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.
All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling is a cassette released in 1994 by Canadian musician Efrim Menuck, using the name God Speed You Black Emperor! Given a limited release of 33 copies in December 1994, the album quickly fell into obscurity and was thought lost by the band's fans. Segments of the tape were leaked online in 2013 and the full recording surfaced in 2022, after which Menuck officially re-released the album on Bandcamp.
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. It has been listed on multiple decade-end lists as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s.
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 a single LP and on June 8, 1998 through Kranky on CD. The CD version and the LP version have substantial differences between them. Recorded at the Hotel2Tango in the Mile End of Montreal, the album, as became common for the band, 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.
Frankie Sparo was the pseudonym of Chad Jones, a singer/songwriter from Victoria, British Columbia was later based in Montreal, Quebec, where he released two albums and an EP on Constellation Records.
He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… is the debut album of Canadian post-rock group A Silver Mt. Zion, who now record under the name Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. The album was recorded by guitarist Efrim Menuck and bassist Thierry Amar at the Hotel2Tango in 1999, mostly during breaks while touring with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was published by the Montreal-based record label Constellation on March 27, 2000.
Howard Bilerman is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec. He co-owns the hotel2tango recording studio, and played drums for the band Arcade Fire.
Black Ox Orkestar is a quartet that formed in Montreal, Quebec in 2000 who play modern Jewish diasporic music that draws influence from Klezmer, Romani, Arabic, Balkan and other East European traditions alongside indie rock, experimental folk and avant-jazz. The band interprets traditional tunes and composes originals sung primarily in Yiddish.
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.
The Hotel2Tango is a 24-track analogue recording studio situated in the Mile End district of Montreal, Quebec. The current facility is the second to bear the name, and was preceded by a similar operation in the same neighborhood until 2007 when the studio changed locations. The majority of recording projects undertaken at the studio are helmed by one of the facility's four partner-engineers: Efrim Menuck and Thierry Amar, both members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band and Godspeed You! Black Emperor; Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, member of Jerusalem in My Heart; and Howard Bilerman. The Hotel2Tango is often closely associated with Constellation Records, a Montreal-based record label.
Sophie Trudeau is a Canadian musician. She is best known as a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and co-founder of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. She also plays in a number of other bands, including Valley of the Giants and The Mile End Ladies String Auxiliary.
Thierry Amar is a Canadian musician, engineer and producer. He is a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Earthquake Architecture, The Craig Pedersen Quartet and Black Ox Orkestar.
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra was a Canadian post-rock band that formed in 1999, originating from Montreal, Quebec. Variations of the name used on the band's releases include A Silver Mt. Zion, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir and Thee Silver Mountain Reveries; the group uses the shorthand SMZ and its name is most often simplified to Silver Mt. Zion. The group was founded by Godspeed You! Black Emperor leader Efrim Menuck, who was joined by fellow Godspeed members Sophie Trudeau and Thierry Amar. Aside from these core members, Silver Mt. Zion has undergone almost yearly personnel changes, evolving by stages from a mostly instrumental trio at the time of its first recordings into an eight-piece group, and then in 2008 into a strongly vocal quintet.
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.
13 Blues for Thirteen Moons is the fifth full-length album by the Canadian post-rock group, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. The album was released in March 2008. The album consists of an instrumental feedback intro, split into twelve extremely short tracks, and four full songs, which had been played live on recent tours.
Kollaps Tradixionales is the sixth full-length album by the experimental rock group Thee Silver Mt. Zion under the name Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. It was released in February 2010 on Constellation Records. The songs "I Built Myself a Metal Bird", "I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds" and "There Is a Light" were played on earlier tours.
At the Cut is a 2009 album by Vic Chesnutt. It was his penultimate album release before his death on December 25, 2009, from an overdose of muscle relaxants. The song "Flirted with You All My Life" alludes to Chesnutt's own attitude toward suicide, including his previous attempts to take his own life. Along with North Star Deserter, this album features various members from the Canadian post-rock band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, as well as Fugazi's vocalist and guitarist Guy Picciotto.
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.
