Yanqui U.X.O.
by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 54 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 54
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 54
  3. Negative: 2 out of 54

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  1. MitchM
    Oct 2, 2006
    10
    Great album. Their best hands down.
  2. JonL
    Nov 15, 2006
    10
    It doesn't show the balls-out part of Godspeed, like their first two albums, but it shows them in the mode of craftsmen. This doesn't mean the album sounds safe and comfortable, though, far from it. If anything, it feels kind of like a continuation of the last passages of "Antennas To Heaven" in a more rock form, but with the unsettling feelings of old gloom long since forgotten It doesn't show the balls-out part of Godspeed, like their first two albums, but it shows them in the mode of craftsmen. This doesn't mean the album sounds safe and comfortable, though, far from it. If anything, it feels kind of like a continuation of the last passages of "Antennas To Heaven" in a more rock form, but with the unsettling feelings of old gloom long since forgotten with a hint of wistful twilight in some sections nonetheless. The group is as martial and rousing as ever, and the album is nearly as haunting as the most autumnal moments of "Lift Your Skinny Fists...", but perhaps this will fit as the final statement from the band, as I truly can't see where they can grow from here. They have certainly left three essential albums full of uncanny passion and dread like no band before or since them has replicated, and that is more of an achievement than prolific composing.… Expand
  3. HTam
    Sep 14, 2006
    10
    Among the greatest music ever recorded. Those into common music won't get it, but it's a post-rock masterpiece. Also it's all instrumental, which already filters out the mainstream listeners.
  4. Mardy
    Nov 26, 2002
    10
    With my skinny little fist I say, "God Speed You Black Emperor!". This is the best album ever made by a real black emperor. Check it out homies. Though I am white, I feel you all the way to my skinny little fist
  5. MaxH
    Nov 13, 2002
    9
    So what do you do when you make an unfailingly beautiful record like Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, and then try and follow it? Godspeed have reached the OK Computer syndrome, trying to follow what is universally accepted as near-perfect, groundbreaking work. This album is a distinct departure from the band's previous work, despite all the comments of a homogenous So what do you do when you make an unfailingly beautiful record like Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, and then try and follow it? Godspeed have reached the OK Computer syndrome, trying to follow what is universally accepted as near-perfect, groundbreaking work. This album is a distinct departure from the band's previous work, despite all the comments of a homogenous sound. Yanqui glistens with the feel of more than its nine players, creeping out of the woodwork like a full orchestra. There are no samples, and no drone interludes connecting the larger passages. Instead, the compositions are more ambitious, the notes more dissonant. This album is not about simple relief and beauty. Godspeed are more unsettled than ever (if thats possible) and their progressions have far less of the easy relief of past work. The payoff is unimaginably powerful. This album is to be read like novel, sat with and taken in. That could be said for all their work, and most Post-Rock, but it has NEVER been true like it is now. All that, and the glorious "Motherfucker=Redeemer," which comprises tracks 4 and 5, could be the best work this band has ever done. In a very real sense, it was all leading here. … Expand
  6. BenD
    Jun 12, 2006
    9
    while i would have liked to hear the voice sample and explosions of noise from Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, i still find Yanqui U.X.O. to be a very exciting listen. Overall there is more actual music and less of the ambient noise passages from skinny fists. I would highly recommend motherfucker=redeemer. This track could just possibly be the future of the band.
  7. KeithH
    Nov 26, 2005
    9
    I have only just found this band via Aural Moon; stunning, ethereal, challenging. Loved Motherfucker=Redeemer.
  8. PaulB
    Mar 1, 2005
    8
    Perhaps Albini should have been expected to do it, but UXO is stripped down, and replete with new melodic ideas. Infitiny, Slow Riot, and Skinny Fists were all triumphs, and UXO surely deserves a plac alongside these records as such. However, having seen them live during this period, I have to say that this record sounds so different from their prior work. The reason I feel this is, based Perhaps Albini should have been expected to do it, but UXO is stripped down, and replete with new melodic ideas. Infitiny, Slow Riot, and Skinny Fists were all triumphs, and UXO surely deserves a plac alongside these records as such. However, having seen them live during this period, I have to say that this record sounds so different from their prior work. The reason I feel this is, based on their in-show visuals of anti-war protests, I have something to attach to their previously impenetrable, but powerful, emotional vistas. The purveyors of the self-proclaimed "saddest form of rock and roll" have drawn out the development on this record, sharpened to peaks, and then force all the survivors to tread seeminly endless plateaus of resigned defeat. The album closer, the second half of Motherfucker=Redeemer, however, hints at optimism: this is the one piece on this record that ends as its growing, that doesn't settle. Perhaps GSYBE have not given up hope after all. Essential listening.… Expand
  9. DB
    Apr 11, 2004
    7
    I cannot with any kind of self integrity, rate this any higher. While they did make a good album to say this is better or even as good as their previous works would be complete bullocks. There is one thing missing through out this entire album and that is the small vessel of hope swimming in their sea of sorrow. While this album goe in a different direction, (which is always good) it is I cannot with any kind of self integrity, rate this any higher. While they did make a good album to say this is better or even as good as their previous works would be complete bullocks. There is one thing missing through out this entire album and that is the small vessel of hope swimming in their sea of sorrow. While this album goe in a different direction, (which is always good) it is not nearly as experimental as "Lift Your Skinny Fingers..." or others. It's the smeared sounds and haunting arrangement that make them one of the best ensembles in the history of music. Which is the very thing that never materializes in this effort.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

49
#49 Best Album of 2002
89
#89 Most Discussed Album of 2002
36
#36 Most Shared Album of 2002

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. The A.V. Club
    70
    Stripped of some of Godspeed's hallmarks, including its creepy spoken-word samples and propensity for building to an overbearingly climactic full-on pummel, the disc's power lies more in its subdued shading and slow, methodical builds.
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  2. Salon
    80
    A difficult and rewarding thrill.
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  3. Delusions of Adequacy
    90
    Lift Your Skinny Fists… told a story, included more extremes in volume and emotion, and added vocal samples. Yanqui, thus, is more subtle, more restrained. Yet it's also more moody, more cerebral, more intense.
    Read full review
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