This is blogger heaven. I should have told you sooner. You already know about it. Too slow to show.
Peter Gabriel is making a (hopefully) symbiotic record. It’s called Scratch My Back. It’s a record of covers, hoping the bands he covers return the favour by recording a song of his (see the narcissistic scratching?). He’s gone to Arcade Fire, Magnetic Fields, Elbow, and our friend Bon Iver for inspiration. He’s released a few of the tracks. Here’s his version of your babysitter’s favourite Bon Iver track.
Peter Gabriel – Flume (Bon Iver)
There are few better things than when Peter Gabriel decides to push it. You know what I mean. His push is how teenagers feel feelings. The pre-cry throat lump instantaneously floats with that push. Please refer to choruses 1 and 2. That’s music.
Here’s the tracklist:
01 “Heroes” (David Bowie)
02 “The Boy in the Bubble” (Paul Simon)
03 “Mirrorball” (Elbow)
04 “Flume” (Bon Iver)
05 “Listening Wind” (Talking Heads)
06 “The Power of the Heart” (Lou Reed)
07 “My Body Is a Cage” (Arcade Fire)
08 “The Book of Love” (The Magnetic Fields)
09 “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” (Randy Newman)
10 “Après moi” (Regina Spektor)
11 “Philadelphia” (Neil Young)
12 “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” (Radiohead)
Kina Grannis is one of the only YouTube cover singers that deserves major (label) attention that I’ve come across. Great voice, cute as heck, smart and sweet, and primo cover selections. Check out her channel for some nice renditions – some top 40, some a little off the beaten path (Iron and Wine, Fleet Foxes, et al). Now she’s in L.A. courted by major labels. Well done. She did Bon Iver before he dominated your babysitter’s playlist, so cool credits are duly awarded. The date stamp proves all.
Another tune for you lovely people. When you mix anything with Justin Vernon’s falsetto, you get greatness. Justin Vernon is the man behind Bon Iver. You should know him by now, mmkay? Sounds a bit IDMey. To me a mix of I Am Robot and Proud, Broken Social Scene, Bon Iver (duh) and Four Tet. Pumped for this.
Stereogum has been featuring a great new short called “Breakfast at Sulimay’s”, on Scrapple.tv. Each one is perfect. It showcases three standup citizens and their reactions to new tunes. I feel we should all feel a bit bad for treating older generations like infants, because we like how cute and innocent and “out of touch” with us they are. Hey man.
These three retirees give honest and direct responses to songs. Unlike many of us, isn’t it great when people actually actively listen to music? Every night before I go to bed man. Us youngsters don’t actively listen enough. The backing soundtrack to our self-indulgently cinematic streetcar ride or the latest acid jazz to go with your truffle oil in Yorkville. They recently featured Bon Iver and who doesn’t want to see a response to pure music from this audience. I was satisfied. Here’s their reaction to opening track “Blood Bank” on the Blood Bank EP (along with Common’s Universal Mind Control).
Here’s the song in full. Telecaster, tone at 2 or 3, C major G major Eminor something else, and a voice that makes flowers lean due to beautytaxis.
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
And another reason why I love this man. He can make the last song on a small little Jagjagwuar EP better than Imogen Heap and all of 808s and Heartbreak. His use of autotune on a lush mellow folk song is hilarious and beautiful and perfect and what I hope is a tall finger to a lot of pop music.
Bon Iver – Woods
I’m up in the woods I’m down on my mind I’m building a still to slow down the time.
Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver has given me and millions of others extreme joy in 2008 by releasing For Emma, Forever Ago. I talk about him too much, but his new EP is streaming for free on MySpizz right now, called Blood Bank. Two tracks through, so far so jiminy crickets.
It follows the same vibe as his LP, but the arrangements seem much beefier this time around – a bit more drums, piano, electrified country guitars so far. And AutoTune? It’s like a joke between Imogen Heap and every hip hop star that feels like it. Potentially a good sense of humour, potentially dammit.
