I'm surrounded by friends that adore this band and I just finally got my first gulp of their music. I'm totally behind.
I can see how Godspeed has served as a key influence of many bands that are making it big today. They have a clear, concise sound that I can tell few in the nineties really had.
The thing I can't really understand is how Godspeed got as big as they did. People flocked for this show and the band knew it. Thankfully, they had the decency to play four shows all at Lee's Palace. There's nothing worse then when you have tickets for a tight, intimate show and the band pulls it to a bigger venue.
Although there were some tickets for sale at the door, this show was ram packed. This was a man's show, post-rock is a male adored genre. I always get such a kick of shows where women are the minority. You could tell people were delighted to finally hear this band live.
I really loved the film reel bits they had going on while they played. The first few tunes had the word "hope" showing in the screen behind, the rest of the show had various other images, no words to follow. From where I was sitting I could hear the film moving in the projector, a sound I greatly enjoy hearing.
I think it'll take a bit more than a loyal fan base of enthusiastic concert goers for me to get in this band. Given they had a tremendous live sound, I still don't think this show alone is enough to hook me into their music. Music-wise, I think I better enjoyed the Mogwai show tonight.
I hope I haven't lost my cool completely as a music lover/journalist.
Godspeed's popularity is a bit of a mystery to me as well. I know they had their cinematic, lengthy "movements" that separated them from the crowd a bit. Also, I know NME did a big article on them, they actually took the cover of the mag, so that was probably the bit that gained them all the exposure they needed for the global post-rock crowd that had been building since Talk Talk's "Spirit of Eden" and the emergence of Dirty Three, among others.
ReplyDeleteIt's totally fine to not dive into Godspeed :P I have a few friends that listen to their work at arm's length, in a more situational kind of way. I mean, listening to "The Dead Flag Blues" is more an experience than a normal composition, and sometimes it's not really fitting to relive that experience over and over again. I love the band to bits, but I'm not about to listen to "Storm" on a bus, or "Providence" while on a walk during a bright sunny day, or "Motherfucker=Redeemer" at a time where I'm at peace. It just wouldn't fit, for me at least.
Post-Rock is, for me, a genre all about stories and memories and experiences...at least in the way that it compliments them. All of the post-rock that means anything to me can be tied to memories I have that are connected with albums, or sometimes specific tracks from these bands. There's a fair bit of post-rock bands that never get exposed to these situations, so I tend to value them less.
In the end, it's all personal preference. I'm kind of jealous that you saw Mogwai and that you're into them, I've never really been able to click with their music and it really aggravates me. Maybe one day I'll have my Cowon on random shuffle and something of theirs will come on and feel new. *shrug*
As for GYBE, I don't really have any advice to get you hooked. Yanqui U.X.0 is great around the twilight hours, with a thunderstorm rolling in. Good in the dead of night too. F#A#infinity is great after watching a film like "The Road" or whatnot. I don't know. I'm pretty mood-driven when it comes to post-rock, so I tend to take a lot of things into account when listening to it. *shrug*
You haven't lost your cool :P