I don't know that we've posted too many songs so far this year that have been released in 2009. For that I...WE apologize.
These days when I'm listening to music I'm at a friend's house listening to music I've heard before or scrolling through my iPod listening to music I've heard before. I haven't really been too much on the internet, scouring torrents and websites and things for the new jams. I've been at school, reading books.
I mean, yeah, Merriweather Post Pavilion came out and how do you follow that? Say what you will about Animal Collective, but that was a thoroughly epic album. I was a bit bothered by the absence of a guitar, but I read an interview recently in Cyclic Defrost that sort of put my frustrations to bed.
Merriweather will always be an album I love, but I still think Sung Tongs and Strawberry Jam are better records altogether, but maybe it's just because I've heard Merriweather so damn often since it came out earlier this year. (I mean, the Virgin Megastore in Union Square in New York has a big advertisement with the album cover.) It's certainly the album that will get them HUGE, but I know I'll probably turn into one of those fans who "only likes their earlier stuff".
Bon Iver's Bloodbank EP was also pretty great, but I will say it was kind of a letdown although I've been wildly obsessed with "Woods" for periods of time. (I mean, it's like my guilty pleasure music fusing with music I actually listen to...what more could you want?)
Maybe I just haven't listened to it enough, or devoted much time to actually listen to it, save this once when I was at my friend's apartment, and she'd just bought the record. I found it and demanded we listen to it. I've never listened to DeYarmouth Edison before, but I can imagine it's a lot more like what they might sound write rather than Justin on his extremely personal debut album.
Really, though, I've been drifting lately. Oliver Ignatius' album, Demos for Secund was just put on iTunes. If you haven't checked him out already, please do. I don't care if you've flipped the bird to pop music forever, but you might want to go back and listen to him. I've posted a few songs before, just click his tag.
Other than that, this has been more of a year of literature and comedy for me so far. I've been reading a hell of a lot, so I'd be more suited to suggest books rather than songs:
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
A Handf ul of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire
But I don't really want to do that.
Anyways, if you have anything to suggest, let me know, I don't want to be reduced to posting nonsense like that last post...
Showing posts with label bon iver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bon iver. Show all posts
1.12.2009
YOU CAN FIND ME IN A CAVE
Bon Iver - "Woods" (this is for sampling purposes)
Last week I was invited to a friend's home for dinner. I was not the only guest, and then there was her family, there were maybe eight or nine of us altogether so we had to collect chairs. I took an office chair, spent most of the meal rolling back and forth between the dining table and a computer, playing DJ. I played the new Bon Iver EP in its entirety and I couldn't contain my excitement for "Woods", which meant I blabbed all about the song, what it is, what it's built out of. I played it loud and I smiled BIG, BIG, BIG. One of my friends laughed and kept laughing; vocoders crack her up, auto-tune cracks her up. Her husband (an incredible musician, a thoughtful man) was struggling not to. He told me that, to him, the use of vocoder and/or auto-tune auto-matically "makes the song so urban." I felt compelled to recite the lyrics to them --
I'm up in the woods, I'm down on my mind.
I'm building a still to slow down the time.
It was a coat-of-arms, a panoply, not like prayer but like worship -- ostentatious, but beautiful. I listened through the table sounds. I thought if I told everyone to keep going with me, to wait until the end, then they'd listen too and they'd get it. I told them it was like Prince and I was mostly kidding. I told them it was like T-Pain and I was flat-out lying. I couldn't imagine how anyone could hear this music, really hear it, and hear urban, which to me suggests at a minimum that people run rampant, that the heat you feel comes from living bodies. The landscape knows your secrets. "Woods" is the landscape. It's dead, celestial and full. It could never be alone, it's too free.
--------------------
[photograph by {the excellent} Derek Vincent]
12.03.2008
The Year, Sorta Discussed
(Subtitle: Favorite albums of 2008?!)
THE PROBLEM: Digitalageayedeeachedee. Trends galore. Broken laptop. Singles-prominence. Googlepediatube. Autotune/T-Pain.
