I think this new EP from Bon Iver called Blood Bank is good, but I think it is definitely several notches below the quality of For Emma. It feels like the songs are b-sides that didn’t make it on the album. Well, all of the songs except the last one, “Woods”. I know I have been bemoaning the use of the vocoder autotuner vocal trick constantly, but I actually enjoy its implementation here. Rather than someone with a lack of vocal talents using it to make up for their inability, here Justin Vernon is doing interesting things with it that accentuate his skills. Make sure to jam this one on headphones because the panning is the best part:

Bon Iver : Woods

Buy Blood Bank

Bon Iver myspace

photo by Chad Wadsworth

Most remixes of songs usually involve simply putting a danceable backbeat behind the track and a lack of imagination (ie all of the remixes I’ve heard of Animal Collective‘s “My Girls”), but this new collection of songs from My Brightest Diamond‘s A Thousand Shark’s Teeth reworked by Son Lux is the polar opposite to the typical, boring remix. The songs are entirely transformed, and the results are both artful and booty shaking. This is truly one of the best remix EPs I have ever heard.

My Brightest Diamond : Apples

Buy Shark Remixes Vol. 2: Son Lux

My Brightest Diamond myspace

Every time I have given a listen to The New Pornographers, it had be a casual affair like hearing a few tracks in a friend’s car. And every time I had heard it, it just didn’t impress me enough to really dig in. So I decided with this new solo record from Pornographers‘ AC Newman that i would give it a lot of listens and try to get into his stuff more, and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. I don’t know if it will be a top 50 or anything, but there are some really good songs on this thing, especially the closer:

A.C. Newman : All of My Days and All of My Days Off

Buy Get Guilty

A.C. Newman myspace

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Post tags: AC Newman, Bon Iver, My Brightest Diamond, Son Lux, The New Pornopraphers