Bon Iver is the essence of high quality, indie music. With his unique sound and relaxing, yet emotive, vocal performances, Bon Iver is making my list of top artists to recommend for 2010. NPR has labeled Bon Iver as being among the “50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade” and ”For Emma, Forever Ago” was ranked number 29 in the Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Albums of 2008. Bon Iver has now formed a group called “Volcano Choir” with some old friends, but still more great music. Check some of it below:
Life Performances:
From his highly recommended album “For Emma, Forever Ago”:
Posted on March 1, 2010 at sometime around 5:40 pm
For Fans of: Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Mat Kearney, Sufjan Stevens
To stream his music seamlessly, check out his website here. The first song that is currently listed on the music player is “All Creatures” - and it is the best arrangement I’ve ever heard of that song.
Below are a bunch of live performances. Anyone who can perform that well live is generally going to produce some quality records, and Josh is no exception. His use of language is impressive and his exploration of faith questions is interesting, rather than simply straightforward. Plus, as is the criteria for all of my music monday picks, it simply sounds great.
I’m not going to write a full review this week - just let you enjoy some good music.
Posted on February 15, 2010 at sometime around 2:41 pm
In a world filled with singles, the minimalist, rock group from Iceland known as Sigur Rós does not just make songs - they make albums. If you have not heard the ethereal sounds of Sigur Rós’ music before, you are in for a relaxing and exciting treat today, my friends. In English, the name is pronounced /ˈsɪɡər ˈrɒs/ (which didn’t help me any) or you can hear it pronounced for you here. When you begin to hear the music, you notice that the falsetto voice of lead singer Jónsi Birgisson is difficult to understand. This is because he is speaking “hopelandic”, which is an artist-created language Birgisson uses to blend his vocals as an instrument, as opposed to the typical use of vocals to communicate a message in a known language. He describes this concept below:
what language does jónsi sing in?
on “von, ágætis byrjun” and “takk”, jónsi sang most songs in icelandic but a few of the songs were sung in ‘hopelandic’. all of the vocals are, however, in hopelandic. hopelandic (vonlenska in icelandic) is the ‘invented language’ in which jónsi sings before lyrics are written to the vocals. it’s of course not an actual language by definition (no vocabulary, grammar, etc.), it’s rather a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument. jónsi likens it with what singers sometimes do when they’ve decided on the melody but haven’t written the lyrics yet. many languages were considered to be used, including english, but they decided on hopelandic. hopelandic (vonlenska) got its name from first song which jónsi sang it on, hope (von). tracks 7-9 on takk… are in hopelandic.
The creativity of the band is unbelievable. Listening to any of their albums is strange, yet inspiring. Their orchestration and ambient overdrives are a delight.
Enough talk - just take a listen and buy “Takk…” or “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” (translated: ”With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly”). It will make your heart happy, regardless of how your Valentine’s Day was.
—————–
(Just listen - video is not as important…)
Sadly (for us as listeners), Sigur Rós announced in January that they have decided to take a break and spend time with their family and pursue other individual endeavors for now. Sigur Rós’ brilliant music, however, still remains.
Let me know what you think. Too weird, or a joy to the ears?
Posted on February 8, 2010 at sometime around 4:46 pm
Joshua James is American folk’s finest and today’s #musicmonday pick. Hailing from the midwest, James writes songs about love, God, tragedy, and substance abuse. James would not classify himself as a “Christian artist”, and from my observations, he seems to leave his specific faith stances removed from the content he produces (music, writings, etc.). In fact, I’ve followed James since his first album in 2007 and still am unsure of his faith stances, which leaves more room for interpretation than blanket statements about God seem to. Interestingly enough, this has created some good dialogue on many websites on faith (from the normally awful comments of youtube to music sites to formal reviews).
James’ intimate vocals are what make him great, but his catchy tunes will challenge your thoughts and keep you humming for days. Check it:
“The New Love Song” - Recommended by NPR as the song of the day and helped put James’ first album release in 2007 (The Sun is Always Brighter) to #1 on iTunes’ Folk Album list. He was also featured on a Best of 2009’s singer/songwriter recommendation mix
“Crash This Train” - This is Joshua’s most political song. Joshua has spoken out about his distaste for the Iraq War and this song essentially cries out to God to end it. Regardless of your thoughts on the Middle East, James says one of my favorite lines from a song ever that we can all agree on: “It ain’t hard to tell, when it’s love that we sell.”
