LIFT YOUR SKINNY FISTS LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN

First off, I have to admit that basically I am not into this kind of music because it's a very slow moving music with many repetitions of chords and notes, less dynamic than any other music in terms of tempo. I have to have an extreme patience to enjoy it. But with a passage of time, I can see the beauty of the music especially when I refer the music as a media for contemplation. One thing I would say about the music is that all of them are very dark (track 1 to track 4) with lengthy and spacey nuance. To be specific on contemplation, I am referring to spirituality in ways to meet with God, The Compassionate, The Merciful.

This is a fasting month for Moslem and according to the Koran, during the month of Ramadhan (fasting month) we are urged to read the Koran during daylights as well as during the night. Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven" music is very suitable to create the nuance of Koran reading time. I am not inviting that you listen to this album first before reading the Koran because you don't need to, actually. But, when I am listening to this music, it reminds me to imagine "life after death" which requires doing good deeds during our lives in this world. I find this music helps me stimulate a better Koran reading, understand its meanings and implement the good deeds in day-to-day life. The lengthy nature of the music reminds me to the longest surah in Koran, i.e. Al Baqarah (the Cow) that typically requires minimum of two and a half hours of consistent reading to complete, comprises 286 verses.

The way I connect this music with spirituality is pretty simple: the music moves very slowly from one passage to another and it creates a contemplation nuance to reflect what I am doing and what I should have been doing as stated in Koran. This can serve as good background to understand the whole meaning of the verses in real life.

Musically, this album comprises elements of space music, avant garde, orchestra, and sound scape engineering. If you are fan of Pink Floyd, you have been definitely quite patient in the intro of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". That piece of music occurs frequently right here in this album with many repetitions. But of course the music also moves to passages with drumming and sometimes in very loud setting that you should reduce your amplifier volume.

Overall, this is a good post modern rock music that should be listened to frequently to capture the subtleties of the music and embrace the beauty slowly. You will find segments with killing notes. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)