So fucking pretty... (Vol. 1: Bon Iver/Justin Vernon)

I posted an entry on Peter Gabriel's covers album, in which he featured Bon Iver's "Flume".

Here is Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), in response, paying homage to Gabriel's "Come Talk To Me" from his 1992 release Us.

In addition, I'm offering you a wonderfully pretty version of "For Emma" recorded with the Eau Claire Memorial Jazz Band...

Come Talk To Me (Peter Gabriel cover) - Bon Iver
For Emma - Justin Vernon with the Eau Claire Memorial Jazz Band

Revisiting an album that I love

I've gone back to it... as can be counted on me to do. I've been tracking For Emma, Forever Ago now for the past hour or so.

It's a record that seems to have nestled itself somewhere in between where I was then and where I am now. "Skinny Love" has found its way on several mixes I have made for people over the last couple of years. "Re: Stacks" and "Blindsided" still resonate with the same forlorn intimacy and aching emotion as they did the first time heard. All, personally for me, recalling those moments of love and love lost.

One more time through, here we go...

Re: Stacks - Bon Iver

Buy this album

'But this feels so unnatural, Peter Gabriel too'

The man is keeping busy. Some of us have heard him working with Hot Chip with his quaint interpretation of 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa'. I'm sure the boys in Vampire Weekend were flattered. He's selling out major city tour dates and tweeting up a storm. But, with all of this, he's wrapped up in the studio and ready to put out a new record. Finally, I might add.

Peter Gabriel (the birthday boy today) is about to release Scratch My Back in a couple of days. It's a covers album with some very adventurous selections. I had the pleasure of previewing a few of the tracks off the record. It's certainly a direction I didn't expect him to venture into. Am I surprised to see him covering Radiohead and Regina Spektor? I think so. But, I really can't wait to listen to them. The Magnetic Fields cover is probably the same one he released years back on the Shall We Dance? soundtrack. I'd really like to hear his renditions of David Bowie's 'Heroes' and Neil Young's 'Philadelphia'. But I was blown away with his version of 'My Body Is A Cage' by Arcade Fire, and was, moreover, excited at his choice of doing 'Flume' by Bon Iver.

My Body Is A Cage (Arcade Fire cover) - Peter Gabriel
Flume (Bon Iver cover) - Peter Gabriel

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Speaking of Thom Yorke and company, Stereogum reports that Radiohead may just have finished up a new album. See story here.