the (second) Bon Iver album

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/boniver452_2.jpg

Due June 21st. Hear the first song "Calgary" here: http://disconaivete.com/post/5559285154

Carrying over from the other thread:

And full single out today -- liked it, which I didn't fully expect to.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, May 16, 2011 5:12 PM (31 minutes ago)

Inoculated by Gayngs?

― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 16, 2011 5:19 PM (24 minutes ago)

Ha, could be. The comparison point I had to an extent was Active Child, a similar sort of high/clean aesthetic if done differently (and I admit to liking Active Child much more).

I hear an Active Child component, but I don't think it's overwhelming. I'm actually pleased that, at least based on one track, it just seems like a continuation of where he was going with the Blood Bank ep.

I agree w/ Johnny F. -- not so much Active Child, but i only listen to to "Take Shelter" which is one on the best gd singles (even though it's not) in long time. Fits neatly into the Blood Bank dynamic, and Gayngs.

Uh, oops...apparently iTunes released the whole album instead of just "Calgary".

Really, how do these things keep happening?

Okay, I liked the first album. Not as much as a lot of other people, but I thought it was really good when listened to in the right setting. THIS one is freaking amazing.

i like the cover:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Bon_iver.jpg

shocked that Ned of all people likes this - I classify Bon Iver in my little brain compartment where Fleet Foxes are also located, which, let's say, are not one of Ned's favorites. anyway, an observation. haven't heard it myself yet. i liked the autotuned closing tune from Blood Bank alright, but don't care for much else that Bon Iver's done.

Waiting for people Beth/Rest to be branded the best song on this album.....

johnny it looks like itunes fixed their fuck up?

I classify Bon Iver in my little brain compartment where Fleet Foxes are also located
LOL

Bon "Crusher" Iver vs. Fleet "Crazy Like The" Foxes

xp all it takes is for one person to notice and buy it (and then spread it around before remembering that all his iTunes store info is embedded in the files).

I can't find it anywhere.

Well it's out there. Don't know if this leak originates from the iTunes store though.

took me about two minutes to locate it this morning.

Waiting for people Beth/Rest to be branded the best song on this album.....

― Josh L, woensdag 18 mei 2011 14:41 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

That song so reminds me of Toto! o_O

Ha! I was going to say Toto, but I thought maybe it was just me.

this is nice, very sconnie, but i could do without all the autotuning

can someone robot mail me the godamn link to it. this is driving me nuts.

got it, never mind.

everyone of these has a fucking complete this survey!

(sent you a link)

There's more serious 80s soft rock vibes I'm getting from this, mostly because - as Ned noted - there's less guitar and more synth. Very different from the alone-in-the-shack feeling you unmistakenly get from 'For Emma' (having heard the bakcground story or not).

Really digging it!

Also the voice is even more harmonised than on the first album

wow the last track

Yeah, "Beth/Rest" is really something.

you guys rule.

Yeah, last track is so so great, love how the interlude before it leads it in too, after the already great Calgary.

I take it you got the link Bingo? :)

yes yes

of course i cant listen to it until i get home.

FUCK. SO GOOD. HOLOCENE is giving me a boner.

Gorgeous stuff. It doesn't quite haunt me the way For Emma did, but this is only my first listen.

The last half of this is really beautiful, almost baby making music.....

peter cetera?

maybe fields of gold?

very nice after I got over the 'wtf' factor. compare to last iron and wine album which is beyond fucking awful.

What are the lyrics to holocene, gorgeous. I think somewhere in there he says "you fucked a friend"

I can't stop listening to that song. It's hitting me hard

That is Peter cetera in Beth/rest. I'm waiting for Daniel lorusso to make love to ally

At first I was really shocked at how different this album is compared with For Emma, even Blood Bank, but the songs I liked at first listen I'm really loving and the songs I didn't like at first are growing on me. Beth/Rest even in it's 80's bedroom glow is my favorite. My girlfriend and I have listened to it repeatedly.

and made sweet sweet receda california love in shower costumes.

i've listened to this like 5 times in the past day so that must mean I love it.

lyrics posted for those who are into lyrics.