THE SOLUTION: Listen to the radio. Leave the house. Buy music MAKE MUSIC. Unplug the stereo when you're not using it. Autotune/T-Pain.
--------------------
I couldn't even begin to give you an honest Top-5 or Top-10 or Top-Multipleof10 list this year. I just didn't listen to that many albums. Maybe I'm losing patience like everyone else, or maybe it was just that kind of year; music and I fall in and out of love. (Sometimes, for months at a time, it's nuthin but lust.) But I could really only name you six or seven albums I even listened to the whole way through, and while they're all worthy, I bet that if I'd been more adventurous, if I'd soaked up more content (digital sponge) those 6-or-7 would be in considerably hotter water.
So instead, I'm just going to list, in no particular order, new music that I loved, whether it be an album, a show, a song, or a video. What-fucking-ev-fucking-er. While I am utterly ambivalent about the structure this list takes, all the music is earnestly and passionately loved from the bottom of my heart, music I savored and learned inside and out and will keep listening to for -- well, let's be honest, at least months to come. (But probably more.)
Today is PART I. As you'll see, each entry is a little long, so I'm going to space this out over the next week or two. As of now, I don't know exactly where this list will go or who/what it will include -- you'll know when it's over around the same time as I do.
------------------------
1. BON IVER.
I went to two "shows" this year -- quotations meaning I'm not counting shows I played or shows my friends played; only two shows where I went to see a band whose record I liked. The first one was Bon Iver, back in February. (Here's what I wrote about it.)
For Emma, Forever Ago has nothing if not staying power: these are songs that have real emotional depth, by which I mean the more you listen to them, really listen to them, the more they reveal their insides, hurts and joys, hopes and wants, scars and mistakes. Musically it seems innovative and forward-thinking, but what it boils down to is that even if you stripped away the words, the stories you've heard about the album's maker -- its sound is startlingly, intensely personal -- and therefore unique. It's an album that gets better, which is really another way of saying it gets truer.
Justin Vernon self-released For Emma in 2007, but the record didn't see official release until February, through Jagjaguwar; anyone who has been paying attention since then already knows that it's been a huge year for Vernon. Bon Iver is now a band, and an exciting one at that: at this point, Mike and Sean are inextricable, as much a part of these songs as Justin -- I forget at times they're not on the album. Bon Iver was my first show this year, and they'll be my third in a week and a half -- and just to witness the journey this music has taken, to see its growths, has my head swelling with excitement.
Then again, that has a lot to do with who'll be opening for Bon Iver...
2. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH. (Previously on TWSH.)
The day I heard Kris for the first time, I'd spent some time teaching myself one of my favorite folk songs: "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground". I stumbled on TTMOE the way I usually stumble on new music -- through browsing music blogs -- and these were the first words I heard: "If I ever see the morning / just like a lizard in the spring."
Now, I'm typically a rapt listener, I don't make up my mind about a song within the first few bars and turn it off if I don't like it. Songs hold and keep my interest, even bad ones, and unless it's physically hurting me I'm not going to reject it that quickly. With that said, I can't remember ever feeling so immediately attached to a piece of music as I was to "I Won't Be Found" that evening. It may have been the connection to "Mole in the Ground" in the lyrics, which admittedly made me feel what I guess you might call a fast kinship with Kris, like when the pretty girl on the bench has "over a cardboard sea" written on her shoes.
But in contrast with that feeling of closeness was the sense that this was something foreign, something unlike any folk music I'd ever heard. The singing has a lot to do with it: Kris doesn't sound distinctly Swedish or distinctly American, and his lyrics have (for me) no obvious lineage, though they are as rich and poetic as any I've heard. There's an air about him, a gulp of syrup and a handful of myth in that voice.
