Minutos Musicales: Bon Iver

Estimados,
aquí os presento a Bon Iver, nombre de guerra de la banda del cantautor indie Justin Velmon. El nombre proviene de la forma de convertir al inglés (anglicismo) la frase 'bon hiver' francesa que signifca "buen viento":

Este grupo ya tiene un album en el mercado titulado "For Emma, Forever Ago" publicado en 2007. Curiosamente cuando toca en directo este album hace que el público coree las canciones porque no se puede simular en directo la cantidad de voces que se pusieron al grabar el disco...

Yo tengo un grato recuerdo de su última actuación aquí en España. Fué a propósito del Primavera Sound... y se pudo ver la calidad de este señor en temas como estos:






"While in high school and college, Vernon founded bands Mount Vernon and DeYarmond Edison, both indie-rock bands from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he still resides. DeYarmond Edison consisted of Vernon, Brad and Phil Cook, and Joe Westerlund. After a long period of success in the Eau Claire music scene, the four band mates decided to leave their longtime home and move to Raleigh, North Carolina to try their musical hand in a new place. The band released two records themselves, the first self-titled and the second titled "Silent Signs" and an EP of unreleased material is available on their myspace page. After nearly a year in Raleigh, Vernon left for Wisconsin after a breakup with the band and a girlfriend. The remaining members of DeYarmond Edison went on to form a new band called Megafaun and remain good friends with Vernon.

Live Performances
Justin Vernon is joined live by Sean Carey (drums, vocals, piano, vibes) and Mike Noyce (vocals, baritone guitar, guitar). Noyce was Vernon's guitar student during high school while Carey approached Vernon during one of the first Bon Iver shows telling him he could play and sing all the songs after which the two played a number of them together.

Because of the large amounts of dubbing over in the For Emma, Forever Ago album, Justin Vernon was concerned that there would not be enough voices to duplicate the sound of the songs on the album. To compensate for this problem, Bon Iver gave lyrics for some songs to the audience to sing along to during shows. In an interview with Pitchfork, Vernon described his dilemma. "I don't want to be the guy with an acoustic guitar singing songs, because that's boring for the most part. The song actually needs 80-500 people singing or whatever the vibe is of that room, it needs that fight".

For Emma, Forever Ago
After the breakup of a band, relationship, and bout with sickness, Vernon left Raleigh and moved back to Wisconsin spending three months in his father's cabin in the woods of northern Wisconsin. He did not intend to write or record any music during the time but rather to recuperate from the events of the previous year. Eventually a record began to evolve during this cathartic time of isolation.

Vernon had recently finished helping the band The Rosebuds do some recording and had with him some basic recording gear when he made his move to the cabin. Vernon played all the instruments during recording and each song was heavily edited with a large number of overdubs. Vernon wrote most of the lyrics for the album by recording a word-less melody and listening to the recording over and over and writing words according to the sound of the syllables of the melody.

The record was almost not released and was originally intended as a group of demos to be sent out to labels and potentially rerecorded. But after getting very encouraging reactions from a number his friends, Vernon decided to release the songs himself in their present state [6] After significant positive reception, helped by word of mouth and its popularity throughout the blogosphere, Vernon decided to sign to the indie label Jagjaguwar which subsequently gave the album a proper release."

Grupo: Bon Iver
Disco: The MySpace Transmissions
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/boniver y http://www.boniver.org/
Canciones destacadas: For Emma, Flume, Blindsided y Lump Sun

Y observad este video... con 2 cojones y una guitarra se pone a cantar. Esto tipo es muy muy grande.

Minutos Musicales: Scout Niblett

Estimados,
Emma Louise Niblett también es conocida por el pseudonimo de "Scout Niblett".

Composiciones realmente inmesas, alejadas del ruido adicional e interpretadas con una magistral combinación de guitarra, batería y voz que muchas veces ella misma toca. Cuando se la escucha, múltiples nombres vienen a la mente: PJ Harvey, Shannon Wright, Lisa Germano, Joan As Police Woman, Cat Power.... y verdaderamente no desmerece a ninguna de ellas debido a su particular estilo y potencia emocial en las composiciones.

4 discos contando con el que hoy os presento (el primero publicado en 2001) avalan su carrera y es una pena que muchos no la hayamos descubierto antes. Si no la conocéis, seguro que os dejará gratamente impactados.... ahí es nada.

"She is known for her intimate live shows and her blond wig while performing.[1] She is currently living in the United States, where she has worked with the influential recording engineer Steve Albini.

Niblett grew up in Nottingham, England and chose her stage name in honour of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, the protagonist in Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She studied music and performance art at college, and also expresses an interest in astrology—explaining the title of her 2005 LP Kidnapped by Neptune, she says, "Neptune is this planet that everyone has in their chart. But for me, where Neptune is right now and has been for the past two years has been affecting my chart in a huge way. Neptune is kind of the musicians’ planet, it rules music." She currently resides in Portland, OR.

Niblett has released three LPs, through the Secretly Canadian record company in North America and through Too Pure in the United Kingdom. Her first release was a split 7" single with Songs: Ohia in 2001. Shortly after this she released her first LP Sweet Heart Fever, recorded at Chem Nineteen Recordings in Hamilton, Scotland by producer Andy Miller with drummer Kristian Goddard. Her follow-up release was a one-sided 10" EP, I Conjure Series, recorded live, where Niblett plays all the instruments herself. For the next two albums—2003's I Am and 2005's Kidnapped by Neptune—Niblett enlisted the help of Steve Albini, as well as guitarist and bassist Chris Saligoe. She also features on Songs: Ohia's album Magnolia Electric Co. (2003).

Niblett cites among her influences a number of grunge period bands, including Mudhoney, Sonic Youth and Nirvana, and in particular the guitar of Kurt Cobain. In fact, she has covered the Nirvana song "Verse Chorus Verse" in concert. Her drumming technique, however, is inspired, she says, by a man who played at an open-mic night in Nottingham and would accompany himself on the drums while playing Beatles covers. This drumming technique has been a particularly distinctive feature of Niblett's records with Steve Albini, whose method is to place the drums centrally in the mix. A good example of Niblett's minimalist approach to songwriting is "Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death", included on I Am and as the B-side to "I'll Be a Prince". It consists solely of a drumbeat with a cheerfully delivered repeating lyric, "We're all gonna die!", eventually concluding, "We don't know when, We don't know how." Niblett names the song as a favourite. Also of note is her downbeat cover of Althea & Donna's 1978 reggae hit "Uptown Top Ranking", which Niblett released as a single after it became popular at live performances."

Grupo: Scout Niblett
Disco: This Fool Can Die Now
Año: 2007
Web oficial: http://www.scoutniblett.com/
Canciones destacadas: Dinosaur Egg, Kiss, Baby Emma y Your Last Chariot