Bon (h)iver? Bon été!

Today’s post has the feel of that dodgy Freeview Channel, ‘Dave‘, the channel that shows endless repeats of ‘Have I Got News For You’, ‘QI’, ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ etc – all great stuff, none of which was actually produced by ‘Dave‘ itself. Read on…

Many of you I’m sure will be familiar with the Bon Iver album, ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. All critics and music fans alike seem to love it. It’s been called modern folk, it’s been called folktronic, but to me it’s just plain old folk music. It’s not a million miles away from King Creosote and the Fence Collective group of musicians from Fife in Scotland, but for whatever reason Bon Iver will find himself at the top of most ‘Best of the Year lists, which is something that has so far eluded King Creosote.

Bon Iver prepares to throw another lucky 6

Many of you will also be familiar with the story of how Justin Vernon split up with his girlfriend, and went into the mountains to live off the land and write and record his album.  As Vernon himself said, “(For Emma, Forever Ago) was made on a pilgrimage to the woods of northwestern Wisconsin. With only guns, venison, firewood, a sears typewriter, and ancient musical equipment.” And it sounds like it. Grizzly Adams gone mellow. It’s a fantastic album and I’ve been playing it to death recently. As is the way with these things, once I get my teeth into an artist, I like to seek out every recording they’ve made. What follows below is a rag-bag assortment of radio sessions and TV appearances that have been converted to mp3 and are available for your enjoyment. 

Remember what I wrote in the opening paragraph? ‘Dave‘ TV? Some of these tracks have already been made available by one or two other blogs and others I’ve found through the wonders of the world wide web, so I take no real credit for bringing them to your ears. In the spirit of ‘Dave’ TV, these tracks may well be repeats – you’ve heard them already, but, hey, I’ll hear it again and might even download it this time. I think I’m the first to compile all these Bon Iver tracks in the one place. They’re a bit more rough and ready than the album versions, more stripped back and some how a bit more honest. Listen out for the squeaky door opening around 1.40 in the first track….

Flume  (Backstage Sessions, Nashville)

Creature Fear  (Backstage Session, Nashville)

Flume  (MOKB* studio 4th April)

Skinny Love  (SXSW festival)

Skinny Love (Live on Later with Jools Holland)

Flume (Live on Later With Jools Holland)

 Flume (Radio K In-Studio Sessions)

* MOKB is My Old Kentucky Blog. There’s a great interview with Bon Iver right there right now. I stole the above pictures from there too. Credit where it’s due and all that. And if these tracks aren’t enough for you, click on the taxi picture below to take you to Black Cab Sessions. You’ll find a great clip (Chapter 44) of Bon Iver playing ‘Creature Fear’  in the back of a London taxi. There’s some Fleet Foxes too. Take time to look around it, there’s some great stuff.

ps – I’m also looking for Bon Iver’s XFM Session from around April/May this year. Anyone got some files they can point me in the direction of?