happy winter!

I melted away some of my cold and my winter blues yesterday with just a small taste of Bon Iver (like bon hiver, like happy or good winter in French. Get it?). Bon Iver is the clever alias of Justin Vernon, who debuted with a CD last year called "For Emma, Forever Ago" (which I looked up after previewing the "Blook Bank EP", released this Tuesday.

Breaking it down by track list, 'Blood Bank' is the first song, and it immediately caught my attention as the sort of song that kinda sounded like Snow Patrol meets Clann Zu. The second song was 'Beach Baby'; similar, but different. Not as resounding in my mind as 'Blood Bank'. Then there was 'Babys'; the two 'baby' songs kinda have the same feel.

Then I heard 'Woods'.

Now, let me break this down for you. I looked up 'Woods' on last.fm, and a lot of people were hating on it because Bon Iver used vocoder on his voice, and between T-Pain and the recent debut of Kanye's new album, "808's and Heartbreak", vocoder and autotune are being played out. Let me just say that there is a difference between using vocoder to experiment, and using vocoder to cover up a bad singing voice. Kanye can't sing to save his life. Bon Iver was doing something different to enhance the song, kind of like a male version of Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek.'

I loved 'Woods' before I read all the comments about the vocoder, and I love it even more now. So there.

I loved it so much in fact that I decided to look up some of Bon Iver's work on "For Emma, Forever Ago", and so far so good. I am particularly fond of 'Skinny Love.'

--Keir

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion

So, it's been a while since my last post.

But I took the time to log in, because I wanted to discuss something that I have been impatiently waiting for.

Animal Collective -
Merriweather Post Pavillion
(released Jan. 20th 2009)



Now I know what you're thinking. Hasn't this CD been hyped up enough already?
As far as I'm concerned, this CD deserved all of the hype that it got.

What I like best about Animal Collective is that they can experiment with different elements in their overall sound, and come up with something fresh and new, but still sound like themselves. This is what I look for in my favorite musical artists. Versatile, but still maintaining a personal style. And Merriweather Post Pavillion is the perfect example of that. The band maintains it's haunting voices and peculiar lyrics with more upbeat, electro-pop inspired beats to produce a sound that is updated without being trendy. With a vibe that is undeniably different than their past albums, yet undeniably Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion is a must-buy album that is sure not to disappoint.

--Keir

Merry Christmas...

... to all of you music fans out there! And everyone else as well!

This year, as one of my many resolutions (you know, the ones that hopefully will not be broken) I am taking the advice of my former Journalism II teacher,Dan Kennedy, and making more of a commitment to this blog. And as a homage to my next co-op job starting Jan. 5, 2009 as an editorial intern at Billboard Magazine, I have decided to make this an interactive music blog.

I have decided to start with some new Christmas albums. As my mother, her boyfriend Allen and I decorated the tree, drank eggnog and ate s'mores fresh from the fireplace (a new tradition!) we listened to some of the Christmas albums we have collected over the years. My personal favorite is 8 Days of Christmas by Destiny's Child, but we have others. What are your favorites?

Here is a list, according to About.com, of 10 New Pop Christmas albums.

In the next few days I will post some albums I have been reviewing, as well as my top 5 albums for the year of 2008. Until then, Merry Christmas!