AT STATE’S END!

 

Every time a new album comes out by an artist I like, I usually spend 45 minutes or so zooming around the internet, reading reviews and seeing what all the dilettantes and music snobs have to say.  And what they usually seem to have to say is how low whatever particular artist I’m reading about has fallen, and how they used to be great but now they suck, and wah wah wah.

 

And then, of course, they go on to lament how the internet is full of dilettantes and music snobs.

 

Good times.

 

So, having said that, let me just state that the new Godspeed You! Black Emperor album kicks ass.  If you liked their past work, you’ll like this.  It’s totally recognizable as Godspeed, but not derivative of their past work.  The packaging, as always, is beautiful.  The music is gorgeous and discordant and anthemic.  And, as a bonus, the two shorter “drone” pices that they seem to like including these days, are probably their two best, in that they have more structure and more of a form than the past ones.

 

So, as always, fuck the haters.