http://jagjaguwar.com/blog/2011/05/bon-iver-bon-iver-the-lyrics/

i've listened to to the new bon iver several times this morning, motivated by the same sort of experimental curiosity that brought me to the fleet foxes last week. prior to this moment, i've deliberately ignored both artists, kept away by the sense that their music belongs, somehow, to another tribe (where indie's concerned, i typically affiliate myself with grubbier punk/psych/noise). did like gayngs, tho.

anyway, this is beautiful, a vague shimmer of sound that reminds me more than anything else of grizzly bear's veckatimest - another lovely psychedelic pop album that can seem overly abstract at first. i say that because, for the all the time i've spent with bon iver, i can't remember a single song, can't even quote a lyric. i'd usually find fault in that, but the album clearly intends to get by more on mood than on hooks, and in this case, i'm willing to accept the tradeoff. there's absolutely no fire here, nothing raw, challenging or insistent, nothing to break the golden, narcotic haze of voice and instruments, and i imagine that people who depend on more violent musical enticements will reject it as boring, safe or unimaginative. it is safe, prizing a pillowy sort of sensual comfort over all else, but it goes awfully well with warm sun and slow hours.

can't imagine it'll go down as a favorite, but it strikes me as quite successful on its own terms.

I just discovered I have been mispronouncing this band's name

"Bon Scott"

i imagine that people who depend on more violent musical enticements will reject it as boring, safe or unimaginative. it is safe, prizing a pillowy sort of sensual comfort over all else, but it goes awfully well with warm sun and slow hours

Uh, what if you like both extremes?

Yeah, there aren't really any hooks here. Lotta nice sounds though.

i could do without Hinnom, TX. though.

best thing about this record: when it ends, the next thing that comes up in itunes = flying squad edit of boney m's "night flight to venus"

^ hooks! beats! words!

eh, that sounded snarky/critical. didn't mean it that way. i just love boney m!

boney ver

A+

Lyrics read like Finnegan's Wake refrigerator magnet poetry

wife's thoughts on this dude -

"i thought "bon iver" was his name and he was some french/italian foreign guy and he was all *in* with the hip-hop crowd and doing experimental music, but he's just some lame folky indie guy with three groups [bon iver, volcano choir, gayngs]... sounds like elevator music, boring.... reminds me of the colors gray, white and tan... and other neutrals."

*makes THUMBS DOWN symbol in the air w/ hand*

"oh also, gayngs sounds like a group based around wham! "careless whisper".... so lame."

I've listened to this twice since last week. Lady Gaga has been occupying all my time.

A group based around wham! "careless whisper" !!!!

beth/rest is great. I'm getting some kind of 90's emo vibes from some tracks (especially the first) in an owls/ghosts and vodka way.

I have trained myself to not change "Calgary" on the iPod.

damn, "calgary" is the shit

i keep seeing snippets of lyrics and it makes me never want to listen to this, because this man seems like he is the single worst lyricist ever

9.5 on P4K

let's be honest...it could've been an album of morse code, and as long as it had the Bon Iver name on it that score was inevitable.

I still like this album btw. Don't listen to it often, but it's certainly good when I do.

Johnny OTM, he's one of PF's prime darlings.

Still, I fucking love this album, and think it totally warrants all the praise it gets.

i keep seeing snippets of lyrics and it makes me never want to listen to this, because this man seems like he is the single worst lyricist ever

vocals too. if it were someone else singing different words i'd be keen to buy into it, but ugh! that voice. ew! those lyrics.

Is there really a song on this that sounds like Africa? I might be tempted to actually listen then.

Nah, Toto yes, but not Africa. It's the last song, 'Beth/Rest'.

im w/ ledge, the vocals really put me off

trim your facial hair son, makes you look like a rapist

Vocals seem a bit more natural than say, Woods, but what I really fall for is his compositions. Never much of a listener to lyrics either.

9.5????

haven't heard the record but that's super high

this album is great! no clue what "9.5" means in the world of pitchfork people but i would recommend this album

in the world of pitchfork people 9.5 is terrible

I've said it before, I'll say it again, but the politics of small differences that surrounds the decimal points system used by PF is the single thing I hate most about internet music stuff. As if grades and grading weren't reductive and desultory enough without giving reams of asshole hipster pricks yet more fuel for their nasty little anal bullshit. I hate it. I fucking hate it. Even more than the everything-gets-three-stars-when-you-mark-out-of-five system. wtf does 9.5 MEAN? It means NOTHING. It's an expression of an opinion, but the decimal point makes it maths which makes it TRUE which makes it IMPORTANT. Fuck you, decimal point lovers, fuck you to death.

