Bon Iver - Apollo Hammersmith, London - 23rd October 2011

I came relatively late to Bon Iver - captured by the BBC coverage of his 2009 Glastonbury set.  He made a triumphant return to London opening a short UK tour at Hammersmith last night.

A band of 9 covering 3 guitars, 2 drummers, keyboards, brass, violins and, at one stage a human beat box.  Opening with "Perth" from the self-titled new album here was a sign of what to expect.  Wonderful musicianship, expertly performed with the added live component.  It made you question how long these guys had been together as they were a very tight unit, changing instruments regularly and clearly enjoying the ride.

The new album for me is still at that "I don't know the titles as I have to listen to the whole thing - it's so good" they seemed to perform it all adding a Bjork cover, "Blood Bank" "Wolves" (with the now familiar audience participation (as he said not a sing along a contribution)) together with other tracks from Justin Vernon's "Long Discog" as he referred to it.  Between song chatter was mainly him expressing thanks for the reaction he had received but the show was none the less for such interuption - they got on with it, songs segued together with passages making full use of effects pedals and highlighted instruments.

The encore version of "Skinny Love" with Vernon and the two drummers at their instruments and the other members around two mikes providing hand-claps and harmonies was wonderful.  At the end he looked moved by the reaction he had recieved.

The crowd were treated to a consumate show of what music can be and do.  Difficult to categorise but the soul in his voice, the almost Brian Wilson like harmonies and overall construction, broad arrangements and a great set of songs expertly performed with passion was enthusiastically received from a keen crowd.

long may his discog continue to grow.

Jim Capaldi - It's All Up To You (1974)

One of my all time favourite singles.  Jim Capaldi made some well respected music in his lifetime, solo, in Traffic and various other combos.  In my world he would never surpass this.  I raved about it in '74 (and do today which is a good test).  It didn't do well peaking at 27 in the charts of the day but it stood miles above it's contemporaries.  It's a soulful, big tune which should be covered (but i really don't want that do I?).  The performance is masterful.  I've yet to find it on CD. 

A much under-rated gem.

http://45cat.com/record/wip6198&c=16679#16679

Not Lost But Found - Bon Iver

I'd seen the name Bon Iver around but never taken much notice not knowing the music or the act (I now know it's a band and not an individual). Last year I watched the BBC coverage of Glastonbury and flicking around saw their set.  Knocked out.  They were excellent.  I then captured the mp3 of this which is below.  After buying the albums and Blood Bank EP I am a firm fan.  Nothing better than finding something new out of the blue, totally unexpected and wondering why you have missed it in the first place.  I really thought this was an old hand singing english folk songs who someone had wheeled out for a last gasp on the festival circuit.  Nothing to a name obviously (I was told it's derivative of the french "good winter" "Bon H'iver" as they are canadian)  If that's not true well.... Bon Iver Glastonbury 09

Soul Messages

Posted my first mix on soundcloud,  This is so easy to do and i'd recommend the site to anyone.

http://soundcloud.com/boyred/tracks

(Sound)cloud 9

Just subscribed to soundcloud. Brill site featuring mixes,orginal tracks and mashups. Will start to put some of my amateurish mixes up to share. This is a track I found whilst browsing - mashups rarely work well in my estimation but this seems to for no obvious reason other than it's well put together and they just match. Let me know what you think.

If You're Not Human (The Killers vs. Daniel Bedingfield) by D.J. Glen