Godspeed You! kinda suck

Ever since January, I have been trying to force myself into liking Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I'd say 50% of the reason I want to like this band so badly is because their name is so awesome. 

Their name implies a force to be reckoned with. There is power oozing out of every word in it. The only word that would have lacked power was "You" but they added an exclamation point after it to fix that. 

Then I look at their album covers, and I am struck with feelings of darkness. 

I also get the general consensus that they are the best Post-Rock has to offer.

So, before even listening, I have the following expectations:

1) Power

2) Dark

3) Best of Post-Rock

Then you press play... and instead you get the wimpiest music ever. It's all so happy and uplifting and faux-artsy with their field recordings. 

It always starts with slow, pretty, midrange to high notes on the guitar. Then drums or horns come in as it gets a little faster. Then I guess they start striking chords on their guitars, but these chords are so light. Like I expect an EXPLOSION or something after a timid crescendo lasting 10 minutes. Then their songs just kinda meander... throw in some field recordings from an airport... and the song fizzles out. 

The other day, my friend Jake turned me on to a band called Rachel's. They have some really cool ambient/string driven songs, such as this one:

I immediately thought, "Hey, this kind of reminds me of the string parts in Godspeed's music. Maybe I just wasn't in the right state of mind for Godspeed, since I was expecting something it wasn't. Ok, this time I'll listen to Godspeed with the expectation that it'll be beautiful music meant to be beautiful."

Listened again.

Sucked again.

Oh well. I guess Post-Rock just isn't for me. Maybe you'll like it:

If the song above seems wimpy to you too, maybe it's time to give Swans' The Seer a try. Now there's some powerful and dark music! 

P.S. If you've listened to everything on this page, you've spent an hour on my blog. Thanks?