What do you think the chances are that Robert Pattinson wooed Kristen Stewart with a Bon Iver-powered mixtape? Or wait. MAYBE IT WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND, YOU GUYS.

In a press junket video interview with Pop Sugar, perpetually tousled heartthrob Robert Pattinson did the unthinkable: he smoldered. Just kidding! He always does that! When asked just before the 1:40 mark if he’s got a favorite song on his new Twilight film’s soundtrack, he goes with “Roslyn,” the Bon Iver-St. Vincent collaboration/heartbreaker you can stream below if you’d like. We swoon.

Twi-hards, rejoice: the soundtrack for the latest film in the Twilight series, New Moon, will be released this Friday, as “overwhelming and unprecedented demand” prompted the release date to be pushed up by four days. The album will be hitting stores more than a month before the film is released on November 20, so the Twilight faithful can comfort themselves with the musical musings of Death Cab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, Muse, the Killers, OK Go, Grizzly Bear, Lykke Li, Bon Iver, St. Vincent, Sea Wolf, and the Editors, among others, until their cinematic dreams become reality.

MTV has the full scoop on the most recent Twilight developments, of course, and is featuring an interview with OK Go and Lykke Li about their involvement with the soundtrack; check them out here and here. Stream the video for Death Cab for Cutie’s contribution to the soundtrack, titled “Meet Me on the Equinox,” here.

As we relayed to you yesterday, Bon Iver and his bandmates played their last show together as a unit for an “indefinite” amount of time. The show came on the same day Justin Vernon was the honorary chair of AIDS Walk Wisconsin and took place at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater. In case the news of the brief “hibernation” has you down, RadioMilwaukee broadcast the whole performance live. And we can now share the stream of the show with you thanks to the fine folks over there. Enjoy, or drown your sorrows, or do whatever it is you do. Regardless, click away.

During a packed stand at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee last night, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon told the home state crowd that the show would be the Bon-tourage’s last as a full band for an “indefinite” period of time or at least “until next year.” The performance capped a lenghty tour as well as big day for the Eau Claire native as Vernon was in town to act as honorary chair of AIDS Walk Wisconsin on Milwaukee’s lakefront, where he also performed an acoustic mini-set. The Vernon-obsessed shouldn’t bum too hard, though: in addition to jokingly promising to return with at “at least three more songs,” the meantime still promises the live collaboration by Vernon and his “guitar mentor” Chris Rosenau—both of newly christened experimental post-folk collective Volcano Choir—at the New York Guitar Festival on January 21st. They’ll be live scoring Simon Kimock and Buster Keaton’s Cops at the Kaufman Center, an outing for which you can still grab tickets to here.

While many folks have used hundreds more words to describe the sound of Bon Iver’s For Emma From Forever Ago, but few more accurate than simply calling it both haunting and beuatiful. This rare combination makes him one of the very few musical artists these days that could make a gig like this fitting, albeit still a decent bit strange. We unfortunately couldn’t make the cross-country trip for the 6 a.m. show (complete with a 2 a.m. showing of Bottle Rocket?), but Stereogum (and others) were there to capture the experience. The videos and the adorable reunion moment are definitely worth a peep. Check the videos out for yourself.

(Via: Stereogum)

Ever read an album review of your 14th favorite band online and thought “Whoever wrote this is a flaming pile of monkey turds. I could burp out a better review than this.’ Well burp away, my friends. Or in more technical terms…

It’s possible that over the past several weeks you’ve noticed the reviews slow to a trickle around these parts. We had our reasons! Cookies weren’t involved! Okay, maybe they were! All of us at Tripwire HQ are pleased to introduce to you today a new chapter in our “take” on music criticism—by handing over the keys. Starting this week and every Tuesday hereafter, we’ll be posting a full album to stream through our friends over at LaLa. What we’d like you to do is lend us your brainwaves and tweet us whatever crosses your mind while listening. Maybe there’s a riff you can’t get out of your head. A lyric? A moment? An image? If you’re feeling ambitious, spend your 124 characters reviewing the record as a whole. Just toss those tweets over to us at @thetripwire and by the end of the week, we’ll cobble together and share the beautiful mess of a madlib it creates. So without further adieu, we give you… Tweet Release.

