Posts Tagged ‘justin vernon’
12/8/09 News briefs: DâM-FunK + Nite Jewel, The Big Pink + A Place To Bury Strangers, F**ked Up, Bon Iver and best albums of 2009
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Rising funk ambassador DâM-FunK has teamed up with nocturnal lo-fi mistress Nite Jewel. Together they are Nite Funk, and XLR8R has the premiere track, “Am I Gonna Make It.”
The Big Pink and A Place To Bury Strangers will become tourmates through March and April 2010. The two bands will stop in Vancouver on March 13th, Toronto on March 24th and Montreal on March 25th. Bring your earplugs…
F**ed Up have revealed the gloriously, spirited cover and more details on their star-studded benefit Christmas single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” According to their label Matador, it “should be available from iTunes on [today], and will be released as a 7-inch single with an unreleased F**ked Up song on the b-side in February 2010.”
Earlier this year, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon performed live with Eau Claire, a jazz band from his old high school. Now that performance has become an album. A Decade With Duke will feature a set of Vernon’s songs as well as a set of Duke Ellington standards.
Finally, a number of music sites/mags have unveiled their year end picks for best album. The Quietus chose Sunn O)))’s Monoliths & Dimensions. The NME picked The Horrors’ Primary Colours. Gorilla vs Bear selected Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II. SPIN championed Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. And FACT, well, it’s gonna stretch it out for the rest of the week and reveal the winner on Friday.
Tags: A Decade With Duke, A Place To Bury Strangers, bon iver, DâM-FunK, Do They Know It's Christmas?, Duke Ellington, F**ed Up, FACT, Gorilla vs Bear, justin vernon, matador, Nite Funk, Nite Jewel, NME, SPIN, the big pink, The Quietus, XLR8R
Posted in News, The New Music | No Comments »
Album review: Volcano Choir - Unmap
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Volcano Choir Unmap [Jagjaguwar]
Last year Justin Vernon went from unknown singer-songwriter making bedroom recordings in the backwoods to signing with esteemed indie label Jagjaguwar (4AD in Europe) and releasing one of 2008’s most revered albums, For Emma, Forever Ago.
This year he’s become even harder to miss, thanks to countless use of his music on TV and film (yep, he’s got a song on the New Moon soundtrack). But instead of capitalizing on his solo success, Vernon has rejoined an old band that pre-dates Bon Iver.
Volcano Choir is a collaboration between Vernon and the guys in Collections of Colonies of Bees. Unmap was recorded late last year and demonstrates how Vernon’s intimate expression extends itself into a much more spacious environment. While this is a band at work, it’s hard to argue that Vernon hasn’t patented his own style, which has a certain influence over the album, but not a dominant one.
“Still,” for instance, brings in the unexpected autotuning we heard on this year’s Blood Bank EP, and “Dote,” a sprawling instrumental built of ambient drones and haunting whispers, still maintains that rustic charm of Bon Iver.
But Volcano Choir are more interested in exploring sonic possibilities without using the usual songwriting template.
“Island, IS” is an ambitious bit of avant-pop, reminiscent of the fluttering keyboards and drum loops heard in My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon” and “Seeplymouth” slips in some jazzy time-keeping to help it escalates into a climactic free jam. But it’s “Mbira In The Morass” that finds them drifting into a more shapeless type of elastic improvisation instead of full-on song structure.
Unmap offers plenty for those who fell under the spell of For Emma, Forever Ago, but also a different, less linear take by one of independent music’s rising stars.
Rating: B+
- Cam Lindsay
Tags: bon iver, jagjaguwar, justin vernon, unmap, volcano choir
Posted in Reviews, The New Music | 1 Comment »
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