Posts Tagged ‘Bon Iver’

  
Thursday, October 29th, 2009

CD Review: Various Artists, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

by Ted Asregadoo

The New Moon soundtrack bolted to the #2 position on the charts after it was released last week, and if it hadn’t been for Michael Buble, it would certainly have been #1 (Well played, Buble; well played, sir).

I don’t need a marketing guru to tell me how popular the series by Stephenie Meyer is. I just have to talk to my daughter (age 13) to know that the Twilight series is something that is more than a passing fad and a cleverly marketed story that appeals to teenage girls. Sure, all the product surrounding the series is designed to evoke eeks and gasps from its targeted demo, but it’s the story and how well it translates to the screen that’s really of importance to my daughter and her friends. The fact that a group like Paramore recorded an extremely popular song for the first film’s soundtrack is a wonderful addition to the Twilight universe, but soundtracks are one thing, and the story another.

All that said, however, I asked my daughter and her two friends (all of whom are fans of the Twilight series) to listen to the New Moon soundtrack and offer their thoughts on music that’s been carefully chosen to appeal to their tastes…or has it?

First off, let’s meet our teen critics — all of whom are in eighth grade. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in CD Reviews, Featured, Featured - Frontpage, Music | Comments

Friday, September 25th, 2009

CD Review: Volcano Choir, “Unmap”

by Ken Shane

Volcano Choir - UnmapI’m a big fan of Justin Vernon in his day job as Bon Iver. His is one of the freshest and most creative voices to emerge from the north woods in recent years. On the new album Unmap (Jagjaguwar Records) from Volcano Choir, Vernon has teamed up with several fellow Wisconsinites who are members of Collections of Colonies of Bees. Unmap very much has the whiff of side project about it, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have its interesting moments in a Temple of the Dog-ish kind of way. These albums can be prone to arty pretensions, and this one is no exception, but there are enough sublime moments, mostly courtesy of Vernon, to balance those out.

The songwriting for Unmap goes back to 2005, before Vernon began his meteoric ascension as Bon Iver. The actual recording didn’t take place until November 2008 at Vernon’s studio in Fall Creek, WI. Of all the songs here, “Still” comes closest to finding that Bon Iver magic. It’s a remake of the song “Woods,” which appeared on the brilliant Bon Iver EP Blood Bank, which appeared earlier this year. If you didn’t think that a vocoder could be used tastefully, listen to Vernon’s stirring, emotional performance on this song.

Remember that pretension I spoke about? It’s painfully obvious on “Mbira In The Morass”. A series of bleeps and bloops, random kalimba stylings, and plucked piano strings, it sounds like Scott Walker’s worst nightmare, and that’s saying something. Not sure what the Choir was going for here, but I wish they hadn’t. “Mbira” is surely a candidate for my most un-favorite track of the year. I thought you’d enjoy hearing what I think sucks.

Among the remains, there are some hits, notably the Steve Reich-influenced “Seeplymouth,” and misses like the closing “Youology,” which sounds like film music from grade D ’50’s horror flick. I can’t quite write this album off, because there are a handful of wonderful moments that emerge after listening a few times. Haunting images remain long after the music has stopped. For now, I remain a fan of Justin Vernon, and I’m anxious to hear what he does next.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in CD Reviews, Music | Comments

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

CD Review: John Vanderslice, “Romanian Names”

by Ken Shane

John Vanderslice - Romanian NamesThe first thing that you notice about the new John Vanderslice album, Romanian Names (Dead Oceans), is the sound. The album has a definite sonic quality that is akin to some of the greatest albums of the 1970’s, album’s like Rumours, or David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy. There’s no doubt that this achievement is the result of the completely analog technology in Tiny Telephone, the San Francisco studio that Vanderslice founded with producer Scott Solter.

The recording process was a little different this time, though. These songs started life as piano or guitar/vocal demos recorded in a little basement studio that Vanderslice built for himself. There they got time to breathe, change, grow, and even be thrown out. Only after that process did the recording move on to Tiny Telephone, and the resulting album is a leap forward for Vanderslice. If all the planets are in alignment, this should be the album that gives him the recognition that he deserves. This time out he has blended appealing melodies with lyrical content that is less dense and narrative driven than on previous efforts, and provided the songs with interesting and atmospheric arrangements.

Romanian Names opens with “Tremble and Tear,” which will immediately put you in mind of Bon Iver. There’s something about that harmonized falsetto that gives the song a comparable sense of loneliness, despite the fact that the lyrics here look forward to the arrival of “the one that’s gonna do it to me.” The thudding, bass driven “Forest Knolls,” and the dark tones of “Summer Stock” provide the album’s most interesting arrangements. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in CD Reviews, Music | Comments

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

CD Review: Various Artists, “Dark Was the Night” and “War Child Presents Heroes”

by Ken Shane

Dark Was the NightIt’s no secret that tribute albums and charity compilations can be hit-or-miss affairs at best. In the case of the latter, all you can really do is be happy that you’re supporting a good cause, and hope that the music is more hit than miss. Two important charity albums have recently appeared, and when I say important, I don’t just mean for the causes they’re helping, but also for the virtual who’s who of contemporary indie artists that has contributed tracks to them. If you could somehow assemble all of the buzz that these artists have collected, you could light the universe. In other words, to the naked eye, it’s a music blogger’s dream.