So not only do we have this sweet announcement that puts you fine folks in control (well, as much control as you can establish in 140 characters), but we’ve got the new project from Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) and Collection of Colonies of Bees, Volcano Choir’s Unmap, to stream, just released today. Here’s the stream and here’s our Twitter in case you forgot. Now listen to the album and start tweet-tweeting.

It’s possible that over the past several weeks you’ve noticed the reviews slow to a trickle around these parts. We had our reasons! Cookies weren’t involved! Okay, maybe they were! All of us at Tripwire HQ are pleased to introduce to you today a new chapter in our “take” on music criticism—by handing over the keys. Starting this week and every Tuesday hereafter, we’ll be posting a full album to stream through our friends over at LaLa. What we’d like you to do is lend us your brainwaves and tweet us whatever crosses your mind while listening. Maybe there’s a riff you can’t get out of your head. A lyric? A moment? An image? If you’re feeling ambitious, spend your 124 characters reviewing the record as a whole. Just toss those tweets over to us at @thetripwire and by the end of the week, we’ll cobble together and share the beautiful mess of a madlib it creates. Or, if you’re a complete Luddite, you can just leave a review in the comments section. You’re the boss now. So without further adieu, we give you… Tweet Release.

This week’s album is Unmap, full-length debut from Volcano Choir, a gnarly new collaboration between Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Collection of Colonies of Bees.

It must be tiring to be snarky all the time, coming home for vacation and your parents never knowing when you’re being ironic or why you think meatloaf was so last summer. So why not call a spade a spade from time to time.

Here’s the deal. The tracklist to the much-hyped new Twilight movie was released. And it sounds… really good. And why not. It’s a friggin’ pop culture phenomenon. If Phoenix or someone would have played the Harry Potter prom we would have been cool with that (although it would have given “Too Young” a bit of a new teen-angst feel). And hey, nothing else in this world has brought about a Bon Iver, St. Vincent collaboration yet. So screw it. Down is up. East is west. Blah blahblah. This soundtrack is going to be kind of awesome. The end. Vampires vampires vampires.

Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack:

01 Death Cab for Cutie: “Meet Me on the Equinox”
02 Band of Skulls: “Friends”
03 Thom Yorke: “Hearing Damage”
04 Lykke Li: “Possibility”
05 The Killers: “A White Demon Love Song”
06 Anya Marina: “Satellite Heart”
07 Muse: “I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)”
08 Bon Iver and St. Vincent: “Rosyln”
09 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: “Done All Wrong”
10 Hurricane Bells: “Monsters”
11 Sea Wolf: “The Violet Hour”
12 OK Go: “Shooting the Moon”
13 Grizzly Bear: “Slow Life” [ft. Beach House's Victoria Legrand]
14 Editors: “No Sound But the Wind”
15 Alexandre Desplat: “New Moon (The Meadow)”

(Via: P4K)

Whether he’s murdering the festival circuit or penning new music for the Twilight sequel or even gearing up to walk for AIDS in his beloved home state of Wisconsin, Justin Vernon neé Bon Iver has been keeping busy this summer. His camp announced this week that the Bon-tourage will be unspooling their ambient folk at a new kind of venue on September 27th: a Los Angeles cemetery. At sunrise. Tickets for the show will be on sale via Ticketweb starting at noon today, but roll the dice and try to win a pair from those beautiful goons over at the Fader. Also keep in mind that while breakfast will be served, you’re encouraged to bring your own blanket so as to keep your ass dry. Always important.

