Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven[a] is the second studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You!

Recording was conducted in February 2000 in Chemical Sound Studios, Toronto, and was derived from the band's live performances and guitarist Efrim Menuck's experience in film-making studies.

Black Emperor's politically motivated music output is primarily instrumental, being framed with field recordings and tape manipulation.

Black Emperor released three records in the 1990s: the self-released cassette All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling (1994), the studio album F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997), and the EP Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada (1999).

[7] The band itself has typically avoided interviews and promotional material,[11] citing concerns of misrepresentation of their work in the media and bafflement at their increased popularity.

Black Emperor recorded the album in Chemical Sound Studios, Toronto, in nine days in February 2000 with Daryl Smith,[14] using material drawn from the band's then-recent live performances.

[17] An exception is the use of field recordings, including a loudspeaker announcement from ARCO, a preacher's religious rant, an old man musing about Coney Island, and a folk song performed by former band member Mike Moya.

[18] According to Menuck, the composition of the tracks drew upon his filmmaking studies, with him comparing the combining of musical pieces and field recordings to film editing.

[20][7] In a 2012 interview from the Guardian, the band collectively stated their intent from the beginning was to create "heavy music, joyously" that acknowledged yet dismissed the bleakness of contemporary times, contrary to popular belief.

[21] Jeanette Leech argued Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven represented this ideal in Fearless: the Making of Post-Rock.

[19] The album's packaging contains artwork by William Schaff from a zine titled Notes to a Friend; Silently Listening No.

[18] The cover art, depicting Schaff's severed hands,[18] was repurposed from Notes to a Friend; Silently Listening No.

[31] Highlighting the album's uplifting nature and use of field recordings, The Village Voice called Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas the "best movie I've seen all year.

Black Emperor's music being "reduced to rock gesture"[39] Both Spin and The Guardian considered the album less consistent than the band's prior work.

Tiny Mix Tapes called the album "alternately hypnotic and captivating, sleepy and startling" comparing its sounds to "a far subtler Pink Floyd".

Club and Stereogum deemed the album as representative of the failures of capitalism in the 21st century and highly mythical and evocative.