Argh.

Vent over.

Marry me, Nick <3

I listened to half of this last night and it sounded pretty amazing

I know next to nothing about Bon Iver, but this Onion headline made me lol:

Man Just Going To Grab Guitar And Old Four-Track, Go Out To Cabin In Woods, Make Shittiest Album Anyone's Ever Heard

This is like a soggy-potato-chip-mouthed chillwave Grizzly Bear....DO NOT LIKE.

Seriously, completely agree with you about the decimal point shenanigans, which is just challops.

It is a great, great album though.

Kind of an odd album for Pitchfork to feel they need to make a "statement" about

i keep seeing snippets of lyrics and it makes me never want to listen to this, because this man seems like he is the single worst lyricist ever

can't concur

Well, I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any of the colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags
You said, "See, look here, that's yours!
Stacked on top with your brother's
See how they resemble one another
Even in their plastic little covers"

from a strictly formal standpoint these are A+

wonder why pitchfork docked it half a point

lack of creativity on the album title

No Kanye guest spot

only thing worse than p4k decimal system is letting the p4k decimal system get to you

the decimal points DO matter though bc p4k knows they matter. ever since funeral, the score has held such an immense weight and they're so aware of it. they use grand scores as musical-political statements that don't really reflect the album at all (MBDTF MBDTF MBDTF MBDTF MBDTF MBDTF)

any album that score above like, a 9.2 is going to be met with groaning and eyerolls because pitchfork has set their system up so that NO new album could possibly be that good

but that album will proceed to become very, very popular

also high unemployment & anti-vaccine people

to sum up, list of things that are worse than p4k decimal system, ranked:
1. letting p4k decimal system get to you
2. high unemployment
3. anti-vaccine people

2 & 3 could be flipped idk

god help us if there's a war

4. war

list is closed now though I'm pretty sure that's it

no wait I take it back, brief reopening for final point on list
5. emerson, lake & palmer

i see you've come around somewhat to the "i miss you" video

5. emerson, lake & palmer

now THAT was a strictly formal A+

what did everyone think of his bonnie raitt cover/rework? shit was pretty moving imo

gotta admit i'm curious to hear this thing

what did everyone think of his bonnie raitt cover/rework? shit was pretty moving imo

I thought it was truly great - I mean, that song is a monument, start with that you'll have to work to go wrong, but he killed i

t

i must admit i hadn't heard the orig in so long, i couldn't work out how he had changed it!

i need to a/b them a little more, there's some shit that's not even in the raitt version? like i don't know what he's pulling from at all

i kinda cringed when i heard he covered it but damn i thought he knocked it out of the park

The Bonnie Raitt (almost typed prince billy) cover was giving me an "old man hat" vibe for some reason.

RIP steven tyler -- first ryan dunn & now this

To me the 9.5 translated to "Well, that Radiohead album was a bit disapointing and we need to give a relatively high score to something at this point in the year..."

oh for fuck's sake

anyway, i read some of the lyrics & yeah they were pretty dumb in places, but it def seems like an album that

a. is rich enough in texture/arrangement/vocals etc that the lyrics don't HAVE to matter
b. works from a lyrical standpoint if you stick to the phrases that make sense out of context & sorta let the other ones go in one ear & out the other

nb i listened to half of the album once, but that was my impression

I tend to look at the number rating as an enthusiasm meter, which works perfectly fine for me.

It's like, Pitchfork has a ton of different ways to use itself as a resource, and the number system is just one method of entry, along with Best New Music, The Playlists, the news stuff, and the reviews themselves-- which I feel like mostly serve to put music (even throwaway bullshit albums) into a musical/cultural context that they've created. So for me, it works incredibly as a resource for finding new music, which is I think what it's intended for, right? They have a lot of access points that they're really great about cultivating, developing and maintaining. I think it's a great site that I frequently disagree with, and some bullshit sneaks in through various individual personalities.