Rotten Tomatoes featured an interview with New Moon director Chris Weitz last week in which the Twilight sequel’s director went deep on the film’s still germinating soundtrack. Why was this of note? Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was said to be interested in contributing an original song. But according to Pitchfork, Weitz is now confirming that Yorke has in fact written a song to be included on the soundtrack and the American Pie director will get a chance to hear it for the first time today. “Unless it’s sounds of him belching,” Weitz said, “I think I’ll put it in.”

But wait! There’s more! Yorke has esteemed company: Wisconsin bard and nascent philanthropist Bon Iver has also been confirmed as a contributor to the soundtrack. This is all pretty weird.

Justin Vernon of Bon Iver has been named as the Honorary Chair of AIDS Walk Wisconsin, to be held at the Summerfest grounds in Milwaukee. Vernon will perform and address an expected crowd of 5,000 at the start of the charitable walk on October 11, after spending the summer promoting registration and fundraising for the AIDS Walk. As Doug Nelson, President and CEO of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, says, “This is an AIDS Walk you won’t want to miss.”

Register early for the AIDS Walk at its website, www.aidswalkwis.org, or by calling 1-800-348 WALK.

Justin Vernon and his guitar-noodling buddies from Wisconsin known as Collections of Colonies of Bees are joining forces as Volcano Choir for an album called Unmap. The musicians have known each other since the days when Vernon was just a dude in a band unfortunately named DeYarmond Edison, and these songs originate from those days. After the jump you can see the album cover and tracklisting for Unmap along with video of
Collections of Colonies of Bees’ recent show in Tokyo.
Jagjaguwar will release the first project by Volcano Choir, Unmap, on September 22nd (21st in the UK), worldwide.

Unmap:
1. Husks and Shells
2. Seeplymouth
3. Island, IS
4. Dote
5. And Gather
6. Mbira in the Morass
7. Cool Knowledge
8. Still
9. Youlogy

We’ve been scrambling to keep you up-to-date as Glastonbury’s slowly leaked megaconfirmation after megaconfirmation in the past few months. But today’s full lineup announcement is something to behold, the headlining package of Neil Young, the Boss and a reunited Blur now propped up by a roster so behemoth and iron-clad, it’s equal parts intimidating and enticing. Also playing: Bloc Party, Lady Gaga, Jarvis Cocker, Regina Spektor, Maximo Park, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Lily Allen, Tom Jones, Pete Doherty, Q-Tip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, Ray Davies and and and and…

There will be mud.

Last week we took you inside Radio City Music Hall with some pictures from the Dark Was The Night concert, a benefit project and album for the Red Hot organization. Now we’ve got one better with some live video of Bon Iver and My Brightest Diamond performing “Flume.”

Bon Iver & My Brightest Diamond – “Flume” (Live At Radio City Music Hall)

So Bon Iver’s folk masterpiece For Emma, Forever Ago was our #3 album of 2008 and all-round really damn awesome. So it’s no surprise we’re anxious to keep you updated on lead songwriter Just Vernon’s various happenings: jamming with his high-school band, performing at charity benefits and rocking out on David Letterman. Now comes word of new material — both solo and now with a band.

The latest update comes from Pitchfork’s mini-interview with Vernon after the Dark Was the Night performance. Vernon spoke about writing material with his new band called the Volcano Choir which is “mostly choir stuff”, which makes me think (and hope) it’ll be basically the intro to “Lump Sum” on repeat. As for new Bon Iver material, he’s “working on stuff.” Fuck yeah! What kind of stuff? Acoustic? Ambient? Folk? DUB?! We’re just going to have to wait to find out.

Here are selected excerpts from the interview.

Pitchfork: Have you been working on any new music out there?

I think if you feel weird and self-conscious about that kind of stuff– which happened to me at some points last year– that means your ego is really kicking in. You can understand how people get to be assholes in this business because it’s like you’re getting pumped full of your own thing so much, you get ungrounded. That’s a dangerous place to be.

