Over the holidays I’ll be posting a small amount of leftovers and other unused material that will serve as my holiday gifts to you. This is the first of them, Bon Iver’s cover of The Outfield’s “Your Love”, as performed at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 12, 2008, as taped by me (it’s not the same recording as the You Tube video that’s floating around). Also included is “Beach Baby”, as performed at the same show. It’s off the forthcoming EP, Blood Bank, which comes out January 20 and is available for pre-order.
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You know that voice of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon’s? The one that sounds like specks of moon come colliding into bells of rain under an ever-widening evening sky? It churned out a lot of fans this year, including one Zach Condon of Beirut (pictured below, at Friday night’s show), most of whom seemed pretty devoted, showing up early, sushing out the chatters and singing their hearts out when asked. Three consecutive dates in the city sold out fast, and some bought tickets for up to $200 per pair on Craigslist. Then there were those, like one friend of a friend who made a trip from Boston, who traveled from elsewhere. That, and I haven’t seen many “Best of 2008″ album lists that didn’t include Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, even though it was released in 2007 and re-issued in 2008. Reflecting on this golden year, most of which was spent on the road, Justin said that he was “ready to come back down to earth” and that he felt somewhat bittersweet about having been done with what needed to be done for the year. Then there were all these songs they played, some new ones from the forthcoming EP, and one cover. Favorite goosebumps moment that involved audience participation is captured in video.
(Zach Condon of Beirut at the show Friday night. They’re playing BAM on February 6. Thanks for posing, I know I made you feel awkward, sorry!)
Onward for videos! Hit continue! Now.
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Stereogum released its list of this year’s Gummy Award winners yesterday, as voted for by the website’s readers. Though this is not my ultimate “Best of 2008″ list, here’re my votes.
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