This is the week of Bon Iver. From the top music sites and blogs, to airplay on various television shows and movie soundtracks, and an appearance on Comedy Central‘s The Colbert Report Monday night, the band have been on a roll for the past four years, and have performed at some of the biggest musical festivals, including Bonnaroo, Sasquatch and many others, including fests in the U.K.
Bon Iver is the moniker of musician, singer and songwriter Justin Vernon. In 2007, he self-releaesd the fantastic debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, and became almost an instant ‘indie sensation.’ Interestingly, Bon Iver’s new album, which officially dropped yesterday, is self-titled. Ordinarily, artists and bands use the self-title treatment for a debut album. Perhaps it’s a statement from Vernon, the artist – a deliberate and clear message to indicate this album is what he considers to be his true debut as an artist and musician. During a brief interview before his performance Monday night on The Colbert Report, Vernon told Stephen Colbert that he secluded himself for three months in a remote cabin in the Wisconsin wilderness to write the songs that ultimately became the tracks for his two albums. Bon Iver’s other members are Michael Noyce, Sean Carey and Matthew McCaughan.
Bon Iver is available for streaming via Spinner for a limited time, and can be purchased from Amazon (#2 on Amazon charts) as a 320kps MP3 download. It’s definitely one of our top albums of 2011, and we won’t be surprised to see it listed in Top 10 albums of 2011 on music sites and blogs later this year. Here is the excellent lead single, “Calgary.”
“Calgary” – Bon Iver from Bon Iver
But, first, we want to introduce you to two bands that is on our list for break-through bands of 2011; they are 1, 2, 3 – a Pittsburgh duo who dropped their debut album this week. The second band is a group of teens from Copenhagen who call themselves Iceage, and they are raising eyebrows in Europe as well as the U.S. They will be featured in an upcoming edition of 5 Break-Out Bands of 2011. Iceage dropped their debut album, New Brigade, this week. And the prospects keep piling up – another band that is new to us in 2011 is JEFF The Brotherhood; if you haven’t heard of this band in our previous posts this year, check them out. They are on fire, especially after packed performances at SXSW in March. Plus, don’t miss the new track from the latest album by Ty Seagull, who recently released an EP of T. Rex cover songs, titled Ty Rex.
“Work” – 1,2,3 from New Heaven
“Riding Coach” – 1,2,3 from New Heaven
“Broken Bone” – Iceage from New Brigade
“White Rune” – Iceage from New Brigade
Here’s the title track via Soundcloud: “New Brigade” – Iceage from New Brigade
“Mellow Out” – JEFF the Brotherhood – from We Are The Champions (Stream)
You Make the Sun Fry – Ty Segall from Goodbye Bread
There are many other great albums out this week that we either have already approved internally, or that we’ve put on our Summer Music Listening List (we’ll be sharing the list soon), including terrific bands like Witches, Cassettes Won’t Listen, Dananananaykroyd, FM Belfast, Yacht, Paleo, Viva Voce, and Gomez. The albums further down in the mix are simply listed because we like the lead single, but, we have not heard them, and will probably not have time to listen to (got to draw the line somewhere:). Also, make sure to check out the In Dee Mail section, which includes new releases that were sent directly to us through the submission form by the artists themselves.
“Creature of Nature” – Witches from Forever
“Perfect Day” – Cassettes Won’t Listen from Evinspacey (Stream)
“Muscle Memory” – Dananananaykroyd from There Is a Way
“New Year” – FM Belfast from Don’t Want To Sleep
“Dystopia” – Yacht from Shangri-La
“In the Movies” – Paleo from Fruit of the Spirit
“Analog Woodland Song” – Viva Voce from The Future Will Destroy You
“Options” – Gomez from Whatever’s On Your Mind
Albums to Stream and links to purchase albums
(don’t miss Part II of this week’s Best New Releases that will be posted in the next couple of days)
– 1,2,3 – New Heaven
– Blood Orange – Sutphin Boulevard EP
– Bobby – Bobby (Stream)
– Bon Iver – Bon Iver (Stream)
– Cassettes Won’t Listen – Evinspacey (Stream)
– Digitalism – I Love You, Dude (Stream)
– Gomez – Whatever’s On Your Mind
– Grieves – Together/Apart
– JEFF The Brotherhood – We Are The Champions (Stream)
– Laurel Halo – Hour Logic EP
– Liam Finn – FOMO
– LMFAO – Sorry For Party Rocking
– OK Go – 180/365 (Live)
– Seun Kuti – From Africa With Fury: Rise
– Skrillex – More Monsters and Sprites
– Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
– Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Stream)
– Viva Voce – The Future Will Destroy You (Stream)
– Weird Al Yankovic – Alpocalypse (Stream)