Big concert, and currently, every mag large and small in New York is raving about how amazing it was. I had to come out to check out what was in store, as the lineup read like a who’s who of upper-echelon indie rock, crowned by Byrne, plus Sharon Jones!?!? Of course, when you pack this many acts into a night something has to give, and each artist performed four songs or less, sort of bite-sized micro-sets.

The highlights of the night were the David Byrne tunes from the Dark Was The Night comps over the years (including “Knotty Pine” w/ Dirty Projectors, “”Dreamworld: Marco de Canavezes” w/ Bon Iver, “Waters of March” w/ Feist and “Don’t Fence Me In” w/ drummer crew) which sounded amazing, the latter three evoking his African-cribbing heyday, an alternate version of “Flume” featuring Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), “Train Song,” Feist’s Vashti Bunyan cover from the compilation, and the finale where everyone came out at once to do “This Land Is Your Land” which got Sharon Jones REMIXED. I’m not usually one for venues this large, but the sound was incredibly crisp and clear. Lots of collabs, lots of memorable moments. I’ll let the other reviewers recount them to you:

BrooklynVegan
Stereogum
Rolling Stone
Happy Genius Heroes
PAPER mag
Metro Distortion
Quiet Color
Second Doubles
New York Rock Market
Music Mix, Entertainment Weekly
Black Raptor [w/ video]

Google Blog Search: Dark Was The Night

NPR is supposed to have video of the entire concert shortly.

We were only allowed to shoot for the first song of each act (ugh). Here’s what I came up with.

[Dirty Projectors w/ David Byrne]

[John Carlin of Dark Was The Night and Red Hot]

[My Brightest Diamond]

[The National.]

[Dave Sitek]

[David Byrne]

[intermission]

[Bon Iver]

[Feist]

[Sharon Jones]

[everyone]

Look who decides to make a cameo – Annie Clark (St. Vincent)!

Here’s your second really good reason to head down to Austin this year: Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band and the Beastie Boys have been announced as headliners for this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, October 2-4 in Zilker Park.

The three-day, eight-stage festival will also feature Kings of Leon, Thievery Corporation, the Dead Weather, Ghostland Observatory, Sonic Youth, Bon Iver, Passion Pit, Arctic Monkeys, the Decemberists, Girl Talk, Phoenix, School of Seven Bells and Dan Auerbach among the 130 bands and artists booked.

You can get three-day festival passes for $185 (no service fees), plus check out VIP package options, here. Headlining band Pearl Jam will also be appearing on the Austin City Limits TV show while they’re in Texas — the public television series was the inspiration for the festival eight years ago.

Austin City Limits Music Festival Line-Up
Pearl Jam
Dave Matthews Band
Beastie Boys
Kings of Leon
Ben Harper and Relentless7
Thievery Corporation
John Legend
The Dead Weather
The Levon Helm Band
Ghostland Observatory
Sonic Youth
Mos Def
Toadies
Flogging Molly
The B-52s
Lily Allen
Citizen Cope
Arctic Monkeys
The Decemberists
Coheed and Cambria
Andrew Bird
Girl Talk
STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9)
Phoenix
Bassnectar
Bon Iver
!!!
The Avett Brothers
The Airborne Toxic Event
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Clutch
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Grizzly Bear
Heartless Bastards
Passion Pit
White Lies
Dan Auerbach
The Walkmen
The Scabs
Reckless Kelly
Devotchka
Blitzen Trapper
The Virgins
Here We Go Magic
Eek-A-Mouse
K’ Naan
Asleep at the Wheel
Dr. Dog
The Raveonettes
The Knux
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
State Radio
Los Amigos Invisibles
The Felice Brothers
Federico Aubele
Raul Malo
Daniel Johnston
Poi Dog Pondering
Brett Dennen
Rodriguez
Henry Butler
Preservation Hall
Sam Roberts Band
The Greencards
Sara Watkins
Walter “Wolfman” Washington
David Garza
John Vanderslice
Zac Brown Band
Todd Snider
School of Seven Bells
The Dodos
Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3
Alberta Cross
Deer Tick
Bell X1
Alela Diane
The Wood Brothers
The Parlor Mob
Rebirth Brass Band
Marva Wright
Terri Hendrix
L.A.X.
Lisa Hannigan
The Low Anthem
Sons of Bill
Suckers
Sarah Jaffe
Cotton Jones
The Henry Clay People
Papa Mali
Jypsi
Vince Mira
Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights
Mimicking Birds
Jeffrey Steele
Jonell Mosser
Leatherbag
Keith Gattis
Damien Horne
Sarah Siskind
Dexateens
Nelo
Danny Brooks
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
The Soul Stirrers
The Durdens
Palm School Elementary
The Gospel Silvertones
Diaconos
Quinn Sullivan
Ralph’s World
Q Brothers
Milkshake
Telephone Company
Loose Cannons
Lunch Money

