Bon Iver & James Blake – just now “discovering” and enjoying both

by | Jul 14, 2013 | Music, Personal

Ever find out about a new artist and can’t get enough of them?  That happened to me recently when my friend at Everspark Interactive, Aaron Chapman, skyped me a recommendation to check out Bon Iver (where “Iver” is pronounced “ee-v-ay-er”  and rhymes with “Slayer”).   I took one listen and I was hooked, which lead to discovering another great artist: James Blake.

One BI track that nearly brought me to tears is “Holocene”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWcyIpul8OE

I dug deeper in the Bon Iver catalogue on Spotify and discovered I was already familiar with “Skinny love” and “Lost in the World,” the latter a track from Kanye West featuring Bon Iver:

“Skinny love”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O7GByZ1-zg

“Lost in the Woods”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-KiTmhR_v4

I like the Kanye track a lot and found a similar BI release called “Fall Creek Boys Choir“, that moved me AND  introduced me to James Blake who’s featured on the track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aqKA_2UUy4

Check out James Blake’s performance of “Retrograde” on the Dave Letterman show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAEkGbGiv7I

the official “Retrograde” video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p6PcFFUm5I

and this Cochella performance of “Air & Lack thereof“:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-gdZO9wZeY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUIZ4NEJamsWybup2TJUdoPA

I’ve added several of the Bon Iver tracks to my playlist called “Jams I’m listening to” on Spotify, so if you like the tracks above and want to explore some of my personal favorites, check it out and follow for updates.

Of course, if you have some recommendations for me, please leave them as comments so I can check them out!