His debut album, Shallow Graves, might as well be legendary, considering how flabbergastingly great it is. It's the album I listened to most this year, at least in part because it's the most elliptical, the toughest egg to crack. It made me wonder: where are these songs coming from? How is he doing this, goddamnit?! Every melody so instantly infectious, not in the way pop music is, but the way it feels when you create something -- the way it feels in the exact moment something rises out of you, and then when you fall in love with what you (little strange unknowable you) made. Maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesn't, but that's what listening to these songs feels like for me now -- I'd probably hate Kris if I didn't love his music so much, because he's done exactly what I wish I could. In that way, it's strangely the most personal record of the year for me, for all its otherworldly strangeness. (Obviously, I'm especially excited to see him perform next Monday night.)
--------------------
MORE LATER THIS WEEK. Or next week. Expect words about Fleet Foxes, Lykke Li, Damien Jurado, Kanye, Sun Kil Moon . . . and . . . yes . . . T-Pain.
THE PROBLEM: Digitalageayedeeachedee. Trends galore. Broken laptop. Singles-prominence. Googlepediatube. Autotune/T-Pain.
THE SOLUTION: Listen to the radio. Leave the house. Buy music MAKE MUSIC. Unplug the stereo when you're not using it. Autotune/T-Pain.
--------------------
I couldn't even begin to give you an honest Top-5 or Top-10 or Top-Multipleof10 list this year. I just didn't listen to that many albums. Maybe I'm losing patience like everyone else, or maybe it was just that kind of year; music and I fall in and out of love. (Sometimes, for months at a time, it's nuthin but lust.) But I could really only name you six or seven albums I even listened to the whole way through, and while they're all worthy, I bet that if I'd been more adventurous, if I'd soaked up more content (digital sponge) those 6-or-7 would be in considerably hotter water.
So instead, I'm just going to list, in no particular order, new music that I loved, whether it be an album, a show, a song, or a video. What-fucking-ev-fucking-er. While I am utterly ambivalent about the structure this list takes, all the music is earnestly and passionately loved from the bottom of my heart, music I savored and learned inside and out and will keep listening to for -- well, let's be honest, at least months to come. (But probably more.)
Today is PART I. As you'll see, each entry is a little long, so I'm going to space this out over the next week or two. As of now, I don't know exactly where this list will go or who/what it will include -- you'll know when it's over around the same time as I do.
------------------------
1. BON IVER.
I went to two "shows" this year -- quotations meaning I'm not counting shows I played or shows my friends played; only two shows where I went to see a band whose record I liked. The first one was Bon Iver, back in February. (Here's what I wrote about it.)
For Emma, Forever Ago has nothing if not staying power: these are songs that have real emotional depth, by which I mean the more you listen to them, really listen to them, the more they reveal their insides, hurts and joys, hopes and wants, scars and mistakes. Musically it seems innovative and forward-thinking, but what it boils down to is that even if you stripped away the words, the stories you've heard about the album's maker -- its sound is startlingly, intensely personal -- and therefore unique. It's an album that gets better, which is really another way of saying it gets truer.
Justin Vernon self-released For Emma in 2007, but the record didn't see official release until February, through Jagjaguwar; anyone who has been paying attention since then already knows that it's been a huge year for Vernon. Bon Iver is now a band, and an exciting one at that: at this point, Mike and Sean are inextricable, as much a part of these songs as Justin -- I forget at times they're not on the album. Bon Iver was my first show this year, and they'll be my third in a week and a half -- and just to witness the journey this music has taken, to see its growths, has my head swelling with excitement.
Then again, that has a lot to do with who'll be opening for Bon Iver...
2. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH. (Previously on TWSH.)
The day I heard Kris for the first time, I'd spent some time teaching myself one of my favorite folk songs: "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground". I stumbled on TTMOE the way I usually stumble on new music -- through browsing music blogs -- and these were the first words I heard: "If I ever see the morning / just like a lizard in the spring."
Now, I'm typically a rapt listener, I don't make up my mind about a song within the first few bars and turn it off if I don't like it. Songs hold and keep my interest, even bad ones, and unless it's physically hurting me I'm not going to reject it that quickly. With that said, I can't remember ever feeling so immediately attached to a piece of music as I was to "I Won't Be Found" that evening. It may have been the connection to "Mole in the Ground" in the lyrics, which admittedly made me feel what I guess you might call a fast kinship with Kris, like when the pretty girl on the bench has "over a cardboard sea" written on her shoes.
