ALL LIGHTS FUCKED ON THE HAIRY AMP DROOLING

UPDATED 6 FEBR 2022 - See addendum below after original review :)

Beware! This review may be a hoax :o

One of the greatest mysteries or perhaps greatest hoaxes comes in the form of the alleged debut release of GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR which in the early days existed with an alternative punctuation, thus GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR! This Montreal, Quebec based music collective formed in 1994 and claims to have released their debut album titled ALL LIGHTS [%*!#]ED ON THE HAIRY AMP DROOLING in December 1994 and was limited to only 33 cassette copies.

This was well before the full band experience and the GODSPEED was only Efrim Menuck, Mauro Pezzente and Mike Moya and well before the huge sudden ascent into the heights of the post-rock world. The claims are that no copies have survived since they were all distributed to fans and then lost forever with no known backups or other formats. The album was a 4-track recording and according to a 2010 interview by Menuck, was supposedly a vocal rock album that is unlike the popular and renowned style they developed soon after their formation.

In 2013, a Reddit user named casketjack claimed to have found a copy in storage and uploaded two songs to bayfiles.net and then accordingly to YouTube with the plan to upload the entire album but supposedly didn't either a) because of fear of legal issues or b) the account was deleted shortly after having done so. Either way, sounds sketchy to me. Of the two tracks that are on YouTube, namely "Random Luvly Moncton Blue(s)" and "Dadmomdaddy," it does indeed sound like these could be legit as some sort of downer industrial indie rock turned post.

As for the legitimacy of this one, i find it dubious that absolutely no copies have survived and that not at least one member would have kept a single copy and the fact that no stories have arisen out of the purported 33 owners seems sketchy to me which leaves me with little hope that this ever existed in the first place. As a marketing gimmick i would have to say that this is brilliant as the legendary status of this release is the music world's equivalent to a bigfoot or yeti sighting being abducted by a UFO. Personally i doubt it exists but if it does it would be a welcome listening experience.

No i haven't heard this album but despite that i'll give the supposed two tracks i heard 3 stars. Since this release is utterly unobtainable and either an elaborate hoax or simply lost forever, just the legendary status of reading about this has been as entertaining as many musical listening experiences, so i'm gonna do something i would never do otherwise and give this 3 stars just for the shrouded mysteries that surround it. Chances are since i love everything GODSPEED has released that it would deserve 3 stars merely for existing. But of course i can't rate an album i haven't heard.

This review, of course, is subject to change!

ADDENDUM:

Well it looks like this legendary M.I.A. demo has finally seen the light of day as a leak on 4 February 2022 after years of speculation as to its authenticity thus catapulting it to the top of the charts as far as legendary unreleased albums that may or may not be real are concerned. On this date in history this 68-minute demo of 27 tracks found its way onto a mega.nz folder and then posted on 4chan and as well all know that means it's up for grabs for the whole world to post wherever they can! Yes the genie is out of the bottle but i can't help but wonder if this is indeed a legit demo recording that was created long ago before GODSPEED! cranked out all those gorgeous post-rock world changing albums or was this recorded after the fact to keep the rumors of hoax at bay?

Well who knows and i doubt the fact these musical specimens have arisen will tamp down the mysterious nature of it after all these decades. I still think it's dubious that the tapes have all gone missing but perhaps this demo is quite legit and members have simply been holding them back in order to create a stir across the internet at a carefully timed moment. Whether real or not one thing is for sure and that is that ALL LIGHTS [%*!#]ED ON THE HAIRY AMP DROOLING does indeed SOUND very much like a primeval version of GODSPEED! getting all its mojo in place to release some of those groundbreaking musical gems that followed.

From a musical point of view this is nothing even close to what would emerge on the band's official debut "F♯A♯∞" that blended all those field recordings, ambience and droning in the context of 90s post-rock however there are several elements already present here that do sound like they very well could be the first iotas of inspiration that would coagulate in the next few years to craft one of the world's most popular post-rock stars. While this is very much demo quality avant-folk, garage band rock and sound collages mashed up into almost 69 minutes worth of listening time, this collaborative effort featuring the trio of Efrim Manuel Menace, Mauro Pezzente and Mike Moya certainly presents itself as a legit artifact finally having been resurrected from its catacomb.

How in the world could 33 copies get made and not a single one having made it onto the internet by now? Was this deliberately done so because the band was ashamed of this lo-fi scattered flow of ideas or was it simply held back for a precision timed publicity stunt? Or even worse was it recorded in the last years to make it seem like it is legit but is really a hoax either by the band itself or somebody playing a prank on the world? I guess the mystery continues! As a musical statement this is about as raw and unpolished as it gets and i can totally comprehend why the band may not have wanted these demo recordings to see the light of day. There is nothing here to get overly excited about but it does display the birth pangs of what sounds like the GODSPEED! albums that so many love so well. Anyway you slice it, if real, this is an exciting day indeed because even if it is fake i can apply a rating now! Oh yeah!