But if you can't figure out how to use it, I don't know what to tell you. Cuz that ain't them, that's you.

goole: Last night, Justin Vernon brought an iteration of Bon Iver to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that sounded neither like the muted folk of his 2007 breakthrough or the layered majesty of his forthcoming follow-up. Instead, he sang beside pianist Phil Cook--his best friend and former bandmate in DeYarmond Edison, and now a multi-instrumentalist in Megafaun--to play a beautiful and simple medley of hits by other people: "A Song for You," by Leon Russell via Donny Hathaway, and Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." It was one of the smartest television appearances by a band I've seen in a bit.

I saw him perform the Raitt cover on ... Fallon, probably? ... and was bothered that he seemed to be deliberately avoiding the melodic line. But I really love the original song, so.

Ha, that was actually an xpost.

It also seemed so left-field to me, because all I really knew about this dude before this album was "Skinny Love," but it makes way more sense in the context of "Beth/Rest."

I can't get past his voice, and I'm not that fond of Asia.

cool geebs thx

the vocals remind me of tvotr, theyre a bit more annoying in this context of less cool sounds but not the worst

In reply to sickmouthy:

I thought long and hard about this and came to the conclusion that the album was more like a 9.6 than 9.5. These Pitchfork dudes know nothing.

i was kinda disappointed that the new tvotr was missing the p gabriel 80s synth-rock vibe but this gets pretty close to hitting that spot

why don't you just marry peter gabriel already

you should stand outside his house with a boombox

and play a toto song.

or just beth/rest

bon iver's cover of "come talk to me" is kind of sweet, not nearly as good as the raitt cover tho

Prefer his cover of "Big Time" with Four Tet and Grizzly Bear tbh

you should stand outside his house with a boombox

Reminds me of the South Park episode where someone told Stan was told to win Wendy back he'd have to stand outside her house playing a Peter Gabriel song on a boombox. Cut to him standing there with "Shock the Monkey" playing.

^ poor structure, but you get it.

after making an "experimental" and at least half successful attempt to get into this record a month ago, i haven't once been tempted to return to it.

you made an experimental attempt to get into the album? did you listen to it while hanging upside down or what

fuck, this is def filling the TVOTR void -- i didn't pick up on it until i put it on headphones

the way he sings that bonnie rait song should be a dealbreaker but then it is somehow the complete opposite of a dealbreaker and the song breaks through and i'm crying either way so.

never listed to for emma, from the forest but i will check this guy out on the strength of the cover.

yes

xx

fuck, this is def filling the TVOTR void -- i didn't pick up on it until i put it on headphones

― J0rdan S., Monday, June 20, 2011 7:09 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is encouraging cause new tvotr is a snooze

yes it is

His phrasing is exquisite, but, wow, that Raitt cover (which I just heard) left me cold. Rather appropriate that he stretched out the "Don't patronize me" line.

i've never liked tvotr like at all.

youre just not trying hard enough, probably

His phrasing is exquisite, but, wow, that Raitt cover (which I just heard) left me cold. Rather appropriate that he stretched out the "Don't patronize me" line.

to me his only serious misstep there - Raitt's delivery of that line sets a ridiculously high bar though

I can't get past his voice, and I'm not that fond of Asia.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 20, 2011 5:47 PM (Yesterday)

^
I have no idea how I feel about this album yet, but this is an excellent sentence.

Colbert interview right now is lolz. Gonna do "Calgary" after the commercial break.

a second opinion

Hrm. Can see that getting replaced down the road.

do we still use enya as a generic stand-in for "shlocky aural wallpaper"?

and geez, two-and-a-half? that's a one-star review if i've ever read one. "overblown debacle," ouch. sounds like someone didn't get what they wanted for christmas.

yeah overblown is pretty lol considering one of the first things that jumps out is the careful arrangements

which btw remind me more of Antony than anyone

man fuck enya haters

it's always hilarious when some indie album gets a lot of attention and people who would never in a million years have listened to it otherwise get all up in arms about it

then again that sentence is probably true just as a generalization with all genres - it's hilarious/boring when some (metal, rap, bossa) album gets a lot of attention and people get all OH NOT DON'T YOU REALIZE IT'S HORRIBLE

all right so i am listening to this for the first time at 2 am which feels pretty right, okay

this is a very pretty thing

wasn't going to check this out before the 9.5, now i am going to check this out

I kind of have to rmde at all the "OMG where in the world did 'Beth/Rest' come from?!?!" comments from critics who, by saying that, admit that they really haven't been paying all that much attention Vernon since For Emma. I mean, if you heard the (pre-Kanye) "Woods" and the Gayngs album, this wouldn't come as that big of a shock.

should we be bringing up green gartside or would that set people's teeth on edge...

