It's always something of a mystery to me when my alarm clock ends up on a different station than the one I have consistently set it to for years and years. (Does this happen to anyone else?)
Anyway, this morning was one such instance, and it's always a bit of a shock when the new single from The Raveonettes rouses me from my sweet slumber rather than Bob Bach. But, intrigued, I listened for a while rather than slapping snooze.
My dial, it turned out, was on 88NINE Radio Milwaukee and morning host Jordan Lee was in the middle of his "New Music Wednesdays" set. Up next, he said, was something fresh from a collaboration between Bon Iver and Milwaukee's Collections of Colonies of Bees, known as Volcano Choir. The band's debut, "Unmap," was released yesterday on Jagjaguwar.
Simply put, the music was great (sorry, I did not catch the name of the track Jordan played), and although it's mildly annoying to immediately compare, my initial reaction was that Justin Vernon's voiced sounded not dissimilar to Coldplay's Chris Martin's when paired up with CoCoBees obscure sounds and complex layers. It sounded rich and full, almost cosmic -- it was a stark contrast to his very intimate, very raw debut, "For Emma, Forever Ago."
But apparently, this stuff was recorded well before his 2007 breakthrough and Jordan told us that Vernon has credited it as what gave him the gusto to get "For Emma" offthe ground.
Check it out here.
Bon Iver plays The Riverside Theater on Oct. 11.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
