'' U.X.O.'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Canadian

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

band

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock collective that originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation Records (Canada), Constellation, an in ...

, released on November 4, 2002 by

Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

. It was recorded by

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

Electrical Audio Electrical Audio is a recording facility founded in Chicago, Illinois by musician and recording engineer Steve Albini in 1997. Hundreds of independent music projects have been recorded there. Unlike most producers, Albini refused to take any roya ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in late 2001, and was the band's first album released after their slight name change (moving the

exclamation mark The exclamation mark (also known as exclamation point in American English) is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show wikt:emphasis, emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks ...

from the "emperor" to the "you"). Lacking both their characteristic interwoven

field recording Field recording is the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It can also include the recording of electromagnetic fields or vibrations using diff ...

s and specifically named

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

, the album was instead described by the band as "just raw, angry, dissonant, epic

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes instrumental performance and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental music in rock can be found in practically every subgenre of the style. Instrumental rock was most popular f ...

". Shortly after its release, the group announced an indefinite hiatus so band members could pursue differing musical interests; it was their last album for a decade until the release of 2012's ''

'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! ''Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!'' (sometimes stylized in all caps) is the fourth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released by Constellation Records. It was their first album since 2002's '' Yanqui U.X.O.''. A ...

''.

Background

is the Spanish word for "

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...

". The liner notes also refer to "Yanqui" as a "multinational corporate oligarchy", while "U.X.O." stands for "

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

". The packaging of the album contains an arrow diagram purporting to represent the links between four major record labels (AOL Time-Warner, BMG, Sony, Vivendi Universal) and various arms manufacturers. This chart accompanied a photograph of falling bombs. The band later admitted that a particular extension of the chart (namely EMI appearing on the chart as a subsidiary of AOL Time-Warner) was incorrect. The album was released as a CD and a double

vinyl LP The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

. The LP differs in three ways from the CD: First, the two-part composition "09-15-00" is compounded into one part. (The album liner notes imply that on this date the

second Palestinian intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

began, although this is incorrect.) Second, an untitled "hidden" track is added after some silence, in a similar manner to the short song "J.L.H. Outro" on the CD release of ''

F♯ A♯ ∞ ''F♯ A♯ ∞'' (pronounced "F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity") is the debut studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was first released on August 14, 1997, through Constellation Records on a single LP and on June 8, ...

''. This ulterior track consists of a sampled and cut-up

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

speech with applause added. The track also appears on bandmember Aidan Girt's related project

1-Speed Bike Aidan Girt is a Canadian drummer for the Montreal-based post-rock collectives Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Exhaust. He is also a solo electronic artist under the names ''OSB'', ''1-Speed Bike'', and ''Bottleskup Flenkenkenmike'' and continues t ...

's debut album ''

Droopy Butt Begone! ''Droopy Butt Begone!'' is the debut album of solo electronic artist 1-Speed Bike. The third track on this album is a remix of a Fly Pan Am song from their Sédatifs En Fréquences Et Sillons EP. Track listing # "The Day That Mauro Ran over El ...

'' (2000) in the track "The Day that Mauro Ran Over Elwy Yost", as well as on Museum Fire Records' compilation ''Azadi!'' (2003), a benefit for the

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) (, ''Jamʿiyat-e Inqilābi-ye Zanān-e Afghānistān'', ) is a women's organization originally based in Kabul, Afghanistan, that promotes women's rights and secular democracy. It w ...

where it is titled "George Bush Cut Up While Talking".GYBE's discography
at Brainwashed.com Finally, the second part of the two-part track "Motherfucker=Redeemer" is about five minutes longer on the LP due to an extended

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

opening. Common alternate titles for certain pieces used by the band on setlists include "12-28-99" (which became "09-15-00"), "Tazer Floyd" (became "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls"), and "Tiny Silver Hammers" (became "Motherfucker=Redeemer").

Recording

The album was recorded at

. The record was mixed by the band and

Howard Bilerman Howard Bilerman (born September 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec.

(who also did some additional recording) at the

Hotel2Tango The Hotel2Tango (sometimes referred to as Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango and abbreviated H2T) is a 24-track Analog recording, analogue recording studio situated in the Mile End, Montreal, Mile End district of Montreal, Quebec. The current facility is th ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and mastered by John Loder and Steve Rooke at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

in London, UK.

Reception

''Yanqui U.X.O'' received a rating of 80 out of 100 on the online review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which corresponds with "generally favorable reviews", based on 16 reviews. While some, such as Thom Jurek of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, praised the release as being among the group's finest albums, others, like Ryan Schreiber of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', derided it for its "sluggishness and a lack of invention".

Playlouder ''Playlouder'' was an online music magazine based in London. It provided news, reviews, gig-listings, features, and other music-related content. The publisher later moved into providing music access, and claimed to be the world's first music ser ...

ranked the album at number 47 on their list of the top 50 albums of 2002.

Track listing

Compact disc

Vinyl edition

Personnel

;Godspeed You! Black Emperor *

Thierry Amar Thierry Amar is a Canadian musician, engineer and producer. He is a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Earthquake Architecture, Molasses, The Craig Pedersen Quartet and Black Ox Orkes ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

* David Bryant –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

*Bruce Cawdron –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Aidan Girt Aidan Girt is a Canadian drummer for the Montreal-based post-rock collectives Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Exhaust. He is also a solo electronic artist under the names ''OSB'', ''1-Speed Bike'', and ''Bottleskup Flenkenkenmike'' and continues ...

– drums *Norsola Johnson –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Efrim Menuck Efrim Manuel Menuck (; born November 4, 1970) is a Canadian musician involved with a number of Montreal-based bands, most notably Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. Menuck is also a frequent record producer ...

– electric guitar *

Mauro Pezzente Mauro Pezzente is a Canadian musician. He is best known as being co-founder of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Pezzente, along with Efrim Menuck and Mike Moya, founded Godspeed You! Black Emperor in 1994. Along with Thierry Amar, Pezzente plays t ...

– bass guitar *Roger Tellier-Craig – electric guitar * Sophie Trudeau –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

;Other musicians * Josh Abrams – double bass *Geof Bradfield –

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

Rob Mazurek Rob Mazurek (born 1965) is an American composer, cornetist, and visual artist. Biography Mazurek was born in 1965 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and played trumpet and cornet in high school in Naperville, Illinois. He first learned the foundat ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Matana Roberts Matana Roberts (born 1975) is an American sound experimentalist, visual artist, jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, composer and improviser based in New York City. They have previously been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creati ...

–

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

;Production *

–

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

Howard Bilerman Howard Bilerman (born September 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec.

– mixing *Godspeed You! Black Emperor – mixing *John Loder – mastering *Steve Rooke – mastering

References

External links

''Yanqui U.X.O.''
at Constellation Records {{Authority control 2002 albums Albums produced by Steve Albini Constellation Records (Canada) albums Godspeed You! Black Emperor albums Instrumental rock albums