Passed by a coworker watching the Colbert appearance and I idly noted Bon I. sitting there surrounded by people doing deliberate handclaps and I was all "Huh."

should we be bringing up green gartside or would that set people's teeth on edge...

When discussing, say, Destroyer, sure. This guy don't know about rhythm.

I prefer the Sean Carey album.

That Allmusic review is an embarrassment.

performance on fallon was kinda O_O -- sorta lol'd at giving his own band the gas face

anyway it made me think of sufjan, altho their recorded music is different in many, many ways

the (second) biggest seller on the billboard charts

Gave this a chance due to normally sane people rating it highly & late Talk Talk comparisons. Still sounds like castratos being murdered. Horrible.

late talk talk comparisons would work if the record ever stopped being exhaustively pretty and relaxed a little.

Sounds like Sting when he needs to poo.

listened to it prob three times riding back and forth to the beach today--there is some really cool stuff going on and a lot of subtle stuff i probably missed because i wasn't cranking it--ultimately i think i'll always want to like this guy more than i do (because imo he has a really high not-giving-a-fuck quotient and attaches himself to so many odd endeavors like gayngs and the kanye record) but i could see this being a cool record that i get into to an extent and look back on fondly.

brg30 bringing the heat

Haven't felt the urge to listen again once.

"beth/rest" is playing in starbucks & i'm on the table on my knees holding a lighter up & sobbing

The barista will help you in a minute, sir. There's a line.

"beth/rest" is playing in starbucks & i'm on the table on my knees holding a lighter up & sobbing

oh man I heard this at Starbucks on Friday too.

is that the fake 80s song

the Jack Wagner number, yes.

I wish the tempo was double on all his songs

I bet he ran out of coffee in the woods

Just noticed: the album debuted at #2 last week, with sales of 104,000. (Jill Scott was #1.)

really feelin this album now

just sayin'?

loving this. i havent been paying attention to the lyrics so much as this really has a nice mood. "beth/rest" is great, like A-Ha on valium.

scratch that "beth/rest" reminds me more of bruce hornsby than a-ha

I think that might be why I like Active Child much more when it comes to the a-ha deal.

Unfortunately I googled the lyrics to "Beth/Rest."

bought this on friday and listened to it out at the coast over the weekend. pretty and hypnotic, but it never quite reaches any destination for me. reminds me a bit of a triple-tracked peter gabriel

The opener blew me away straight off. The rest of the album sounded like shit.
Played it again.
Then again.
Then got it.

Fucking beauty. Seriously great.

Halocene is almost as good as Flipper's "The Way of the World"

Red House Painter

There's a huge picture of this guy on a Bushmills billboard outside of my house, and it creeps me out a lot. I like the guy and everything, but it's pretty sleazy.

I tried to Google image search it, but I couldn't find it. Here's another one, though:

http://sidewalkhustle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Bushmills-Since-Way-Back-Bon-Iver.jpeg

At least in the one in my neighborhood, he's wearing a Jagjaguar shirt and giving those guys some exposure.

He probably made a decent chunk of change off that Kanye album, no?

I like this second record just fine, but dude sucked the life out of the new Kathleen Edwards.

you already heard new kathleen edwards?? i thought it doesn't come out till jan?

Real ugly ad. Lazy copyrwiting and bad art direction overall. It doesn't seem like it took them longer than an hour to arrange it.

Also you kind of suck at google she got shakes. If you type 'bon iver bushmills' the first images are the ones you mention:

http://www.ellenwood-ep.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Bushmills.jpg

http://jagjaguwar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BonIverBanner1.jpg

I use Ask Jeeves

The founders of Bushmills developed a recipe that lasts. We hope to do the same with our music.

xpost I don't know when the Edwards comes out, exactly, but I've heard it and have it. It represents a pretty big change, I think, maybe not for the better but I bet better for her.

