Some of the finest work being done today is that of the Canadian hydra Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band’s roster at times became quite unwieldy, once spiking up to fifteen members, and settling back to an average of nine. One can imagine the eleven member-strong Arcade Fire in another decade or two and after repeated shifts in line-up: between resignations and forced evictions, between side projects and solo careers, the network of the Arcade Fire brand would become a musical genre all its own. And the comparison is relevant: the core of Godspeed You! Black Emperor seems just as keen on creating capital-M Music, and as an end to itself.

Some of the related artists are HRSTA, Esmerine, Black Ox Orkestar, HangedUp, Sackville, Set Fire To Flames, Valley of the Giants, and others. All of these are the subject of future posts, but for this inaugural post, it is only fitting to start at the beginning.

In what you quickly realize to be a very rare interview, founder Efrim Menuck said, “We formed … with two guitars, a bass and tape loops. We didn’t have much of a vision at the time. The original idea was to play one note for one hour. That was the first brick, and we’ve built on that, but we still have that first brick buried somewhere in the wall as the cornerstone.”

He continues:

There was a wish to go beyond the conventional format of rock bands – that two-guitars-bass and drums verse/chorus/verse/chorus thing. There’s no one leader of the band. Different people contribute different things; different flavours, which make it more complicated.

When we started out it was very improvisational, but after a while we’d played together so much that we knew each others cues – it’s like jazz, when you can be waiting for the snare to come in before a tempo change.

It’s true. Words really do fail:

I hope you enjoy it. But if you don’t, wait around a while, because there is much more — and much different — music to come.