It’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…)
Last 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.
It’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.
