With Hopscotch Festival right around the corner, I wanted to take some time to write about one of the bands headlining Moore Square on September 5th. That band goes by the unforgettable name of Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Emerging in 1994 from the ever so fertile underground scene in Montreal, GY!BE has carved their own path when it comes to a defining genre. Personally, I would say they’re a mix of post-rock, noise-rock, and drone. Their music while being instrumental (with an occasional audio sample), is so powerful that it defies what you’d expect from protest music, which to me is fast, loud, explicit, etc. instead you get these bleak, ambient, honestly haunting melodies that sound like the entire world is coming to an abrupt fiery end.