Montreal, QC

The guest curators of Sled Island 2015, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are catastrophic instrumentalists with a rabid following. Their first-ever appearance in Calgary will feature two back-to-back nights at the beautiful Central United Church, in which they’ll deliver their gorgeous, menacing, anarcho-minded discography. Masterfully fashioned by drums, keyboards, multiple guitars, basses, film projections and a violin, their dense, wall-of-sound approach has long been emulated but never matched by the many post-rock acts that followed in their wake. Since their formation in 1994, the mesmerizing collective has released multiple critically acclaimed works. They quietly disbanded in 2003; nine years later, they released 'Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! with little forewarning. The album continued their devastating lineage of wordless resistance set to swelling, cinematic instrumental rock. Featuring impressive dynamic range that incorporated triumphant orchestral flourishes, hair-raising drone, bombastic doom and much more, it's a tense, ever-shifting journey of sonic destruction. In mid-2015, lightning struck again as GY!BE released Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress. The album continues down their resolutely defiant and musically diverse path with song titles and imagery that reflect on collective political action set to a soundtrack of instrumental defiance. Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s shows are the stuff of legend; audio-visual experiences that must be seen to be believed. Their evocative, meaningful music needs not press or parties. It just needs you.