Ten years after he graduated, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon went back to his alma mater, Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, this weekend. It may not have been a reunion, but we would’ve voted him best dressed — Vernon (snazzy white suit and all) joined his former high school jazz band Sunday night for a benefit show to raise money to send the ensemble to a prestigious jazz competition.

The competition is Essential Ellington. Hosted annually by Wynton Marsalis, the band has gone six times in the last ten years, with their very first trip featuring Vernon himself on lead guitar as a senior. Sunday night’s performance featured one full set by the jazz band featuring Duke Ellington tunes before Vernon took the stage alongside Bruce Hering, the same band director who’d taught Vernon 10 years prior.

Vernon performed “Lump Sum” (from For Emma, Forever Ago), four standards — Ellington’s “Rocks In My Bed,” Nina Simone’s “Since I Fell For You,” Ella Fitzgerald’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “Miss Otis Regrets” — and another of his own songs, “For Emma,” which you can check out below (and for more video, head here). Following some light applause (read: standing ovations), Vernon wrapped up the night with Frank Sinatra’s “The Lady Is a Tramp” and Mahalia Jackon’s “A Satisfied Mind.”

Sweden’s Kristian Matsson, who performs as The Tallest Man on Earth, played to an adoring slew of 18-and-older fans at Bowery Ballroom this week. The crowd was mostly attentive, but the silence was punctuated by declarations of love, erratic screams of joy, and raised hands doing desperate dances in the air to vie for his attention.

This has been Matsson’s first headlining tour, but having opened for Bon Iver before, New Yorkers who follow him have quickly learned of his charming personality on stage. He roams from one corner to the next, looking you straight in the eye, letting his dramatically stern face break into a smile every now and then. He barely speaks, but when he does it’s always pleasant. The enchantment ultimately comes from the music, though. An acoustic guitar is his only accompaniment but the meticulously arranged finger-picking is evocative of a billion things, the lyrics are playful yet affecting, and the voice is his devoted medium.

There was one precious moment that was a result of a happy accident, and which was cheered vigorously by the crowd: his guitar jack stopped working mid-song, and the audience, well-versed in concert traditions, immediately screamed for an “acoustic” set. Wearing a bemused look on his face, Matsson sat on a chair and sang stooping towards the microphone that faced the guitar. When the audience laughed at this desperate posture, he raised his head and gestured a theatrical “shhh.” This setup sounded magical, but a new and functioning jack was quickly supplied.

Just when you thought your beloved record collection, full of precious pretentiousness and obscure band names, was safe, think again. It looks like the nice guys at Apple have stolen your thunder, and have now made an Indie Store on iTunes; making life just a little bit easier for the independent record label, and giving you an even bigger headache when you find out your lame next door neighbor has heard the new Black Lips record before you.

