bon iver

Justin Vernon’s Latest Ventures

By Phillip Imkamp ⋅ September 27, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

Bon Iver fans may be heartbroken due to lead singer, Justin Vernon, hinting at the end of Bon Iver (or at very least a hiatus for a few years). But fear not because he has recently answered the fans’ questions and mentioned that “Bon Iver is not dead”, also adding that there will be more albums in the future. In late 2012, the band decided to take a break from their extremely successful, double Grammy winning year. Although there is no time frame of when they will reunite and release a new album, there is plenty from Justin Vernon to keep you satisfied until then.

Vernon recently decided to venture into and promote other projects he is involved in. In early 2013 he joined up with Brian Moen, and Phil Cook to create, or rather to bring back, The Shouting Matches. In 2008, the Shouting Matches released their debut album, Mouthoil which was recently released again due to the bands newfound fame. Now they have regrouped to bring you their latest album, Grownass Man. For those who don’t know about The Shouting Matches, they have a different sound compared to what you are used to from Vernon, and Bon Iver. With strong electric guitar strumming, and Vernon’s dynamic voice, the band is more known for their blues vibe. Vernon’s wide vocal range is utilized to bring out a new, more powerful sound, and is a big must listen for all Bon Iver fans wanting more songs during their hiatus.

If that does not fill you up, lately Vernon has worked in the group Volcano Choir, that consists of member from Collection of Colonies of Bees as well as Vernon himself as the lead vocalist. Volcano Choir most resembles the indie vibe that is expressed in Bon Iver, although with a slightly more upbeat tempo. Volcano Choir recently released their second studio album Repave and is a definite must have for Bon Iver fans in waiting.

Listen: The Flaming Lips & Bon Iver – “Ashes In The Air”

By Frank Wu ⋅ March 28, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

For Record Store Day this year, the Flaming Lips will be releasing a new record entitled The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, which houses a number of collaborations between the Lips and Tame Impala, Yoko Ono, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and even Ke$ha. Today, we get to hear the highly-anticipated collaboration track with Bon Iver. “Ashes In The Air” features the classic psychedelic Flaming Lips sound, which is then complemented by the lush falsetto of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who contributes some peculiar lines about racing robot dogs. Despite that, Vernon sounds completely at home in the woozy electronic soundscape, which results in a great piece of work between two of the biggest acts in the indie rock world.

The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends Tracklist:
Side 1:
01. 2012 (feat. Ke$ha and Biz Markie)
02. Ashes In The Air (feat. Bon Iver)
03. Helping The Retarded To Know God (feat. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros)

Side 2:
04. Supermoon Made Me Want To Pee (feat. Prefuse 73)
05. Children Of The Moon (feat. Tame Impala)
06. That Ain’t My Trip (feat. Jim James of My Morning Jacket)
07. You, Man? Human? (feat. Nick Cave)

Side 3:
08. I’m Working At NASA On Acid (feat. Lightning Bolt)
09. Do It! (feat. Yoko Ono)
10. Is David Bowie Dying? (feat. Neon Indian)

Side 4:
11. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (feat. Erykah Badu)
12. Thunder Drops (feat. New Fumes)
13. I Don’t Want You To Die (feat. Chris Martin of Coldplay)

Video: Bon Iver – “Towers”

By Frank Wu ⋅ February 27, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Bon Iver‘s newest single “Towers” from 2011’s standout album Bon Iver is set for release by Jagjaguwar on March 6th. To promote its release, the band released a new full-scale music video for the song directed by Nabil Elderkin, who also directed the visuals for “Holocene”. You can watch the whole thing, which features the journey of an old man (and the sea!) as well as some curious drawings of towers, below.

S. Carey Announces New Solo Effort ‘Hoyas EP’

By Frank Wu ⋅ February 21, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Bon Iver‘s S. Carey will make his solo return with a brand new four-track EP entitled Hoyas. Set for release on Jagjaguwar (home to Bon Iver), Hoyas was, according to the press release, recorded in an attic studio “using a single laptop and not much else… Some sounds were composed by handcrafted instruments and others by junk. At times, Carey tracked vocals using nothing more than his laptop’s internal microphone, and most of the beats and synthesized sounds were sequenced and arranged using stock-software.” Bon Iver bandmate Justin Vernon then mixed and produced the album, which is currently scheduled for a May 8th release.

In the meantime, you can watch S. Carey and Justin Vernon in their recent Bon Iver live acoustic session here.

Hoyas EP Tracklist:
01. Two Angles
02. Avalanche
03. Inspir
04. Marfa

Video: Bon Iver Live Acoustic Session At AIR Studios

By Frank Wu ⋅ February 17, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Working with record labels 4AD and Jagjaguwar, Justin Vernon and Sean Carey of Bon Iver sat down at AIR Studio’s Lyndurst Hall to record a breathtaking 25 minute live session, a stylistic contrast from the band’s recent shows with a full eleven-piece band. Instead, Vernon and Carey provide an intimate, sit-down session, performing songs from the Blood Bank EP and the band’s Grammy Award winning Bon Iver, Bon Iver while also throwing in a cover of Bonnie Raitt‘s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (which was also included as a bonus track from Bon Iver, Bon Iver).

Be sure to set aside half an hour this weekend and watch the session below, courtesy of 4AD and Jagjaguwar.

