[201.1] THE EMPEROR'S NEW(ISH) CELLULOID

Avantists extraordinaire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are (in case you hadn't noticed it) featured in the soundtrack of the latest Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach) film, '28 Days Later'. The band, whose studious anti-commercialism usually makes them reluctant about tie-ins, agreed to allow Boyle to use 'Easting Hastings' ('Sad Mafioso,' specifically), but regrettably the piece does not appear on the accompanying CD. Apparently it appears briefly in some of the trailers for the film, alongside Brian Eno.

Kitty Empire writes about Boyle's collaboration with Godspeed here. The film was released in the UK last year, and in the US a little later.

"Their febrile, anguished instrumental pieces - sometimes using field recordings of old men ranting about the end of the world - provided a perfect pre-millennial soundtrack ... the sound of impending doom. But Godspeed themselves propose nothing less than a new rock, one that unites the disgust and uncompromising spirit of hardcore punk and a sense of tragedy best expressed by strings. They borrow heavily from the cinematic sweep of Ennio Morricone. Their refusal to give anything away is at once intriguing, heroic and infuriating."

Godspeed You! Black Emperor have no immediate plans to tour outside Canada, their home country, before 2004, I am told.

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