The iTunes store created the new “Indie Spotlight,” to feature artists like Fever Ray, Wavves, Cut Copy and Bon Iver among many others. Like Prefix, we’re wondering why? Well, the answer most likely lies in the sales of the spotlighted artists. While they are “indie,” it probably goes without saying that blog wonderkids Animal Collective and Wavves have already been racking up sales for the online music machine.

The spotlight store also has a list of indie podcasts and playlists for users to download and sync right onto their iPods. This is definitely a step in the right direction for the retailer who has helped launch the careers of many unknown artists through their innovative iPod commercials, yet have left most of the front page spotlights to the likes of very large and established artists. We say kudos to iTunes for making the move, and maybe we could direct you to a great indie podcast to consider (hint, hint).

It looks like Bruce Springsteen is making his way through the festival circuit this spring and summer. It was rumored just last week that Mr. America himself might possibly be headlining Bonnaroo Festival, but now Bruce will be making his way over to the U.K. for the Glastonbury Festival, where he will be the Saturday night headliner as well.

While we’re a little curious as to how “Born In the U.S.A.” will pan out over on the other side of the pond, the sold out music festival — which will take place on June 26-28 — and the its organizers are very excited to have Springsteen grace their stage. “I’m so pleased that Bruce Springsteen has agreed to come to Worthy Farm for the first time,” said festival chief Michael Eavis. “He’s one of the all-time rock legends and I’m confident that this will be one of our best shows ever.”

Just last week, Emily Eavis, who helps run the festival, dismissed rumors that The Rolling Stones and U2 would be headlining the festival, but said “I’m knocked out that we’ve managed to get Bruce to play. It’s the icing on the cake of this year’s bill, which I’m sure will take everyone’s breath away when we announce the full details.”

So far, only a hand full of acts along with Bruce have been confirmed for the festival, including Bon Iver, Lilly Allen, and Franz Ferdinand. Among other artists rumored to play are Neil Young,Blur, Coldplay, and Oasis.

In the wake of the ever increasing pool of festivals and the possible merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the idea of paying $200 to see live music during a recession resulted in our pockets slapping us back into reality. But to be fair, the Sasquatch Festival — presented by Live Nation and tickets sold by Ticketmaster — is one of the cheaper weekend-long festivals and the line-up could quite possibly be the best yet.

Of course, this has left us all wondering at what point does the festival circuit become too congested, leaving them all a bit redundant and watered down? Those who remember the 90s will remember that Lollapalooza took time off for this very reason. But we digress, the Sasquatch Festival will take place May 23-25 at The Gorge in Quincy, WA and features the just-announced-today-union of Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction as the festival headliners. But the rest of the line-up is what excites us and looks like this:

Kings of Leon, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, Devotchka, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, Arthur & Yu, The Submarines, Owl City, Viva Voce, James Pants, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Builders & The Butchers, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, Point Juncture, WA, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond, Vince Mira & more to come.

And the comedy line up includes:
Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God’s Pottery, People’s Republic of Komedy & more.

Ok, got that? Now, as for tickets, beginning on February 28 (on sale weekend only), a discounted 3-day festival pass will be available until March 1 at midnight at $154.50 for the entire weekend with single tickets costing $56.50. Beginning March 2 a 3-day pass will run you $199.50 and a single ticket $66.50 and if you wait until the last minute (and tickets are still available), starting May 11 the weekend pass is $229.50 and single tickets will be $76.50.

Oh, and Ticketmaster will have all your ticketing needs. Go figure.

A friend IM’d us the other day asking for our bets on what the new Animal Collective CD would SoundScan. The hype surrounding the release of Merriweather Post Pavilion was palpable — so much in fact, that some wondered if the vinyl release could actually break the Billboard top 200. And Bon Iver had us all swooning the return of heartfelt folk to the list of critical-to-near-mainstream success stories. Yet little hype or hoopla was made about Noble Beast, the newest effort from Andrew Bird, mainly because it shared the same release date as the aforementioned records. But when the increasingly unimportant Nielson SoundScans arrived on our computers this morning, it wasn’t our Merriweather predictions that had us surprised, it was who actually sold more.