There is a difference between gone and lost. When something is gone, it can never be retrieved again, when something is lost, it can be found again. This happened one time in history. One day, in 1911, a painting, a rather famous painting more specifically, was stolen from the Louvre. It sparked a full wide investigation and speculation on who took it. When it was finally brought back, it was a lost relic at the time and soon became one of, if not the most important pieces of art in culture. That painting was the Mona Lisa. However despite it being the most important pieces of art, a lot of people who saw it were let down. While I haven't seen it myself, people who have said it was rather underwhelming, with it being fairly small and not some big grand spectacle the lore built it up to be, however it is not the painting that should be appreciated, but giant story surrounding the art piece. This reminds me though, you know the saying on how history repeats itself? It happens a lot, and I feel like now, especially after these past few weeks, we got our own Mona Lisa, the post modern Mona Lisa.

In 1993, the frontman to the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Efrim Menuck, created a 70+ minute demo tape, which soon was the cinders to what would late become the band to make such albums like Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven and Alleujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!, however due to him being poor and homeless at the time, he could only make 33 copies of the demo as cassette tapes. Soon, somewhere in the 2000s, due to constellation records releasing art of the cassette tape's art, Godspeed fans started to go wild. What could this album be, what did the early forms of Godspeed sound like? With interviews of people talking to Efrim about the album, hype around the album soured higher and higher. One day, on Reddit, a user by the name of CasketJack unveiled that he had the cassette and he asked what the deal was about it. Soon he leaked 2 songs off the album, Random Luvly Moncton Blues (S) and Dadmomdaddy. A lot of people really wanted to hear the full thing, but the begging, pleads, and even the occasional threat made CasketJack delete his Reddit account, never unveiling the cassette, leaving it lost to time, never to be found or heard ever again?is what I would say if an unexpected occurrence happened. This year, a 4chan user uploaded the entire cassette tape on the messaging boards, and soon, a YouTube channel by the name of naskivik uploaded the album onto YouTube, which set the entire Godspeed fanbase into a frenzy. The lost album has finally surfaced, the lost has been found, but was it the real deal. Later that week, Godspeed themselves uploaded the entire album onto Bandcamp, confirming that this was the real album, the real deal. The Mona Lisa has been found for the modern generation, however is it like the Mona Lisa to where the journey is more brilliant than the destination, or is the destination as good as the journey?

Now fair warning, do not expect the sounds you'd hear on albums like Yanqui U.X.O or Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada. You aren't gonna get that. What you will get is some fairly decent noise, ambient, and Avant Garde rock music. These definitely feel like the pollen of the band's beginnings, but they also feel strangely obtuse in compared to their other releases. Think of this as The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Different sound compared to what they would make in the future. It also has vocals, and the singing is kinda bland honestly. I can definitely tell why Efrim would not sing in any other Godspeed release since, because he cannot sing. It is also pretty hard, both in song and quality. A lot of grainy textures, bassy guitars, and some headache inducing noises. Hearing this album feels like an intense, experimental nightmare of noise, chaos, sadness, confusion, and unlike the stuff on their later releases, no hope. This may be the most cynical and gloomy album I have heard from any band, and while it definitely peaks my interest for a possible timeline where Efrim would continue Godspeed as a solo project than a 9 piece post rock group, it doesn't make me want to experience something like this headache induced mess of an album. It is clear that Efrim made this when he was at his most low, and his music reflected his life, a messy and confused ensemble of pain. But luckily, even when there is no hope in the songs, it is strangely uplifting, hearing such chaos, but you know the storm will settle down, and will rise a beautiful sun on the horizon, and I think this is the album's strong suit, but that doesn't detract from the fact this album isn't all that good, or really worth hearing again.

So, as I said, this is the post modern Mona Lisa. A historical piece of pop culture that has been lost for nearly 30 years and gave way to some of the rawest historical events in post rock history, and it finally being found gave way to what could be the most important album to ever resurface on the Internet, however like the Mona Lisa, it is not particularly good. Really it's not bad, but what more can you gain or lose from it. It's a experimental and loud mess, but without it, we might get a whole new music world as we know it. A world without Godspeed You! Black Emperor would be terrifying, moreso than their music. So while I do not like this album musically, for what it is worth and what it brought forth though should not be discredited. Keep doing what you are doing Efrim, you are doing good.