But in contrast with that feeling of closeness was the sense that this was something foreign, something unlike any folk music I'd ever heard. The singing has a lot to do with it: Kris doesn't sound distinctly Swedish or distinctly American, and his lyrics have (for me) no obvious lineage, though they are as rich and poetic as any I've heard. There's an air about him, a gulp of syrup and a handful of myth in that voice.
His debut album, Shallow Graves, might as well be legendary, considering how flabbergastingly great it is. It's the album I listened to most this year, at least in part because it's the most elliptical, the toughest egg to crack. It made me wonder: where are these songs coming from? How is he doing this, goddamnit?! Every melody so instantly infectious, not in the way pop music is, but the way it feels when you create something -- the way it feels in the exact moment something rises out of you, and then when you fall in love with what you (little strange unknowable you) made. Maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesn't, but that's what listening to these songs feels like for me now -- I'd probably hate Kris if I didn't love his music so much, because he's done exactly what I wish I could. In that way, it's strangely the most personal record of the year for me, for all its otherworldly strangeness. (Obviously, I'm especially excited to see him perform next Monday night.)
--------------------
MORE LATER THIS WEEK. Or next week. Expect words about Fleet Foxes, Lykke Li, Damien Jurado, Kanye, Sun Kil Moon . . . and . . . yes . . . T-Pain.
6.14.2008
Black Cab Sessions with My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver
Yeah.
I have another post later coming up. In preparation; think about the first song you can remember hearing. Does that song act as the basis for all your music tastes, regardless of if it's your favorite song or not?
Just something I've been thinking about. More on that later.
2.26.2008
"WITH ALL YOUR LIES, YOU'RE STILL VERY LOVEABLE"
It’s something else how one great night can redeem so many bad, bland ones; how what were bruise-colored sidewalks are suddenly juicy-brown, how grays go all grandma’s sweater on you.
I saw Black Mountain and Bon Iver tonight at Portland’s Space Gallery. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I’ve been looking forward to this show for the past few weeks, you know how I’ve been listening to Bon Iver, tattooing the songs on my mind. You know how those songs have gotten me through a lonesome winter. In a single night, all traces of winter were swept away, ‘til I saw it all through a rosy spring-sprinkled spectrum – ‘til loneliness seemed downright altogether muthafuckin’ foreign. (It don’t hurt that it’s getting warmer here. That’s just serendipity.)
It’s not enough that Bon Iver’s songs put shivers in this spine of mine, or that Black Mountain’s grooves put a twitchin’ in my eyelids, a pounding on my chest and a permanent wave in my neck-head. It’s not just that: it’s the sheer pleasure of seeing people do what they really love, what they want to do; and being along for the ride, a part of the crowd, everyone feeding off that pleasure. This is good work, s’all very wonderful - yea, but the best kind of wonderful.
If you get a chance, check them out when they come to your town. Highest recommendation possible.