First of all, let us continue by saying congratulations to all three of these artists, as having independent musicians from independent labels in the top 15 of the Billboard top 200 is pretty amazing. Especially when you consider that most of the general buying public prefers mainstream establishments like Taylor, Beyonce, Nickelback, Kanye and Twilight (rounding out the top 5 respectively). Not to mention Bon Iver’s Blood Bank was only an EP and if you count Animal Collective’s vinyl sales, it would’ve charted even higher, but we felt like framing this news piece as a glowing review and recommendation for one Andrew Bird. A career over a decade in the making, with stops at Rykodisc and Righteous Babe before his current home on Fat Possum, there are few who would be more deserving to be the current king of indie than he.

Two crucial factors skew my critical eye when writing on Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago is my favorite album in recent memory and I really want to like everything Justin Vernon stamps his name on. After exorbitant listens, I find For Emma as compelling as my first and after reading countless interviews, I find Vernon, more and more, a deserving artist. So, as with other Bon Iver fans, the pertinent question asked of Blood Bank, would it convey the similar winter solitude to which we grew accustomed, or the fuller sound of Bon Iver’s live band? The answer is probably neither; yet, Blood Bank feels quintessentially like a Bon Iver record in its formula and sonic identity.

The title track, supposedly written during his well-documented retreat, is darkly melodic and structurally similar to tracks like “Lump Sum” as it is pushes along, chorus-less, anchored on a consistent arpeggio. Lyrics of uncertainty and frustration end with Vernon humming “I know it well” and segue into “Beach Baby”, which trots along rather blandly. Vernon’s token falsetto sings quietly over a continuous guitar line, singing to an ex-lover. These two songs compile the first half of the E.P. and certainly sound like b-sides. They are well-kempt but don’t capture the evocations of For Emma. It’s the album’s second half that introduces a new Bon Iver. “Babys”, in particular, showcases a fresh direction. If we remained in a cold Wisconsin cabin during the E.P.’s first half; then the bright, staccato insistences of “Babys” allow us to exit. “Summer comes,” Vernon sings proudly, “to multiply!” It all makes sense: snow melts, broken hearts mend, anxieties heal when summer arrives. The triumphant “Babys” brings us to the Auto-Tune laden “Woods”. Undoubtedly, the closer will incite loud detractors arguing, perhaps reasonably, that Bon Iver’s charm lies in his organic sensibilities, not Pro Tools manipulation. Nor does it help that the entire song repeats the same four lines. Yet, “Woods” captures a certain exorcism in its digitally-amplified reiteration.

Once again, Vernon’s lyricism toys with the oblique and the outspoken. It’s difficult to discern specific meaning behind songs like “Blood Bank”, but “Babys” and “Woods” borderline on the confessional. “My woman and I know what we’re for,” Vernon says delicately until exclaiming, “to multiply!” And “Woods” is a synopsis of For Emma: “I’m up in the woods/ I’m down on my mind.”

Blood Bank does not attempt to duplicate For Emma, nor should it. The latter achieved an inimitable sound and personality, and Blood Bank serves as a strong transitional E.P. Most of all, it proves that Vernon and his belatedly formed band are not merely for a winter niche.

Jagjaguwar

Lo-fi, freak folk phenom Bon Iver’s tour-only vinyl EP Blood Bank will be made available to the rest of the world in a little less than two weeks via the fine people at Jagjaguwar. But for the next few days, Mr. Vernon is making it available for free.

The EP, set for official release on January 20 after being available as a tour-only vinyl release, is currently available to hear on their MySpace page. In a MySpace message the band said the EP, featuring the songs “Blood Bank”, “Beach Baby”, “Babys” and “Woods”, would be available online for “a few days” only.