I covered the song a long time ago on my facebook page (the delay makes it look weird…sorry…)
Joshua James released “Build Me This” in 2009 and everyone who I’ve played the record for has really enjoyed it. He does (tastefully) use the “d-word” in this song, so skip this one if that offends you. I have no idea what this song means, but it sounds awesome.
Coal War
Live Performance: FM Radio - This is a more tragic song by Joshua James, where he adds “You are my sunshine” to the end in an incredible arrangement. He questions how God could have taken his sister in an emotive song that shows a depth of honesty most artists never touch. So good…
FM Radio Lyrics
I heard about, i heard about your daddy got sick.
Drove down to the river to die alone.
Seven days, seven days till they found him all.
Wrapped up in a blanket on the boat.
So we put him in the ground.
Down, Down, Down.
Your momma said “stay strong, don’t cry.”
So that is what you did.
Years later, years down later down the road.
On a bus with your FM Radio, half drunk, a cigarrette
hangin out.
What happened to your lonely soul? Crying out.
What happened to your lonely soul? Screamin out.
You said try and lose.
You said try and lose.
Everything you’ve known.
Everything you’ve seen.
Everything you’ve loved.
Everything you’ve been
And everywhere you walk
Every Song you sing
Everytime you wake
it haunts you once again.
My Daddy ain’t comin home
Daddy ain’t comin home
My Daddy ain’t comin home
Daddy ain’t comin home
My Daddy ain’t comin home.
Here are pictures of when Joshua James was on tour in the summer of 2008 and stayed at my parents house with me. In fact, his whole band slept over - 6 members, plus another friend of mine. I blogged at a blogspot back then and wrote of the experience. He loved my dog too. Here is photographic evidence:
I recommend both his first album (The Sun is Always Brighter) and his newest (Build Me This).
Posted on February 1, 2010 at sometime around 7:37 pm
“United Breaks Guitars”
Want to hear a hilarious story (and proof of the extremely different world we live in?)? Roy Williams tells the story of Dave Carroll below:
The power of YouTube.
A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for YouTube exposing their lack of co-operation. The Manager responded: “Good luck with that one, pal”.
So he posted a retaliatory video on YouTube. The video has since received over 7.5 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: “Good luck with that one, pal”.
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders. Here’s the video…
I’m not so convinced on the “increase in orders” for Taylor guitars because of this video, but I am completely convinced this is hilarious. A little passive-aggressive, but funny nonetheless. Since I received some criticism for my lack of country love on facebook today, I thought it would be worth it to post this. Thanks for the find, Ryan.
Posted on January 26, 2010 at sometime around 12:45 am
This is an english dance punk band. That’s how they describe it at least. I love the first video too. Enjoy:
This is their latest single (my least favorite song I posted though). Is there anything more entertaining than watching white people dance? Probably not.
Posted on January 18, 2010 at sometime around 1:24 am
Vampire Weekend is the very essence of great indie music. Their self titled album, Vampire Weekend, was a huge success with nearly 500,00 record sales and if there was one album I’d been looking forward to with the new year, it was their new record. With their second album released this week, Vampire Weekend is proving that they are not just a band that makes one good CD and then fall off the map. Instead, their latest album, Contra, will likely debut at #1 on the charts and the New York City hipster band continues to gain momentum. If you are not an indie elitist (don’t worry, I’m not either), the sound may take a bit to grow on you, but I feel like it is the perfect album to have on in the background while plowing through emails at work. The unique sounds and creative melodies make for a relaxing and uplifting listen. I want to write so badly, “I guarantee you’ll like it”, so I think I will throw out that empty promise.
**Caution: Some of their lyrics are not appropriate for young people, but for the most part their lyrics are not discernable. I’ve listened to their albums on repeat for a long time and I actually never realized there are a few swear words in their music until after I wrote this post recommending the band. It’s a great listen, so don’t worry about reading their lyrics if swearing offends you and you won’t even hear it. Or, just skip this weeks recommendation and rock out to CCM. Nothing wrong with that.
Here is their:
Myspace (recommended to stream and hear their sound)