Black Mountain - 2008 Tour Dates
02/26- Moncton, NB - The Manhattan w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
02/27- Halifax, NS - The Marquee Club w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
02/29- Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa w/ Bon Iver + Quest for Fire
03/05- Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace w/ Bon Iver + Quest for Fire
03/06- Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/07- Louisville, KY - Headliners w/ Bon Iver
03/08- Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House w/ Bon Iver
03/09- Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/10- Nashville, TN - Exit/In w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/11- Little Rock, AR - Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/19- Norman, OK - The Opolis w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/20- Kansas City, MO - Record Bar w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/21- St. Louis, MO - Bluebird w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/22- Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/23- Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/24- Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/25- Fargo, ND - Aquarium w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/27- Winnipeg, MB - Pyramid Cabaret w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
03/28- Regina, SK - The Distrikt w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
03/29- Saskatoon, SK - Amigo's w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
03/31- Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
04/01- Calgary, AB - The Warehouse w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
04/02- Kelowna, BC - Habitat w/ Ladyhawk
04/05- Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
05/09- Camber Sands, UK - Pontins @ ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival
05/10- Camber Sands, UK - Pontins @ ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival
05/11- Camber Sands, UK - Pontins @ ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival
05/15- Brighton, UK - Mojo Stage @ The Great Escape Festival
05/16- Brighton, UK - Mojo Stage @ The Great Escape Festival
05/17- Brighton, UK - Mojo Stage @ The Great Escape Festival
Bon Iver - 2008 Tour Dates
02/26/08 Muncton, NB - The Manhattan w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
02/27/08 Halifax, NS - The Marquee Club w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
02/29/08 Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa w/ Black Mountain + Quest for Fire
03/05/08 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace w/ Black Mountain + Quest for Fire
03/06/08 Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/07/08 Louisville, KY - Headliners w/ Black Mountain
03/08/08 Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House w/ Black Mountain
03/09/08 Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/10/08 Nashville, TN - Exit/In w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/11/08 Little Rock, AR - Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/18/08 Tucson, AZ - Plush w/ Phosphorescent
03/19/08 San Diego, CA - Che Cafe w/ Phosphorescent
03/20/08 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo w/ Phosphorescent
03/21/08 Santa Barbara, CA - Muddy Waters w/ Phosphorescent
03/22/08 Visalia, CA - Cellar Door w/ Phosphorescent
03/23/08 San Francisco, CA - The Independent w/ Phosphorescent
03/24/08 Portland, OR - Holocene w/ Phosphorescent
03/25/08 Vancouver, BC - Media Club
03/26/08 Seattle, WA - Nectar
Thanks to the Space Gallery, thanks to Black Mountain (whose guitarist was dead-on when he said, “Sorry we didn't come sooner”), thanks to Bon Iver. Because of y’all, tonight, this city was on my side.
(And thanks, too, to the Brooklyn Vegan [sincerely!] for all their hard work; here’s hoping they don’t mind my jacking those tour dates*! Convenience, y'know.)
*Oh, who are we kidding...
I saw Black Mountain and Bon Iver tonight at Portland’s Space Gallery. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I’ve been looking forward to this show for the past few weeks, you know how I’ve been listening to Bon Iver, tattooing the songs on my mind. You know how those songs have gotten me through a lonesome winter. In a single night, all traces of winter were swept away, ‘til I saw it all through a rosy spring-sprinkled spectrum – ‘til loneliness seemed downright altogether muthafuckin’ foreign. (It don’t hurt that it’s getting warmer here. That’s just serendipity.)
It’s not enough that Bon Iver’s songs put shivers in this spine of mine, or that Black Mountain’s grooves put a twitchin’ in my eyelids, a pounding on my chest and a permanent wave in my neck-head. It’s not just that: it’s the sheer pleasure of seeing people do what they really love, what they want to do; and being along for the ride, a part of the crowd, everyone feeding off that pleasure. This is good work, s’all very wonderful - yea, but the best kind of wonderful.
If you get a chance, check them out when they come to your town. Highest recommendation possible.
