a really great musical influence of mine over the years has been the anarchist post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. i just found out that they're reuniting for a tour this Winter, and coming to the 9:30 club in DC next February.
their music is highly orchestrated, it waxes and wanes through different movements, using multiple instruments and samples. Sometimes the music is very minimalistic and at others it has multiple layers of french horns, guitars, violins, and voice samples (the members never actually sing). their songs are usually about twenty minutes long, but each one is very non-repetitive and moves in and out of different sound scapes.
they are really skilled in my opinion because they give a feeling of uneasy beauty by using only music. They paint a picture of a broken down, hopeless America without using lyrics and very few words.
the style of music has really influenced my art for the past few years - which is also struggling to portray the "dark shattered underbelly of the american dream." - jello biafra
blogspot won't let me put a video on here from youtube, but here's a link if you're interested. it's a portion of a song from their album "lift yr skinny fists like antennas to heaven"
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