"F♯ A♯ ∞" (pronounced F sharp A sharp infinity) is the debut album by Canada's post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band is very well known among the post-rock community, and this particular albums tends to be a fan-favorite. It is one of the band's darkest recordings. GY!BE's style of post-rock consists very heavily of field recordings among the band's climactic instrumentation. It was originally released on August 14th, 1997 under Constellation Records on vinyl LP. A CD release of the album was later made available through Kranky on June 8th, 1998.
The definitive release of this album is questionable. The vinyl LP and CD versions differ quite a bit. The original vinyl LP release consists of one track on each side, clocking in at about roughly 20 minutes each. The CD release has a some portions moved around and removed, and a little over 30 minutes of new content. Both versions of the album are excellent, and comes down to personal preference.
The CD release is readily available in-store and online for a fair retail price. The packaging is nothing out of the ordinary, but the booklet that serves as the cover is fairly well put together. The 12 page booklet contains eight pages of artwork and four transparent overlays that follow the "apocalyptic" theme of the album. The two tracks are shown split into movements in one of the booklet's pages. A bit of an introduction to the "story" of the album is also made available.
The vinyl LP release of the albums is one of the most interesting that I have personally seen. The first 500 copies of the album were and numbered. Newer copies are not numbered, but come with all of the original packaging. The album comes in a maroon, textured sleeve with one of three different photographs glued to the cover. Inside of the sleeve there is also a manila envelope containing many different inserts. In the envelope there is a sheet with the albums credits, various pieces of artwork (some by the band), an old handbill from a previous show, and a train-crushed Canadian penny. To this day, the album remains intact with all of these inserts and remains available at a retail price. In addition to these, the B side of this album contains a "locked groove", meaning that the record will continue to play until you remove the needle (a reference to the infinity in the album's name) A visual of the album and the inserts follows below.
Checked out the band's website - http://www.brainwashed.com/godspeed/main.html and did some exploring. Listened to the full track of The Dead Flag Blues. They do have a unique sound and style, into spoken word - melancholy, perhaps? Hard to listen to them and not ponder on the state of things.
ReplyDeleteMost of their work makes very heavy use of spoken word and field recordings in general. However, GY!BE remains an instrumental band at heart. The side project of one of the members however (A Silver Mt. Zion), does make heavier use of clearly audible band vocals while still retaining a similar sound to GY!BE.
DeleteThough there is a definite melancholy in a great deal of their songs (this album especially), it is usually met alongside some rather triumphant and grandiose sections.
My nephew lives in Canada and is a huge rock fan and he turned me on to a band called Alexisonfire that is out of Ontario. I am sure you would like them. Check them out. http://www.theonlybandever.com/
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