Bon Iver / SPIN

This is old, but came to my attention cause they did an interview with him after the Grammy's and linked to it. Good, and the video at the end about the house/studio he has was interesting.

Bon Iver + the Roots

good

Bon Joviver

epic

Bon Iver / NPR World Cafe

Pretty sweet, 30 min interview + songs. Holocene is with the full band, maybe only soso, I love the album version. Beach Baby sounded amazing. The live version of Beth/Rest he does is cool, solo piano, and he starts it out not singing in falsetto.

Bon Iver / Holocene Video / Iceland

I'm kind of obsessed with the kid's sweater... real wool, a zipper, and a hood...

Bon Iver Concert on NPR

It's not magnificent, but it's pretty darn listenable.

NBA Lockout / Bon Iver

I saw this on the Basketball Jones blog. Pretty Epic!

new Bon Iver

pretty damn good. Streaming on NPR music.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bon Iver-ed

I'm blatantly ripping off the post title from a npr music blog. Stole the pic, too. The post is about Justin Vernon from Bon Iver playing with his high school jazz band in a benefit concert, which I mentioned a while back, but the npr post about it is much better. A recording of the concert is available in mp3 form at Amazon; I got the last song yesterday (Satisfied Mind) and it's great. That song also appears on the sixth Johnny Cash American Recordings album. Great song, and this is a nice version.

Bon Iver Rockin' with the Eau Claire HS Jazz Band

the best thing i've seen all day.

Muddy Waters 21 March 2008

So Eliza is trying to convince me to go see Damien Jurado and Laura Gibson at Muddy Waters on May 4th. Getting me to leave my hermitage is difficult.

We saw an awesome show at Muddy Waters on 21 March 2008. Bon Iver, Phosphorescent, and White Hinterland. The story about that show is pretty good, so:

I'd read a review of Bon Iver's For Emma Forever Ago and it seemed like an interesting album. About a month later, the day of the show, Eliza randomly was surfing the interweb and found out about it. She then proceeded to bug me about it all day, and I was being stuborn. But I listened to his show at the 9:30 club in DC that NPR recorded, and listened to the myspace music pages of Bon Iver, Phosphorescent, and White Hinterland. And kinda begrudgingly realized I might have to leave the hermitage, a.k.a. Trattoria Scorpacciata.

So went home at 5 or whatever. Put on some bike shorts to ride downtown. Psyched myself up. And then my brother walked in the door. He had been in Baja for 2 months, randomly came back that friday. So I got a ride instead. We waited around outside for Eliza and Amy, et al., and finally went in when White Hinterland started. The crowd was mostly skinny jeans hipsters, and all the guys had beards. I had just taken the hedge clippers to my winter beard, and felt really naked :) Because we went in late it was standing room only, and we were in the entryway, which happened to be about 5' from the band. It was sweet. White Hinterland is a band, I believe, but she was touring alone due to logistics. Muddy Waters is a small room, but she kinda got swallowed up. Plus the audience was wrong for her music. I liked her voice, but she was kinda overwhelmed. 

Eliza and Amy showed up towards the end of her set. But the place was full, so the door dude wouldn't let them in. It was hilarious. Eliza bitched me out all day, and then she showed up too late to get in! My brother smokes like a chimney, so he went outside and talked with them, and at some point Eliza weaseled her way in. Every couple of minutes Amy poked her head in, she was comparing my face with my brother's. We don't look alike at all. It was funny. Phosphorescent kicked ass. A great bar band rocking out 5' away from me. I was happy. Their lead singer has great stage presence, and he had us eating out of his hands. Bon Iver on the other hand were terrible. My brother had the explanation: one of the girls he talked to outside had smoked them out well before they played, and they were still stoned out of their gourds when they played. I'm serious, they were terrible. They started sobering up for Creature Fear/Team, the last song. And it was epic. The song features the drummer just going off on the kick drum, and the vibration was resounding throughout the tiny room, and pounding into my chest. Creature Fear made up for the rest of their show for sure. As we were going back to the car Justin Vernon/Bon Iver passed us, running, looking for a dark corner to pee in. Luckily Muddy Waters is in the Funk Zone, so running crazy/drunk/stoned people don't look too out of the ordinary. A good night.

Surfing DVDs

Got a nice shipment in the mail yesterday. A few of them are under-reviewed on the web, so I'll post reviews and what not at some point. Anyway, got One Track Mind, the Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, 5 Summer Stories, Between the Lines.

One Track Mind has a Band of Horses song in the trailer, and a Bon Iver song in the movie. Innermost is wonderful; George Greenough is a legend, but this only just came out on DVD, and his other movie, Crystal Voyager, is only available in PAL format, so I hadn't seen any of his footage before. The Kirra segment is amazing, as is the in the tube stuff. Don't know why there's a zep performance in the 5 trailer, but it's cool. Between the Lines is narrated by John Milius and is about surfing/the vietnam war. Sweet.

The last Bon Iver post for a little while....

....this is supposed to be a foodie blog, afterall.

Your Love. download it.

From the vault: Bon Iver

Bon Iver had a pretty good 2008, zero to hero and all that. I noticed the review of the first record in the Onion AV club cause the photography on the album cover is cool, the review was positive, and, quite frankly, because of the word 'Wisconsin.' it's weird how randomly we find new things. Listening to their show from DC kinda cemented the attraction.

They played SB in March. Eliza randomly checked out his myspace the day of the show or we would have missed it. Alas, they were a tad under the influence, though Creature Fear/Team at the end was epic. It was a fun night involving beards, my brother, Eliza, Amy, Roscoe, and lots of people in tight pants crammed into a tiny coffee shop. Also, Phosphorescent were simply awesome live. 

The Bon Iver creation myth is repeated in every interview he has done, but it's still interesting. 

Some more audio and video.

The new EP is good, especially the last song 'Woods,' which sounds alot like 'Hide and Seek' by Imogen Heap.

Bon iFeist

A Justin Vernon, of Bon Iver, interview with some radio jokers in Oz, including a cover of 'the Park' by Feist. Alas, his voice sounds a little overworked, but there is some sweet witty banter.