Let my list add to the online listnoise, it makes my opinion feel important. So score one for egotime.
Overall I feel like 2008 wasn’t a major year for life-altering music, but some solid offerings nonetheless.
10. Shearwater – Rook – Belle and Sebastian meets The National meets Elbow with a Morrissey-derived vocal. Melancholy, intelligent, some slightly diversified arrangements and dynamics, and a great amount of intensity weaved into many of the tracks. Closing track “The Snow Leopard” is a definite tip of the hat to Radiohead’s “You and Whose Army”.
9. Mogwai – Hawk is Howling – Who doesn’t love a good British post-rock instrumental once in ahwile? Not a lot of critical acclaim for this one, but it was one of my favourite Mogwai records for sure. Some classic sounds – nice grand piano, analog delays, tasteful reverb. A great moody record.
8. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid – perhaps my favourite Elbow record. Simple yet dark, what Elbow does best. Vocals are British lullabies, beautiful production (especially drum sounds, wow). A lot of strong songs that will grow on me even more than they already have.
7. Vacuity – At the Command of the Blanket Sky- Kitchener friends Vacuity have really made a strong, thought provoking record. Definitely for fans of OK Computer, No Logo, 1984, V for Vendetta, and self-awareness. Intense and solid vocals, beautiful and intelligent arrangements, welcomed unique lyrical style, great drumming, classic Fender tones. To exemplify a progressive and experimental business model, they have decided to put up their album online for all. Download the album for FREE here.
6.Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust – Perhaps more of an honorary mention, this band could very well be my favourite band ever. I prefer 2005′s Takk and 2002′s ( ), but this offering is a welcomed new direction for the band – happy! Single Gobbledigook is a truly great song, while others are more reminiscent of their earlier stuff.
5. Deerhunter - Microcastle – I got to this band/album quite late, only a few months ago. But they’ve been able to successfully do what I’ve always wanted to do in a band – create a great Radiohead influenced sound that doesn’t sound like Radiohead. They combine my love of post-rock with many fuzzy/shoegazy instrumentals, my love of 60s melodies with clear Brian Wilson/Beatles nods paired with solid Radiohead/NY rock guitars.
4. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs- This record proves that this band can go broader, deeper, and at the same time get the #1 billboard debut upon release. If you want to hear one of the best drummers in rock music, listen to this record for Jason McGerr. If you want to hear one of the best indie producers, listen to this record for Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla. A band worthy of popularity. Pop with brains.
3. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago – If TV on the Radio made a heartfelt acoustic record, this would still be better. The indie-cred backstory is perfect (he spent a winter isolated in a cabin in the midwest and made a record) and his songs have soul and real feeling, it’s clearly felt. The clear winners are the opening and closing tracks in “Flume” and “re: stacks”. The opening lyric of the album (“I am my mother’s only one / it’s enough“) and closing lyric of the album (“This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization / It’s the sound of the unlocking and the lift away / Your love will be safe with me“) are perfect bookends for this intimate and melodic record.
2. Mardeen– Read Less Minds – A great current twist on classic 90s Halifax Pop Explosion powerpop. So so hooky, every track is a true gem. These guys will make waves very shortly, or at least they deserve to. I get a mix of The Stills, The Super Friendz, males singing good 90s Liz Phair, Interpol, and Sloan.
1. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes - It’s on a lot of top lists, and this is my true winner for the year. This album hit me more than any album has in a couple of years. It’s undeniably melodic, cathedral, soulful, genuine music. People overcompare with Jim James references, mainly because JJ and Robin Pecknold from Fleet Foxes have the two strongest voices in American rock today. The spotlight of this album is clearly vocal – 4 part harmonies and not just root-3rd-5th-octave. Some real haunting harmonies. Winners include “White Winter Hymnal”, “Blue Ridge Mountains”, and “Quiet Houses”.
Some of the moments in this Fleet Foxes video, c/o indie staple Blogotheque are my favourite of the year:
Justin Vernon, aka 
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