I guess I should give up my dream of Asking for Flowers Pt. 2

Ew, that ad. Just hangin' with my bros, makin' some music, drinkin' some Bushmills.

I also like the guy a lot though. Not quite my favourite album of the year but it's the one I play when I can't think of what to put on.

I like this second record just fine, but dude sucked the life out of the new Kathleen Edwards.

ok waht. I had no idea he was involved -- or why. He's got more to learn from her.

They are a couple now (she divorced her longtime ... guitarist?). He produces, collaborates and plays a bunch of stuff. And Norah Jones is on the record, too.

The songwriting and melodies are fine. Some of the production choices in regards to mixing levels for certain tracks, what sounds to use and arrangement, seem really random and jarring to me.

guys I don't know if you heard but it's hard to make a living selling records these days

just fyi

It represents a pretty big change, I think, maybe not for the better but I bet better for her.

Of course aero. I have an aesthetic gripe about that particular ad not an ethical one with Justin taking the money. There are good ads and bad ads.

this album is really fucking good

i will be listening to it a lot this winter

guys I don't know if you heard but it's hard to make a living selling records these days

Sure, fine, fair enough, but big money booze strikes me as pretty gnarly to get in bed with. Bushmills' parent company does some pretty heinous lobbying. Not everybody's gotta be Fugazi, but sheesh.

Besides - he seems to be doing just fine selling records (and selling out multi-night stands at very big venues) all over the place.

(I know, it's all pretty tiresome to get into. This one just bummed me out a little bit, between the gross press release speak, the bro-out vibe, and the fact that admittedly this time it's a dude I kind of like).

At least in the one in my neighborhood, he's wearing a Jagjaguar shirt and giving those guys some exposure.

― She Got the Shakes, Sunday, October 23, 2011 11:18 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

didn't he give "those guys" some exposure when he released his very successful albums on jagjaguwar?

"kanye told me, go 'head change ya style up - and if they hate then let 'em hate and watch the money pile up"

Yeah, I suppose so. I guess I thought it was a cool gesture, since I've always thought of it as a little American label, and seeing it on a huge billboard by the A4 motorway is pretty insane. (He's on a different label here in the UK, btw).
Wait, why did you put "those guys" in quotes?

i guess it just read weird, like that's his label, your post made it seemed like he was coming down off the mountain to give some little label props...

i guess it's probably pretty small, but i guess these days it doesn't much matter.

anyway i didn't mean to phrase it unduly snarky, but i guess i think of him as the big jagjaguwar artist (rip the wilderness)

Ah, I see - I didn't mean it that way. I suppose I admire 'label pride,' though I have no idea what that is based on and can come up with no examples outside of the Nick Lowe tune! Maybe Tad wearing the Sub Pop "Loser" tee? (Reaching...)
He's on 4AD here.

I heard a little voice it said 'fuck you' it was little

http://awards.music.yahoo.com/blog/158-indie-band-bon-iver-turns-down-offer-to-perform-at-the-grammys

Turning down the grammys eh.

http://vimeo.com/36365467

Is that what goes on in those "cool" churches?

http://vimeo.com/36365467

Nothing like religion to ruin a perfectly good song; although it would've been nice to see a pit form when they kicked it into "Oh, Night Divine".

http://soundcloud.com/jagjaguwar/s-carey-two-angles

!

http://boniverotica.tumblr.com/

Bizarre S Carey packaging question: the CD packaging looks like it has space for two things - a CD and a booklet, I suppose; possibly two CDs - should it come with a booklet or is it just a packaging quirk?

Bon Iver: Band to Release First Album in 5 Years, Titled '22, A Million'

read this as they announced they would release the album in 5 years

So, I'm the guy who's never liked Bon Iver, but who thinks the two new tracks sound pretty brilliant.

that tumble linked above is pretty hilar.

tumblr

lmao at that tracklist, did he just discover Aphex Twin?

The two tracks I've heard really are v good.

