Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located in Montreal. After the release of their debut album in 1997, the group toured regularly from 1998 to 2003. Their second album, 2000's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, received critical acclaim and has been named as one of the best albums of the decade. In 2003, the band announced an indefinite hiatus in order for members to pursue other musical interests. In the intervening period, the group was occasionally rumored to have broken up, but finally reconvened for a tour which began in late 2010. Since reforming, they have released four more albums, the most recent being G_d's Pee at State's End! in April 2021.
Constellation Records is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal, Quebec. It has released albums by many post-rock bands, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band and Do Make Say Think.
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, or Levez Vos Skinny Fists Comme Antennas to Heaven on the rear of physical releases, is the second studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released as a double album on October 9, 2000 on vinyl by Constellation and November 8, 2000 on CD by Kranky.
Set Fire to Flames was a Canadian instrumental music ensemble consisting of thirteen musicians from Montreal, Quebec. The band was often considered a side project of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as the two groups shared several members.
F♯ A♯ ∞ is the debut studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was first released on August 14, 1997 through Constellation Records on vinyl and on June 8, 1998 through Kranky on CD. The CD version and the vinyl version have substantial differences between them, the CD version being considered the more definitive version, as it is more easily accessible. Recorded at the Hotel2Tango in the Mile End of Montreal, the album is devoid of traditional lyrics and is mostly instrumental, featuring lengthy songs segmented into movements. It was initially released in limited quantities, and distributed through live performances and developed a cult following via word of mouth.
Hrsta is a Montreal post-rock band currently signed to Constellation Records. The band's leader, Mike Moya, was one of the founding members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Hrsta's sound has been compared to that of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Set Fire to Flames, owing to Mike Moya's contributions to each. Hrsta, however, differs from these previous projects in that it features Moya as a vocalist.
Esmerine is a Canadian modern chamber music group that incorporates genres such as post rock, drone music, post punk, and Turkish folk. Founded in Montreal in 2000 by Bruce Cawdron (drums) and Beckie Foon (cello), current members also include percussionist Jamie Thompson and multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson. The band has released six albums. Dalmak, was awarded Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2014. Their 2015 album Lost Voices is nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2016.
Efrim Manuel Menuck is a Canadian musician involved with a number of Montreal-based bands, most notably Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. Menuck is also a frequent record producer and engineer, working with musicians from Montreal and abroad.
This article contains a discography of Constellation Records.
Mike Moya is a Canadian rock musician, who is one of the founding members of post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. He left the band in 1998 to concentrate on his other bands Molasses, Set Fire to Flames and HṚṢṬA., but rejoined the band during their reunion in 2010. He was part of the live band of labelmate Elizabeth Anka Vajagic. He lives between Berlin and Montreal with his partner Maria Hinze and their family.
The discography of Godspeed You! Black Emperor—a Canadian post-rock musical collective from Quebec—consists of seven studio albums, one extended play, one split single, and two contributions to various artists compilation albums.
Yanqui U.X.O. is the third studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released on November 4, 2002 by Constellation. It was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago in late 2001, and was the band's first album released after their slight name change. Lacking both their characteristic interwoven field recordings and specifically named movements, the album was instead described by the band as "just raw, angry, dissonant, epic instrumental rock". Shortly after its release, the group announced an indefinite hiatus so band members could pursue differing musical interests; it was their last album for a decade until the release of 2012's 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!.
Rebecca Foon is a Canadian cellist, vocalist, and composer from Montreal, Quebec. Foon currently records under her own name, as well as the alias Saltland, and is a member and co-founder of the Juno Award-winning modern chamber ensemble Esmerine. She has also been a member of several groups associated with the post rock, experimental, and chamber music scenes of Montreal and New York City, including Set Fire to Flames, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Colin Stetson’s Gorecki Symphony of Sorrow ensemble. Esmerine's Turkish folk influenced album Dalmak, released in 2013, was awarded the Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year in 2014. In 2013, she released her first Saltland album, which Exclaim.ca called "a captivating combination of genres from dream pop to chamber music to ambient and shoegaze." In 2020, Foon released Waxing Moon, her first album under her own name, which received international acclaim. Foon has also composed many soundtracks for film and museums. Foon is an environmental activist and co-founder, with Jesse Paris Smith, of Pathway to Paris and the 1000 Cities Initiative for Carbon Freedom, dedicated to turning the Paris Agreement into reality.
'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! is the fourth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released on October 15, 2012, by Constellation Records, which was their first album since 2002's Yanqui U.X.O.. After reforming in 2010, the group went on tour and silently released the album at a concert in Boston on October 1, 2012, with official release dates on October 15 in Europe and the following day in other countries. The album received positive reviews and has been heralded as a comeback for the collective, winning the 2013 Polaris Music Prize.
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress is the fifth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released on 31 March 2015 by Constellation Records. The album was recorded with Electrical Audio engineer Greg Norman in North Carolina and Montreal, and was the first to feature completely new material since the band's reformation in 2010. It is also, with the exception of the vinyl version of F♯ A♯ ∞, the group's shortest album to date, timing in at just forty minutes.
Hiss Tracts is a Canadian experimental musical duo consisting of guitarist and sound engineer David Bryant and guitarist Kevin Doria. The pair have released one album, Shortwave Nights, by recording and combining instrumental and ambient sounds.
Luciferian Towers is the sixth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released on 22 September 2017 by Constellation Records
Quiet Zone is a 2015 Canadian experimental short documentary film directed by Karl Lemieux and David Bryant; they co-wrote the screenplay and Bryant wrote the score. It was produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
Karl Lemieux is a Canadian film director best known for his collaborations with Montreal-based post rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor and his 2016 film Shambles.
G_d's Pee at State's End! is the seventh studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released on 2 April 2021 by Constellation Records.
