Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
Critic Score
Based on 9 reviews
2002 Ratings: #109 / 259
User Score
2002 Rank: #37
Liked by 241 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Drowned in Sound
In all, mesmerising, relevant and utterly essential.
80
The Guardian
For the most part, the five tracks keep the listener's attention over their inordinate length because they sound human and passionate: the melodies are engaging, the band are audibly playing for their lives. In that respect, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are far less pretentious than their attendant publicity suggests.
80
Uncut

Innovations are few ... Still, when these nocturnes, crescendos and intimations of apocalypse remain so musically rich and emotionally powerful, it seems churlish to demand more.

70
Tiny Mix Tapes

Where their previous outings were often predictable (slow build to a roaring crescendo), the interesting arrhythmic interludes and haunting taped voices kept things engaging. Yanqui U.X.O., on the other hand, dismisses both, opting for a more straightforward, raw sound.

70
AllMusic

Though the critical backlash against Godspeed You! Black Emperor has already begun, this is music for a different kind of engagement; one that sets its own agenda and pushes against its own history.

70
SPIN

Verbal sound bites once provided subtext for Godspeed's cinematic symphonies. But on Yanqui, those voices have fallen silent, and there's too much barren drift.

70
Sputnikmusic
The Canadian legends leave us in a shroud of controversy.
60
Q Magazine
The usual barrage of angry cello instrumentals.
56
Pitchfork

The tracks on Yanqui are content to continue building to bored, satiated endings we can see coming 20 minutes in advance.

BradTasteMusic
85

While pretty, I can’t help but feel like Yanqui has something to offer that I’m just not fully understanding.

Edit: (71 -> 85) removing field recordings from the mix does make this a strange album in the catalogue for sure. It makes this much harder to interpret. However I can’t help but feel like this is one of Godspeeds most ambitious and grand projects. It just seems so cryptic. It has had me listening nonstop the last week.

UltimateLifeFrm
90

Perfection once again, I can't handle it!

Released in November 2002, having been recorded sometime in 2001 at Electrical Audio in Chicago, the Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor was the band's most polarised album upon release. I get that it's a different approach from the 2 predecessors, but I still find a lot to like about it.

The band chose to forego their signature approach of including field recordings & each track broken into movements, instead opting for 5 entirely ... read more

Gustavstone07
90

How do you follow up perfection?

Yanqui U.X.O. is the third studio album released by post-rock giants Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Releasing in 2002, it was the follow up album to the groundbreaking masterpiece, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, which was and still is considered one of the greatest albums of the decade. This of course raised the question, how on earth was the band going to follow up such a perfect record? It's been done before, the Beatles followed up Revolver ... read more

denkirena
90

Very good, not as perfect as most of their work during that era but still a great piece of art.

ithixf
90

great album, absolutely not better than F#A# or LYSFLATH though.

depechemode4lif
83

A great droning ambient release from Godspeed that is a great nighttime album for me and one I like falling asleep too :)

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Track List

109-15-00
16:27
93
209-15-00 (cont.)
6:16
86
3Rockets fall on Rocket Falls
20:42
92
4motherfucker=redeemer
21:22
93
5motherfucker=redeemer (cont.)
10:10
94
Total Length: 1 hour, 14 minutes
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Added on: October 8, 2012