01) Hinnom, TX
02) Wash.
03) I Can’t Make You Love Me
04) Babys
05) Beth/Rest

Watch: Bon Iver Live On Saturday Night Live

By Frank Wu ⋅ February 6, 2012 ⋅ One comment

This past Friday night, Justin Vernon and his fellow Bon Iver bandmates made an appearance on Saturday Night Live to perform two tracks from their fantastic 2011 record Bon Iver, Bon Iver, one of our favorite records of last year. As expected, the band launched directly into the ethereal, Grammy-nominated “Holocene”, but then surprised the audience when they began playing the opening notes to the highly-divisive, cheese-filled “Beth/Rest”. Personally, my favorite version of the song is still the solo piano version Justin did for NPR World Cafe, which you can listen to right here. Be sure to check out the videos from SNL below.

“Holocene”:

“Beth/Rest”:

Listen: Flaming Lips & Erykah Badu – “Now I Understand”

By Kevin Miao ⋅ January 30, 2012 ⋅ 3 comments

The Flaming Lips and Erykah Badu have worked together to create the song, “Now I Understand”. The band’s description of the song in Soundcloud is “Sound construction piece featuring Lips, Erykah Badu, Siri, and Biz Markie backwards. It’s called “Now I Understand” It’s funny and will be available on SoundCloud for one week only!!! Life is beautiful. Music gets you high.” The song also features sampled vocals from Apple’s Siri. This collaboration is a part of a huge compilation album that the Flaming Lips plan to release on Record Store Day. The Flaming Lips plan to collaborate with Nick Cave, Neon Indian, Yoko Ono and Bon Iver. Frontman, Wayne Coyne, also hopes to work with Lykke Li and Ke$ha.

‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’ Gets Digital Re-Release

By Frank Wu ⋅ November 20, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Bon Iver‘s critically acclaimed self-titled LP will be getting the re-release treatment on November 29th. The 10 track album will be released digitally on iTunes via Jagjaguwar and does not actually include any new songs. The caveat is that the re-release includes 10 short films, one for each of the album’s tracks. From the press release:

“Comprised of individual visual works that both complement and enrich the audio on the album, the video accompaniment was in itself another year in the making. Featuring work by Dan Huiting, Isaac Gale, David Jensen, JoLynn Garnes and Justin Vernon, the video work is meant to be consumed as a visual extension of the music, to enhance each listener’s experience with one of the year’s most acclaimed albums. While not music videos per se, these visual accompaniments are striking in their distinctive atmosphere, and compelling works in their own right.”

After the break, you can check out a 47 second long trailer. Powerful and deeply moving imagery combined with ethereal music from Justin Vernon and co. – what more do you want?

Bon Iver Wins Q Award, Discusses Future Collaborations

By Tait Gu ⋅ October 25, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Q Magazine dished out honors yesterday for its Q Awards, in which Bon Iver received a well-deserved award for “Best New Album”. After receiving the award, Vernon discussed his recent collaborations with Kanye West and James Blake, stating that they were “awesome” and hinting that there was more to come. On his recent collaboration with Blake, Vernon stated that the two were “mutual fans”, that “it became pretty obvious” that the two should work together, and that the two would be doing “a lot in the future”. Check out Darcy’s review of the new Bon Iver album right here and click read more to check out the short interview with Q Magazine. You can also watch Bon Iver perform on BBC’s Later with Jools Holland (via P4K).

Other award winners include Coldplay with “Best Act in the World Today”, WU LYF with “Best New Act”, Lana Del Rey with “Next Big Thing”, and Snow Patrol with a peculiar “Best Classic Song” award.

Interview: Phil The Thrill

By Frank Wu ⋅ October 15, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

My favorite thing about talking to artists is just hearing how humble they really are and how much work they’re putting in to achieve their dreams. Hard work definitely does pay off. So last week, I was extremely fortunate to speak to an up-and-coming rapper from Virginia named Phil The Thrill, who has been releasing an EP a month for the past five months, garnering attention from XXL Magazine and SmokingSection.com. On October 25th, Phil will be concluding the series with a full-length mixtape entitled Barely Awake, which you can preview here.

Check out my full interview with Phil below.

Hey Phil, what’s up? How’s it going?

Phil The Thrill: Good, good, good.

I’ve just been reading about Steve Jobs. Man, that’s terrible.

Phil The Thrill: Crazy, crazy. I mean, they knew it was gonna happen eventually, but it was just all of a sudden it seems like.

Yeah… ah, the man’s a genius. So I hear you’re 22 years old and from Newport News, Virginia, is that correct?

Phil The Thrill: Yessir.

Actually, where have I heard of that place from? Is that…Michael Vick’s hometown?

Phil The Thrill: Yeah, yeah. Michael Vick, Allen Iverson.

Oh, okay. How’s the music scene there?

Phil The Thrill: It’s… pretty scattered. This area is known as Hampton Roads, the 757. I’m not sure how familiar you are with this part of Virginia but Missy‘s from here, Timbaland‘s from here, Pharrell‘s from here,The Clipse are from here. So yeah, we have a pretty crazy rich tradition as far as music goes. It just seems like they’ll move away and you know, it’s hard to really get them back to reach out to artists that are coming up now. But as far as tradition goes, we’re definitely on the map when it comes to music, period. And then 45 minutes up the road is where Trey Songz and Chris Brown are from.

Man, that’s nice.

Phil The Thrill: Yeah, man, it’s crazy.

So where did your rapper name, Phil The Thrill, originate?

Phil The Thrill: It’s actually been a name that’s stuck with me. It’s actually been my nickname since I was around twelve years old. I was an athlete playing basketball and football and you know, when little nicknames happen to you when you’re a kid… they’d just be like “Oh, Phil The Thrill!” It sticks and through high school, when everyone would have AIM screennames, I was like lemme use my nickname. It stuck with me then and when I went on to play college basketball, it stuck with me there. So it became my Twitter name and once it sticks, I’m not going to try to change that just because I’m doing music. It’s my nickname and what people know me as. (more…)

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