All Tomorrow’s Parties’ two UK weekend festivals are starting to take shape as more bands were added to both line-ups today, including Health to ATP’s Fans Strike Back weekend and CSS to the ATP UK weekend curated by The Breeders.

The Fans Strike Back takes place May 8-10 at Butlins Holiday Resort in Minehead, England, and already features Devo, Antipop Consortium and Beirut, among others. (You can check out the full line-up here.) The latest addition to the roster includes Health, Shearwater, The Acorn and The Pink Mountaintops.

The second ATP UK weekend, curated by is one week later, May 15-17, also at Butlins Resort in Minehead. CSS and Supersuckers have been added to a line-up that already included Foals, Throwing Muses and Bon Iver.

For more information on ticket ordering, head over to ATP, and expect to be out around $300. And if you can’t justify international travel to see a good gig, there’s always ATP New York 2009, happening in September and curated by The Flaming Lips.

If there was an award for label of the year, it would have to go to Jagjaguwar. With already 3 records on our top 15 list (#5, #6, #14), the fourth and final Jagjaguwar release on our list comes in as our third best record of 2008.

For Emma, Forever Ago is one of the most authentic, original and organic folk albums in recent memory. Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) captured, with staggering perfection, the sound of a cold, isolated winter in Wisconsin. Undeniably, the story of his retreat into solitude has been romanticized to a certain degree, but it is not difficult to hear this landscape in his music. Vernon’s evocative lyricism and minimalist melodies made For Emma feel intimate, even conversational at times (“in the morning I’ll call you”). The album flows with a narrative trajectory and each song tells its own story. From the cathartic yelps of “Skinny Love” to the collected resignations of “Re: Stacks”, Vernon poignantly reflects the universal need for self-reflection. His humility only enhanced the mystique he constantly shrugged off and Bon Iver’s live band incarnation saw every track reaching new heights. For Emma may not be a pioneering effort musically, but the final product is one of extreme integrity and severe beauty. –Michael Cranston

Jagjaguwar

Justin Vernon and Bon Iver doing “Skinny Love” (from For Emma, Forever Ago on Jagjaguwar) on The Late show With David Letterman last Friday, December 12.

Ever since the collective frenzy we all worked ourselves into worrying what was going to happen to the world when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000, New Years have become cause for worry and constant concern. Now as that fateful date approaches again, we find ourselves asking — what horrors does 2009 hold? Luckily, former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and writer/blogger Carrie Brownstein has the answers for us via an extremely informative psychic/astrological reading.

Brownstein’s music and culture blog for NPR, Monitor Mix, featured a video interview this week with Andy Gehrz, an astrologer and pyschic who offered up her predictions on what kind of havoc 2009 would wreak on the music world. Other than the fact that this kind of stuff is just funny, because she seems to really believe what she’s saying, Andy seems to think some pretty serious business is going to go down in the next 12 months.

Among other things, Pitchfork is going to buy Rolling Stone, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco will have a mid-life crisis, Arcade Fire is apparently going synth, and The Shins have some sort of cultural responsibility to live out that involves finding lesser-known bands and taking them on tour. Very noble. Beth Ditto and some unnamed girl from Georgia with a lot of tattoos will both enjoy lots of success, and in case you were wondering, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is some breed of super Taurus.

But probably the most shocking predicition Andy made — she said other stuff about Lil Wayne getting a DUI and Kanye West making a political statement, but we said shocking — was when she suggested that Kris Novoselic and Dave Grohl will reunite Nirvana with a rotating cast of lead singers. As a tribute. Uh huh.

Check out the video for more very important predictions about The Fleet Foxes, Neko Case, Vampire Weekend and others. And maybe it’s just us, but there is something quite entertaining about a 30-something, red-headed, glasses-wearing, white, female astrologer saying, “I have something to say about Lil Wayne.”

Andy Gehrz, Astrological Detective
Monitor Mix