Lucid Vanguard started as a music sharing process between Karl Remus and Warren Thomas Fenzi. Feeding and flowing off each other, they share many aspects of the songwriting process. To bracket them in one genre is to do them a disservice. Thoughtful vocals infused with neo-soul, world music and R&B beats. Borrowing from the method of Bon Iver and the dissolving of the ego that often comes with the singer/songwriter denotations, this band seeks a higher musical consciousness through what they create. What can be said for sure is that what Lucid Vanguard has released so far gives us a taste of the beautiful future for sound they are currently crafting.

https://tractsofrevolution.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/ego-3.jpg

Could sure go for some fried eggs right now.

hang on to your eggo

a bunch of my friends played sax on this.

good stuff? they are playing in st. paul soon

haven't heard it yet (i don't think they have either), nor are they in the touring band. sounds like the recording was a cool experience though.

I looked at the trackless, and it sounds like there's a bunch of sax on it. The whole project seems weird, but I love it so far, and I did not expect that.

Ahh so Justin finally listened to that copy of Age of Adz he had lying around

eh it's not suprising given who his musician friends are in the twin cities

Ahh so Justin finally listened to that copy of Age of Adz he had lying around

― you think Lou Bega gave up after Mambo Number One??? (voodoo chili), Wednesday, August 17, 2016 2:48 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is so otm lol
i like these songs a lot. never listened to the 2011 record. haven't really paid attention since for emma, this new shit is wild, didn't really see it coming at all...
http://pitchfork.com/news/67876-bon-iver-share-new-song-33-god-listen/

33 God is pretty good. the main things different from the last album are the programmed drums & samples floating about. the 80s soft rock at the core of these are basically what the last album was

wow this is stunning

Not my thing, these two new tracks. Perhaps in the context of an album I'll enjoy them more. I remember loving the first single off the s/t and then disliking the record a great deal, so heh, who knows.

Second LP left me completely cold; two listens thru the new one and I'm utterly blown away. One of the freshest approaches to music I've heard in some time.

this is pretty good

i could do without some of the data decay stuff tho

This seemed really impressive on my first few listens. Some of the grotesquely over-Auto-Tuned stuff is hard for me to stomach, though. I feel like he's really driven that aesthetic into the ground.

this is like when you download some gimmicky Waves Audio plugin demo and dick around making junk sound all goofy until it runs out

Obviously there's a lot more craftsmanship and vision to it than that. But it does sound very gimmicky, at times distractingly so.

This is absolutely terrible. And that's coming from someone who has much love for his first and mostly his second record too. But this is just straight up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. It's idealess. Using effects for the sake of it. Coming up with dreadful tracknames for the sake of it.

You can't just transform or further develop by merely using vocoders, autotune and "mysterious" song titles, you know. It takes soul, a sense of direction, and neither is even remotely present on the new record. Shambles. #trenchant

"8 (Circle)" really reminds me of Marc Cohen the "Walking in Memphis" guy

This is great. Fuck music with soul and direction.

Don't know if you are a first time customer to Bon Iver, Frederik, but if that is your stance you will hate his first two records I suppose.

I'm all for auto-tune and vocoders. But a teeny weeny bit of genuinity would be nice. 22, a million, offers none.

this shit is all about some old fashioned "authenticity" bullshit, he like goes down on bruce hornsby and indigo girls ffs

wow this shit is so crazy zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I do hate the first two records, lol. Bon Iver, Bon Iver was my worst album of 2011. Hate is not too strong a word. I'm quite surprised I like the new one as much as I do as well :)

idk this doesn't really seem like the huge departure from the last one that people are claiming. the methods of arriving are different, but ultimately he's always making goopy watercolors of songs based around his voice.

This is great. Fuck music with soul and direction.

― Frederik B, Monday, October 3, 2016 4:42 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hello 2016

i need to spend more time with this. i don't know if the sounds he is working with here really do the songs a lot of favors but maybe i will change my mind about that.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver was my worst album of 2011. Hate is not too strong a word. I'm quite surprised I like the new one as much as I do as well :)

― Frederik B, Monday, October 3, 2016 5:16 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is so perverse

Second LP left me completely cold; two listens thru the new one and I'm utterly blown away. One of the freshest approaches to music I've heard in some time.

Likewise. It'll be interesting to see what sort of stamina this album might possess but wow, I sure am reaching for it a lot this week.

this album is dumb

But is it performatively dumb?

