Upcoming Concerts (Atlanta)

Sunday 5/3/09 | The Earl | $8 (advance)/$10 (door)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Enjoy seeing the "next big thing" according to basically every blog, all for the low, low price of $8! Plus, you can get a burger at The Earl before the show. How could this possibly be a bad idea??


Saturday 5/16/09 | The Drunken Unicorn | $8 (advance)/$10 (door)
Horse Feathers and Joe Pug
At a venue called "The Drunken Unicorn," you don't necessarily expect to hear the soft, bucolic sounds of these two artists. As long as the music from MJQ doesn't bleed over, it should be a very entertaining concert.




Wednesday 5/20/09 | The Earl | $8
The Explorer's Club
It's entirely possible that these guys have only ever hear The Beach Boys (and just the sun-tinged, surfer-and-his-girl variety... not the Pet Sounds variety). If you like that sound, you'll love this band, and it should be interesting to see if they can hit their harmonies live.


Wednesday 5/27/09 | The Tabernacle | $25
The National
Well, unfortunately, this show got moved from The Variety Playhouse (great venue and staff) to The Tabernacle (good venue, crappy staff, Live Nation online ticket sales). I love The National, but I'm not sure I can drop $25 + my first born in Live Nation "convenience charges" to see them without a new album to hear live.


Friday 5/29/09 | Variety Playhouse | $16 (advance)/$18 (door)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Will Oldham's recent album as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Lie Down In The Light, is phenomenal as is his newest album, Beware. He's also apparently great live, but really, I just want to see if he makes fun of Wes Anderson.
Video: Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "I Am Goodbye"

Saturday 6/6/09 | The Drunken Unicorn | $12 (advance)/$14 (door)
Passion Pit and Harlem Shakes
There will be all kinds of sweaty kids rockin' out their awkward dance moves at this show. And I plan to be one of them. Seriously guys, let's go!!




Sunday 6/7/09 | Variety Playhouse | $18
Bon Iver
I'm starting to run out of things to say about this band (and lead-man Justin Vernon). So seriously... just go. Go to this concert. Spend $18 and go. Go.


Friday 6/12/09 | The Earl | $8
Here We Go Magic
I know almost nothing about this band except that I heard them on XMU radio (when I had my free trial period) and they have a self-titled album that just came out. But that's what concerts are for... checking out new bands!


Saturday 6/13/09 | The Tabernacle | $26
TV On The Radio and Grizzly Bear
I will be at this show despite the fact that I should be studying for an exam. You're basically getting to see a full set from TVOTR and Grizzly Bear (and their phenomenal upcoming album Veckatimest) for $13 each. That's unreal! Make sure you buy tickets from the box office to avoid having your wallet taken advantage of by Live Nation.


Sunday 6/14/09 | The Earl | $12 (advance)/$14 (door)
St. Vincent
Annie Clark's debut as St. Vincent (Marry Me) was eccentric and tight, and her upcoming Actors promises more of the same great songwriting from the Polyphonic Spree alum.

Justin Vernon - Official Hero

I know I've written a lot of flowery praise for Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, his contributions to the Dark Was The Night compilation, and his recent Blood Bank EP. Justin Vernon, Bon Iver's front man, has a unique voice and is one of the better songwriters out there, but this story pretty much makes him my hero.

Vernon grew up in Eau Claire, WI, a smallish city of 61,000 people in western Wisconsin. While attending Eau Claire Memorial High School, Vernon was a member of the school's acclaimed jazz band. Knowing how much that experience helped shape him as a musician, he decided to give a little something back. On Sunday night, Vernon performed with the current jazz band at a concert to help raise money for their trip to a jazz competition in NY (apparently, a competition that Vernon also attended while he was in school). The jazz ensemble + Vernon played some jazz standards, but what really blows me away is that Vernon took the time to write arrangements of his songs so that they could perform them together. While talking about the experience, Vernon sounds generally impressed by the students:

"It's been pretty much like performing with the kids I was with 10 years ago. Only the faces have changed. In 1999 we had a really special band, but this band is jaw-dropping."

Just unbelievably cool and amazing on so many levels.

Read the article and, more importantly, see the videos (!) at Stereogum, and see the original article/review of the performance from the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. Their performance of "For Emma, Forever Ago" is below.

4 of 25: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

My intention for this list wasn't necessarily to pick my top 25 favorite albums, and I wanted to highlight bands that maybe people haven't heard much about yet. So naturally, I pick an album that likely goes against both of those things. Originally self-released and then picked up by Jagjaguwar, For Emma, Forever Ago is a sparse, hauntingly ruminative collection of songs focusing on a theme of missed opportunities and bittersweet memories. At least that's what I think it's about based on how it sounds. Every time I listen, I get so swept up in Justin Vernon's vocals (eerily reminiscent of TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe) that I can't focus on what he's actually saying.

The story behind this album is that Vernon, after splitting with his former band, isolated himself in a cabin in the Wisconsin woods and wrote/recorded most of the songs on For Emma. And that's exactly what it sounds like it. "Skinny Love," which I first heard on a TV show at some point (I think it was "Chuck"....) is immediately accessible. You'll be humming it for hours after hearing it. Although short, For Emma requires patience. But making it through to the end is a reward, as two of the best songs ("For Emma" and "Re: Stacks") close the album.

Vernon has made appearances on a number of the late-night talk shows in the past couple months, and with a new EP (Blood Bank) garnering high praise, it feels like he might be on the verge of breaking into the mainstream. His sound is slowly veering away from "acoustic Thoreau", but as for this album... you probably won't want to listen to it on a sunny, Spring day. So before winter is over, get your introspection on and listen to Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago.