Legendary Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a slew of albums between 1997 and 2002 – including F♯ A♯ ∞ and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven – that are generally recognized as having redefined protest music. Long instrumental and emotional compositions serve as soundtracks for post-capitalist alienation and resistance.

The band’s first four releases are considered by many to be classics of the time and the genre. The distinctive iconography & tactility of their album artwork and their legendary live-shows – whereby 16mm projectors display looped collages of overlapping, analogue film – further define their aesthetic mystique.

The band has never had a website or social media accounts, never made a video, barely released press photos, and only gives collective, written interviews. Few bands in the 21st century have been so stubborn in their attempts to let their work speak for itself and enforce simple rules to minimize the cult of personality that is still prevalent in (rock) music.

After a seven year hiatus, ‘Godspeed’ returned to the stage in December 2010 as curator of the British festival All Tomorrow's Parties. We’re now 14 years further and hundreds of sold-out concerts on. In September 2024 they’ll be releasing their eighth album, again on the sublime Constellation Records. This will certainly be one of those concerts not to be missed this fall.

Concert pictures © Willem Mevis