Surgery 300: godspeed you! black emperor

As is consistent with my low grade anxiety I silently debated for the last few weeks how I might tackle this 300th episode. I wanted to do something that would tie in with a piece I was writing over at my Substack, Indie Dependence, about the history of the show... so some sort of summary of its existence seemed apt. But rather than compressing 20 years of programming into one hour I did the next worst thing: compress it into a nearly 21 hour Spotify playlist you can listen to by clicking here. That taken care of, or at least kind of taken care of, the answer for what to do with the actual show occurred to me in the most obvious manner. I am off to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor in New Hampshire in just over a week, and in many ways they are one of the bands that put me on the musical course that led me here. I saw them for the first time back in 1998 at a festival in Halifax, NS having no prior knowledge of their existence, Then again less than a year later at Victoriaville, QC's FIMAV. In 2004 I was enlisted to facilitate a show for them here in Fredericton, NB... a task that proved excessively unpleasant behind the scenes, not because of anything to do with the band, only with all the other logistics involved. I'm told the show was transcendent for many on hand... I came away with a stress-triggered nosebleed... the one and only time this has ever happened to me. The last time I saw them was in the much more relaxed environs of a five night stand of theatre shows in their hometown of Montreal back in 2011. Much like compressing 20 years of podcast history into one hour is impossible, summarizing the band's 25 year career and seven totemic albums into such an abbreviated time does not do them justice. Still I feel like there is a kind of flow in the edits here, so hopefully the show will serve as a kind of reminder to some already on board and an introduction to those as yet unfamiliar... if that's at all possible. Enjoy.

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F# A# ∞ (Kranky / Constellation)

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven... (Kranky / Constellation)

Yanqui U​.​X​.​O. (Constellation)

ALLELUJAH! DON'T BEND! ASCEND! (Constellation)

Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress (Constellaion)

"Luciferian Towers" (Constellation)

G_d​’​s Pee AT STATE​’​S END! (Constellation)

 

Track Listing

note: most of these tracks are edits, not full length

 

Dead Flag Blues [0:00]

Storm [6:39]

Like Antennas to Heaven [17:19]

Rockets fall on Rocket Falls [20:46]

We Drift Like Worried Fire [27:38]

Piss Crowns are Trebled [38:01]

Bosses Hang pt. II & III [44:31]

A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) [54:19]