The Red Hot Organization has been using pop culture to fight the good fight against AIDS since 1989. They have released 14 albums together with related television shows and media events, and have raised $7 million to date. Their most recent project is called Dark Was the Night (4AD Records). It’s an enormous 30-song effort that has been curated by brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National. In addition to a track from the National, contributors include Bon Iver, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, Feist, and a host of others.

Let me say right up front that apparently Bon Iver can do no wrong. From Justin Vernon’s nearly perfect debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, to his recently released Blood Bank EP, and now, this album’s best track “Brackett, WI,” there have been few, if any, missteps. Vernon is also involved here in an intriguing collaboration with Aaron Dessner called “Big Red Machine.”

Sufjan Stevens’ contribution, “You Are the Blood,” reminds me that it’s been too long since we’ve had new music from him. Antony and Bryce Dessner duet on a beautiful version of the traditional “I Was Young When I Left Home.” Yes, Feist is here, combining with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie on “Train Song,” and with Grizzly Bear on “Service Bell.” (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in CD Reviews, Music | Comments

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

CD Review: Bon Iver, “Blood Bank [EP]“

by Ken Shane

Bon Iver - Blood BankLast year Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon blended his personal story, haunting melodies, and evocative lyrics on an album called For Emma, Forever Ago. The album found its way to almost everyone’s top-ten list at the end of the year, including mine. Considering the buzz, the normal backlash was fairly subdued — the music was that undeniable.

The story is pretty well known by now: Musician finds heartache after moving to North Carolina with his band. He decides to move back to his home state, where he isolates himself in his family’s hunting cabin in the woods of northern Wisconsin in the dead of winter. “I left North Carolina and went up there because I didn’t know where else to go, and I knew that I wanted to be alone, and I knew that I wanted to be where it was cold,” Vernon told exclaim.ca last year.

During the three months he was there, though it wasn’t his intention to do so, he wrote and made primitive recordings of the songs that would become For Emma, Forever Ago. Ostensibly recorded as demos, the performances were so powerful that Vernon decided to release them as they were. He called the project Bon Iver, a slight alteration of the French term for “good winter.” A good winter indeed.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in CD Reviews, Music | Comments

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Listening Booth: Bon Iver, “For Emma, Forever Ago”

by Taylor Long

It’s been a good year for Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon. Last year, Vernon independently released his album, For Emma, Forever Ago. After a round of accolades from online and print media alike, Indiana’s excellent Jagjaguwar decided to make a play for the album and gave it a proper release earlier this year. Recently it’s been placing high in the Amazon.com sales charts. In a time when self-releasing is incredibly popular thanks to the innovation of online music sales, the fact that Vernon not only got noticed, but got noticed by influential outlets, speaks to the quality of this album.

The magic behind For Emma, Forever Ago is Vernon’s voice, a delicate falsetto, more akin to Tunde Adebimpe or Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio than Jeff Buckley. This isn’t to say the music doesn’t carry its fair share. If this were sung by someone else, it would still be a powerful album- – just not this strong. Vernon also takes a tip from TV on the Radio’s vocal stylings by layering his voice a lot.

For Emma, Forever Ago is very old sounding, very ethereal, very far away, and not because it’s produced poorly but because it’s produced so well. It’s the lightly strummed guitar, the occasional banjo, his voice. Vernon recorded most of this album in a remote cabin in Wisconsin and you can hear it in every second.

Bon Iver, “Skinny Love” (download)

For the most part, one could comfortably lump Vernon in with some of the more recent, Americana-style singer songwriters, like M. Ward, Iron & Wine or Bonnie “Prince” Billy — and what good company that is. But occasionally, the aforementioned artists have a tendency to be rather dry, and Vernon is anything but. He’s not afraid of catharsis, through lyrics or through his vocal techniques. “Skinny Love” is a break-up song so incredible that you’ll wish it had existed for your last break-up. In “Re: Stacks,” he uses his voice in quick, raised notes, almost like a kind of bark. He’s also not afraid to get a little strange, as the explosive percussion at the end of “The Wolves” or the intense breathing over a jamming guitar in “Team” indicate.

Bon Iver, “Re: Stacks” (download)

Vernon says on his MySpace page that his original goal in recording For Emma, Forever Ago, was to hibernate. But go figure it would bring him more into the spotlight than ever before.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Listening Booth, Music | Comments