Black Mountain - 2008 Tour Dates
02/26- Moncton, NB - The Manhattan w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
02/27- Halifax, NS - The Marquee Club w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
02/29- Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa w/ Bon Iver + Quest for Fire
03/05- Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace w/ Bon Iver + Quest for Fire
03/06- Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/07- Louisville, KY - Headliners w/ Bon Iver
03/08- Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House w/ Bon Iver
03/09- Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/10- Nashville, TN - Exit/In w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/11- Little Rock, AR - Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ Bon Iver + Nordic Nomadic
03/19- Norman, OK - The Opolis w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/20- Kansas City, MO - Record Bar w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/21- St. Louis, MO - Bluebird w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/22- Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/23- Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/24- Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/25- Fargo, ND - Aquarium w/ Birds of Avalon + Nordic Nomadic
03/27- Winnipeg, MB - Pyramid Cabaret w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
03/28- Regina, SK - The Distrikt w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
03/29- Saskatoon, SK - Amigo's w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
03/31- Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
04/01- Calgary, AB - The Warehouse w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
04/02- Kelowna, BC - Habitat w/ Ladyhawk
04/05- Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom w/ Ladyhawk + Nordic Nomadic
05/09- Camber Sands, UK - Pontins @ ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival
05/10- Camber Sands, UK - Pontins @ ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival
05/11- Camber Sands, UK - Pontins @ ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival
05/15- Brighton, UK - Mojo Stage @ The Great Escape Festival
05/16- Brighton, UK - Mojo Stage @ The Great Escape Festival
05/17- Brighton, UK - Mojo Stage @ The Great Escape Festival
Bon Iver - 2008 Tour Dates
02/26/08 Muncton, NB - The Manhattan w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
02/27/08 Halifax, NS - The Marquee Club w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
02/29/08 Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa w/ Black Mountain + Quest for Fire
03/05/08 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace w/ Black Mountain + Quest for Fire
03/06/08 Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/07/08 Louisville, KY - Headliners w/ Black Mountain
03/08/08 Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House w/ Black Mountain
03/09/08 Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/10/08 Nashville, TN - Exit/In w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/11/08 Little Rock, AR - Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ Black Mountain + Nordic Nomadic
03/18/08 Tucson, AZ - Plush w/ Phosphorescent
03/19/08 San Diego, CA - Che Cafe w/ Phosphorescent
03/20/08 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo w/ Phosphorescent
03/21/08 Santa Barbara, CA - Muddy Waters w/ Phosphorescent
03/22/08 Visalia, CA - Cellar Door w/ Phosphorescent
03/23/08 San Francisco, CA - The Independent w/ Phosphorescent
03/24/08 Portland, OR - Holocene w/ Phosphorescent
03/25/08 Vancouver, BC - Media Club
03/26/08 Seattle, WA - Nectar
Thanks to the Space Gallery, thanks to Black Mountain (whose guitarist was dead-on when he said, “Sorry we didn't come sooner”), thanks to Bon Iver. Because of y’all, tonight, this city was on my side.
(And thanks, too, to the Brooklyn Vegan [sincerely!] for all their hard work; here’s hoping they don’t mind my jacking those tour dates*! Convenience, y'know.)
*Oh, who are we kidding...
2.06.2008
HIS WIREY LEGS ARE CROSSED
By now, you’ve heard of Bon Iver. And maybe you’ve heard about the cabin in Wisconsin, the whole backstory. But if you haven’t actually heard him, you’re missing the important parts: the atmosphere, the songs, that gorgeously rough-hewn falsetto. Frankly, there’s a reason it’s called the backstory, a reason why they say it’s the story behind the album – the music’s at the forefront, so it better be good.And it is. It seems to me the album succeeds largely ‘cause Justin Vernon knows what to do with his voice. On “Blindsided”, he sings agony like he can barely lift the word, like he really is crippled and slow, like a crouching crow. “Creature Fear” sounds like a man begging for relief, ‘til he can’t make sense of it, ‘til he won't fight it, ‘til he’s just fa-fa’s and whistles. And “Lump Sum” – well, those strange, blossoming voices are the song’s raison d'être, if anything is.
And yet for all the textures, the home-spun sonic tricks, the intricacies Vernon weaves, his starkest composition is also, somehow, his most startling. “Re: Stacks” boasts an arrangement so bare – nothing more than six strings and two vocal tracks – but there’s something in that falsetto, something in the sudden flick of back and the racks and the stacks. Something approaching purity.
I discovered this music through a familiar morning routine: downloading tracks from various blogs, queuing them up and listening, mostly absent-mindedly, multitasking; I won’t pause from what I’m doing until a song grabs me. That morning, only “Skinny Love” managed the task. The Stylus review notes Vernon’s occasional bellicosity, and I hear it most here, in I told you to be patient, and I told you to be kind. (And I, and I.) Don’t want to spoil the proving for you, but I’m jostled each time I hear it.
Streaming: http://www.virb.com/boniver
Vernon has a blog, too: http://creaturefear.tumblr.com/
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