Bon Iver and The Roots – Perth

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about the Grammys and how they’re ‘out of touch,’ ‘unsure,’ or sometimes ‘just plain wrong’ with how they do things. I’m not sure how much of a big deal this is or really, how new everyone is making it out to be. What I did check out was the replay of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon winning best new artist (this is 2012, Bon Iver’s debut officially came out in 2007). He said a lot of really smart, honest and sincere statements and I think he’s really speaking from the heart. Check it out here:


So while we all realize the Grammys are utter tripe, maybe, it’s easy to forget how much good music is still waiting to be found. Recently, Vernon stepped out to perform “Perth” on the Jimmy Fallon show with the Legendary Roots crew. The Roots know how make awesome music and have for a long time now, they also know how to improvise. First, here is the hushed version, found off Bon Iver’s self titled album from last year.


Already an amazing song and a true musician ensures that it all stays fresh and innovative so with The Roots, Vernon and the band take the song to a whole new level. It still maintains the steady drums and Vernon’s spectacular voice but The Roots fill it with huge sounds that feature keyboards, another electric guitar, bass and tuba to boast. From the instant it all starts it is obvious that everyone is in the zone. Really awesome blend of two magnificent bands/artists coming together. It’s a great version and I wanted to share it here before I oversaw it. – Bryan

Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP

I’ve been wanting to write about this EP for quite some time now. It’s lame for me to say that with the Kanye album flying hot! Some said Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon was cashing in after For Emma, Forever Ago with a quaint, short four-song EP that was more about its use of auto-tune than anything else. I’m not sure but to me at least, it was a chillingly new sound to get lost in while dreaming of snow. The music all over the EP is softly strung – the title track creeping in with a chugging stomp of voices – and it’s truly an embracing grip of mesmerizing music.

This is “Babys,” the penultimate song that has the menacing piano line that clanks away at the sides of the walls. Vernon’s voice is solemnly sweet as he bluntly sings about the feeling when it’s right to make a baby. I have no idea what that feeling is like, I’m guessing it must be awesome but in the meantime, there is brightly layered music to listen to as we think about it. (Sorry about the accompanying video, but the song is what matters)


I’m not sure, either, how much Kanye West was inspired by this EP, to make his auto-tune smash 808s and Heartbreak but surely it meant something to him as he decided to essentially use all of “Woods” to set up and support “Lost in the World.” Vernon’s song is drenched with auto-tune and built around layers of vocals that travel in a round. Like a choir of fantastic tones, here are the song’s sole words:

'I'm up in the woods
I'm down on my mind

I'm building a still
To slow down the time'

Looks like Vernon was still dreaming about the cabin where he lived in while writing For Emma, Forever Ago. Fortunately, there was someone mainstream enough to get him some much, more, deserved attention because even just as “a quaint, short four-song EP that was more about its use of auto-tune than anything else,” it’s pretty bad-ass. – Bryan

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

I was talking about nostalgia earlier and I was also talking about fall/winter music that just happens to sound better during the coldness. The fall/winter combination of 2007 was a downright dreadful one for me and there was a constant struggle within myself to try and find some kind of music to find solace in. So much of what I had loved had been, suddenly, mired with broken thoughts that there was nowhere else to turn but towards new music. As Bon Iver, Justin Vernon’s debut For Emma, Forever Ago was that kind of new sound I was looking for. It came during a time where everything seemed darker than dark and it fittingly captures the coldness of the physical weather as well. One of the best singer-songwriter albums of the past five years or so (check out what this lowly writer poorly wrote about back in 2008) , it’s been on rotation for me with the cold weather taking over.

Dear, I remember listening to “Flume” for the first time and having nothing but tears pour down my face. As unnecessarily honest as that may be, it wasn’t so much me at the time but maybe, the gripping pull of the music that moved me to those extremes. The lovely chug of the guitar and Vernon’s soothing falsetto were instant memories and all the atmospherics – the shrilling spindle, backing vocals and the open spaces – would make for a mesmerizing beginning. Before all the black peals away to reveal some kind of white, the music tears away coming back to Vernon singing, “Only love is all maroon, gluey feathers on a flume…sky is womb and she’s the moon.” It’s such an endearing sound – a warm and calming one – and at times, moving.


What really moved be about “Creature Fear” was the way it just cascaded from such a quiet territory to something downright soaring. As somber and solemn as a lot of the music sounds, here were some gushing sounds to relish in. The opening sounds are slowly ominous, before Vernon’s frail voice shows up, “I was full by your count, I was lost but your fool.” It solidified its diversity to me then and I’d really love to know what I thought about it back then – I probably ruined some of the music with foolish decisions – but now, it’s simply gorgeous music. Now if only I could just learn how to play the guitar so I could sing, “I was teased by your blouse, spit out by your mouth” too. – Bryan