Nah Wembley Arena.
Music Bon Iver
- Thread starter PeteReDevil
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Yeah, I see he's playing the O2 in Dublin in November too. I saw him on the 'For Emma ' tour in much smaller venue, great gig. Had no idea he was playing venues this size.
Saw them last night, quality. His voice is so good.
Been listening to this constantly for a couple of weeks now. Fantastic song.
First album is a classic, not overly keen on the second.
Saw them touring the first album in a small club in dublin and they were brilliant, wouldn't be arsed seeing them in a large venue.
Saw them touring the first album in a small club in dublin and they were brilliant, wouldn't be arsed seeing them in a large venue.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=326213324&m=326936657
A new song Vernon did for some Zach Braff movie.
Not a huge fan of it really.
A new song Vernon did for some Zach Braff movie.
Not a huge fan of it really.
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New album coming out next month.
Great news!
Get hype!
The two new tracks are gorgeous. Different, but so so good.
Finally. The wait has been too long.
The track list is something else.
Really excited for the new album but the first two songs I heard didn't seem special.
I think I'm going to feel the same way with this as I did with 'Age Of Adz': liked it, but not nearly as much as 'Illinois'. Still, 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver' is a personal favourite, I'll give this a go for sure.
Plus it might take my mind off 'Boys Don't Cry'.
Plus it might take my mind off 'Boys Don't Cry'.
First two songs were okay but I really like 33 GOD. Absolutely love Bon Iver so I really hope the album is good.
That purposeful audio glitch mixed with the "You've buried all your alimony butterflies" line on 29 Strafford Apts
Whole album gets better with every listen.
Whole album gets better with every listen.
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Oh man, I hadn't even heard they had a new album out! Have to buy this today . Bon Iver, Bon Iver is one of my favourite albums, lovely to fall asleep to.
. Bon Iver, Bon Iver is one of my favourite albums, lovely to fall asleep to.My favourite on the album and one of the best songs this year.
My favourite moment on the whole albumThat purposeful audio glitch mixed with the "You've buried all your alimony butterflies" line on 29 Strafford Apts
Whole album gets better with every listen.
I'll need more listens but so far I'm disappointed by this. Perhaps it's unrealistic to expect them to hit the same heights as the last album did, but I feel the step down is a bit too steep and sometimes a result of Vernon just feeling the need to make a splash. There's still some wonderful moments and songs which is only to be expected given how talented Vernon is. 666 in particular is a terrific song, as well as others such as Strafford APS (?) and 8 being highlights. But as a whole, there's just so much focus on being gimmicky and different for the sake of it, that I think it messes the the actual quality of the songwriting and compositions big time. Vernon said he tried to fit in words that suited the tune and went from there so maybe that's a clear shift in focus which doesn't resonate well with me.
All in all, compared to the mastery of the previous album, this one as of now, seems like a real step down. I'll still listen to it plenty of course because it is a good album.
All in all, compared to the mastery of the previous album, this one as of now, seems like a real step down. I'll still listen to it plenty of course because it is a good album.
I think it says a lot about the new direction he's taken that the tracks people mention as the best could have realistically been on 'Bon Iver' as well.
Absolutely.
There's no accounting for taste, but I couldn't disagree with you more. I can understand liking Bon Iver, Bon Iver better (it's a better fit for my taste as well), but labelling this as a qualitatively worse album? I don't see it. One of the the albums of the year for me, no doubt.
I'm also very fond of artists who are clearly trying to evolve as musicians, and aren't interested in making the same record over and over. It's pretty easy to connect the dots of Justin Vernon / Bon Iver's artistic progression through the long plays and the EP, as well as his various cameos in other projects.
I don't mind a change in direction. But I do see (or hear) a clear and visible drop in quality. While the previous album was absolutely loaded with brillaint songs, I find the same much more scarce here. I mean songs like over soon, god, death breast (??) are nowhere near Holocene, Perth etc. IMO. Plus, I often find the focus on gimmicks rather than quality.
It's still a really good album of course. Bon Iver is a brilliant songwriter after all, and I'll listen to this a lot I'm sure. Its just not a top album for me.
The once I actually like the most from the album currently are 'Deathbreast', 'God' and '666'.
I tend to agree with you though. My opinion is that it's a good album, but it's nowhere near as good as people want it to be. I'll probably listen to it fairly often until the gig in February and then forget about it in the coming years.
Shades of Arcade Fire's 'Reflektor' in that sense. They went a new direction, I liked it and listened to it a lot, but I never return to it.
I'm so disappointed in this album. I can try to get on board with all of the technical aspects and the quality of composing such a broad range of elements into one piece at a time alongside his soft voice and singing style. I get all that. But I cannot get past a complete underwhelming feeling and as @amolbhatia50k put, a clear drop in quality of the actual end product. Even in the lyrics too. If it wasn't for the second half of the album, which I think is passable but nowhere near on the scale of previous workings, then this would be a total write off for me.
I don't think the change in direction should really be a problem for most people. It's not like he's made something totally inaccessible, it's a pretty standard transition.
Not sure saying "there are only X many great songs" really works too. Not all albums are supposed to be judged as a series of songs. Some are more like collages of ideas that aren't strong enough to hold up a individual song on its own but work when you judge the entire album as a single unit.
Having said that, I still haven't made up my mind on the quality of the album. It's nice and pretty but beyond that I'm not sure. There are definitely weak spots in the lyrics too.
Not sure saying "there are only X many great songs" really works too. Not all albums are supposed to be judged as a series of songs. Some are more like collages of ideas that aren't strong enough to hold up a individual song on its own but work when you judge the entire album as a single unit.
Having said that, I still haven't made up my mind on the quality of the album. It's nice and pretty but beyond that I'm not sure. There are definitely weak spots in the lyrics too.
I feel I have to clarify on this part. An album definitely isn't defined by merely by it's best individual songs. It's both the qualities of the individual parts as well as the collective, that I would judge. But in general an album with consistently worse (IMO) parts struggles to win, especially when you're talking about the same artist.
Aye, it would definitely be an unusual album that has relatively weak individual tracks but works brilliantly as a whole.
4:22 of 8 Circle the way he sings that line
00000 Million has become one of my favourite songs on this album too.
My favourite moment on the album as of right now is the delivery of the final stanza of 715 Creeks.
"Turn around, you're my A-team"
"Turn around, you're my A-team"
As for favourite song, that's difficult. 33 God probably, if I'm ranking them right now!
There's some lovely stuff on his new album. As always really.
Yeah I'm enjoying it. Seeing him live again in a couple of months.
Thanks for this bump. Forgot to set it to download. Will give it a proper listen tomorrow!
I might be the only one but I think his new stuff is poor. This album and the last one have been full of songs with weak melodies, little emotional resonance, awful voice distortion and just a lot of experimental shit for the sake of it. "For Emma Forever Ago" and, to a lesser extent, the eponymous second album were so much more enjoyable. Branching out and trying new things is fine but not when you forget what brought you to the dance - moving, melodic songs that can connect with a wide range of people. This current stuff just seems overproduced, harsh on the ears and meandering without proper hooks or much that's easily singable. It's like he's just showing off rather than engaging through his music, to me at least. He's gone up his own backside like a lot of artists, though unlike them, he hasn't built up a substantial back catalogue to warrant such deviation from what made him successful.
I used to love Fleet Foxes but they too have gone a similar way.
I used to love Fleet Foxes but they too have gone a similar way.
Agreed. Have listened to this 5x now and it’s not hitting home at all in comparison to the aforementioned albums. Can appreciate the complexity within each track and the attempt to change direction but it’s not wholly favourable in my eyes.