming and it's evolved into a more godspeed-like work. It's been a lot of fun seeing just how far one can push the emotional and sonic limits of an accoustic guitar and a single drum set.

OW! very good

storm is pretty good too




sounds better than Explosions and Mogwai

Agreed. So much better than Mogwai, and significantly better than Explosions (though I do really like Explosions).

I added Valley of the Giants to the side projects list. That's a good record, too.

I don't know if I've ever fully digested "Lift", maybe due to the length, but I hold Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada as their best work. Amazing.

I have Slow Riot and enjoy it a lot. Thanks for the guide. I'll look back at it when I'm ready to buy another one of their albums.

i just bought horses in the sky.

fantastic piece of work...its ncie to hear singing because of late, the whole "post rock" secene was getting kinda stale...

I'm currently diggin' "Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward." Had absolutely NO idea A Silver Mt. Zion was connected to GYBE

By the way, can anyone tell me what the cover of Slow Riot says? Also, is all of Godspeed's stuff instrumental plus spoken word (like in BBF3)?

It's in Hebrew, and it's something regarding creation of the world, I believe. Yeah, it's basically all instrumental.







Great record. I was not ready for that one to be as cool as it was.

When are they going to release a new album