"33 “GOD”"

(When we leave this room it's gone)
Is the company stalling?
We had what we wanted: your eyes
(When we leave this room it's gone)
With no word from the former
I'd be happy as hell, if you stayed for tea

Tour dates cancelled:

https://twitter.com/boniver/status/816645561126420480/photo/1

this album is seven years old now. i think it holds up as a classic.

especially calgary. like, come on.

dunno... calgary is indeed beautiful, the album art is gorgeous, sonically it's lovely, but the songs are just a bit too wet in parts. i reckon the last LP holds up better.

calgary, yes, beth/rest definitely

but overall found it a bit of a slog, overdone

classic sophomore syndrom, what came so easy on the first one sounds slightly forced/overthougt here

2 new songs.

I like Hey, Ma.

album i,i out August 30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU-s_Zxv_MQ

i really like "faith" out of the new songs

have loved all 4 of the new ones so far. U and Faith maybe above the others.

U (Man Like) > Faith > Hey, Ma > Jelmore

the album is out early and i'm really liking it on first listen - probably my favourite of his? a successful improvement on the samples-and-synths-everywhere sound of the last one which had some cool ideas but it felt too fragmented for it to really work that well overall. goes much further into sublime sophisti- (and i want to say kinda balearic in places) territory than his previous work too - "salem" and "sh'diah" are especially good.

Feel like some of the early over-praise for this is music over-correcting for the fact that they didn't call 22, A Million as being his best album by a distance.

*music critics

Yeah, perhaps. I repped for 22, A Million (even in this thread) but eventually for me, the live reworkings superceded the album versions. The December 2016 show at Pioneer Works seems the definitive listen these days. I'm still underwhelmed by the new record.

idk the critical praise for this seems pretty in line with the last two overall, maybe a little weaker if anything.

22, a million has some of his best work (particularly the middle section of "33 god"/"29 strafford apts"/"666") but as an album it doesn't work that well for me. it's very dense with ideas but doesn't really let them breathe, especially on the first two tracks. "45" and "00000 million" are pretty slight as songs too

Wore out For Emma, Forever Ago in response to a rough breakup back in 2008. I doubt I'll ever revisit it but it did what it had to most effectively. None of his subsequent records have held my attention.

Don’t care for this one at all; I did like the last one though. This just seems like a less interesting retread.

Good tip-off re that Pioneer Works show, Doug.

Curious to know how other Bon Iver fans received the Taylor Swift duet "Exile"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA

still sticking on 22, A Million on the reg

Not massively feeling the new S Carey, so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRRwJOfY4

Flagging this for my fellow Vernon fans: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/deyarmond-edison-epoch/

Epoch begins with a dilemma. To explain why the avant-Americana quartet DeYarmond Edison is worth remembering, the box set would have to start with the recordings they made closer to the end of their mayfly lifespan. But to tell the whole story, it would have to start with Mount Vernon, their precociously professional teen band, whose songs, as the accompanying book gently concedes, may grate on the adult sensibilities at which this handsome shelf-buster is aimed. That they appear at the beginning anyway shows just how hard Epoch comes down on the side of storytelling. It’s a work of music journalism as much as a portfolio of songs, excavating how Justin Vernon, Joe Westerlund, and brothers Brad and Phil Cook grew up together in Wisconsin, rampantly evolved in North Carolina, and split off asymmetrically, with three of them earning modest acclaim as Megafaun and one earning Grammy awards and Taylor Swift guest spots as Bon Iver.

The box is divided into six chronological parts, beginning with All of Us Free, an LP that captures DeYarmond Edison taking shape in the late 1990s and early ’00s. The second LP, Silent Signs, reproduces their second album, which they recorded just before leaving Eau Claire. That Was Then consists of four CDs documenting the performances in which they dynamited their newly refined sound, and these discs form the messy, brilliant heart of the box and the band. The LP Epoch, Etc. is the sound of them breaking apart under the stress, and hazeltons is Vernon breaking out on his own. The set concludes with the LP Where We Belong, with an A-side of recrimination and a B-side of reconciliation.

Epoch was executive produced by Grayson Haver Currin, a Pitchfork contributor who also wrote the 114-page accompaniment, Time to Know. When DeYarmond Edison moved from the Chippewa Valley to the Southern capital of Raleigh in 2005, Haver Currin became a friend and fan, and the project is such a close study of their bond that it becomes a monument for friendship writ large—how it fits people together, changes them until they fit no more, and then, with patience, rejoins them at new seams.