Alright, there's some new stuff on the radar these days. Having abandoned his 50 states-project long ago, Sufjan Stevens is now back to making albums like everyone else. Or... Well, in any case, he's just dropped a new tune off his forthcoming release, The Age of Adz, and it's called 'I Walked'. It's somewhat of a departure towards more electronic stuff, which I find very exciting. Sufjan has unquestionable talent, but moving musically as he does on this album could mean we have some really interesting stuff in store!
Coma Cinema is an Southern indie-bloke, who's apparently on his way with a new album (thanks, Pitchfork!). I had a few spins of this track, called 'Business As Usual', which is pretty sweet!
Then there's !!!, among the pioneers of dance-punk. They're out with their fourth album, Strange Weather, Isn't It?. I haven't heard it all through yet (can't decide whether I'm gonna buy it or not...), but this track, 'The Hammer' sounds pretty promising. I never completely invested myself in their second album, Louden Up Now, which I have, but the new one might be worth a go.
Finally, I've been moseying for all the astonishing live clips of Bon Iver that are out there, and I figured I wanted to assemble a few of them.
First of all, he (or they) did a show with La Blogotheque in Paris, that resulted in this extraordinary version of 'Lump Sum'. It works really well with the glockenspiel, and it's slightly the same setup as on the Myspace Transmissions version here, which however applies a vibraphone in stead of the glockenspiel. Also, it has drums.
Also from the Myspace Transmissions are 'Blindsided', and excellent versions of 'Flume' and 'For Emma'. The latter copes really well with the transition from guitar to piano.
Back to La Blogotheque, the vids from there also comprise a very powerful version of 'Skinny Love'. Also 'The Wolves' from this session is awesome.
Daytrotter has a nice little live set, which includes both 're: Stacks', 'Creature Fear' and an(other) great live take of 'Lump Sum'.
And finally to top it all, nothing moves more than this massive take of 'Skinny Love' on Jools Holland - absolutely epic!