Calgary Concert Update

Buck 65 

Buck 65's (AKA Rich Terfry - CBC Radio) last album, 20 Odd Years, was released on February 21st, 2011.Here are some tour dates.

May 11 – Winnipeg – Pyramid Cabaret
May 12 – Saskatoon – Amigos
May 18 – Vancouver – Venue
May 19 – Calgary – Hifi Club



The Black Keys

Nuff' said.

May 4th - Oakland, CA- Oracle Arena
May 5th - Sacramento, CA - Power Balance Pavilion
May 7th - Portland, OR - Rose Garden
May 8th - Seattle, WA - Key Arena
May 9th - Vancouver, British Columbia - Rogers Arena
May 11th - Calgary, Alberta - Saddledome
May 12th - Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place
May 14th - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre




Calgary Folk Festival

July 26th - 29th: You can check the lineup over on their website.

Sled Island Music Festival

June 20th - 23rd: You can check the lineup over on their website.

B.B. King

The legend will be performing at the Century Casino on May 9th.



The Be Good Tanyas

This Canadian folk music act will be bringing a show to the Knox United Church on May 17th.



Bon Iver

Coming off a new album and a Grammy, Bon Iver will be at MacEwan Hall on May 22nd and 23rd.



Zeus

May 23rd at Broken City Social Club



John Mellencamp  

John Mellencamp will be bringing his No Better Than This Tour to Calgary for two shows at the Jubilee Auditorium. June 21st and June 22nd.



Sam Roberts (Support - Dan Mangan)

Canadian rock veteran Sam Roberts will be playing an outdoor show at the Shaw Amphitheater in Banff, Alberta. This is one you should not miss. 



Garth Brooks

The third best selling artist in the USA will be bringing his exclusive Las Vegas show to the Saddledome on July 12th. If you were one of the few that got tickets, congrats!



Steve Martin

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers will be performing at the Jubilee Auditorium on July 21st.



Red Hot Chili Peppers

You should know who I am talking about. These guys will be at the Dome on November 19th.

This list should give you a couple summer ideas. 


- Bryce

Bon Iver 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session

Since the hype of the Grammy's and Bon Iver's enviable win of "best new artist" my passion for Bon Iver and Justin Vernon has faltered slightly. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2011 Bon Iver, Bon Iver release however I just never felt the same way about the album as I did about the debut For Emma, Forever Ago. But then, I saw today's release of the 4AD/Jagjaguwar session and my feelings have change as it exactly what I have been waiting for. The session that features Justin Vernon and Sean Carey of Bon Iver playing with nothing more then two pianos and their voices "Hinnom, TX", "Wash" and "Beth/Rest" from Bon Iver, Bon Iver. As well as "Babys" from the Blood Bank EP and a cover of Bonnie Raitt's "Can't Make You Love Me". Enjoy!

 - Spence 

Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur

 

A while back I posted "Wapusk" by Kathleen Edwards (feat. Bon Iver), a song that she and Justin Vernon created for the Canadian National Park Project. The song will not be featured on her new album, Voyageur to be released on January 17 of the new year. The album was co-produced by Justin Vernon and will feature 10 tracks. Check out the album teaser trailer, the video for the first single "Change the Sheets", the track listing, as well as "Sidecar" all below. Tune in for more on Voyageur as this is sure to be a great album.





  Kathleen Edwards - Sidecar by Kathleen Edwards

 - Spence

American Songwriter's Top 50 Albums of 2011

The Christmas season means a lot of good things like eggnog, World Junior hockey, Christmas parties, and music (I recommend A Very She and Him Christmas). Also, it is the season of year end lists for albums of the year. I would like to share with you the first one I have came across from American Songwriter Magazine. Keep in mind the albums in this list were judged primarily on the songwriting abilities of the artists. You may be surprised by where artists like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Feist ended up and where one of my recent discoveries, a band called Dawes were featured. Head over to American Songwriter Magazine to check out the list.

Oh ya, I couldn't just mention a new band without giving you a song to check out, so here is "A Little Bit Of Everything" from the Dawes album Nothing is Wrong.



 - Spence

Kathleen Edwards (feat. Bon Iver) - "Wapusk"

Canadian Kathleen Edwards is a alternative country artist from Ottawa. Edward's 2008 effort Asking for Flowers is an album I came across a few years ago and still frequents my iTunes playlists. Asking for Flowers is dark, haunting, and emotional with passion, anger and joy all in one. However, it has been three long years since Asking for Flowers but Kathleen Edwards is set to release a 7" entitled Wapusk on Sept 27th. The 7" will include the A side "Wapusk" featuring Justin Vernon from Bon Iver (who happens to be Edwards' boyfriend) and a B side "Change the Sheets" also produced by Vernon. You can check out "Wapusk" via Soundcloud by clicking HERE. Enjoy!

- Spence

Bon Iver and James Blake Collaboration

Indie super producer James Blake has teamed up with Justin Vernon from Bon Iver for a new track. It features a mostly auto-tuned Vernon, sounding more circa For Emma, Forever ago than his new self-titled Bon Iver effort. In this case, I think it's a good thing. Nonetheless, it is definitely growing on me and James Blake sure does know how to make a track. Check out the song below.



- Spence

Video: Bon Iver - "Holocene"

If you are follower of indie music on the interweb, there is a good chance you have seen the video for Bon Iver's "Holocene", which is, in my opinion the best song from the new self-titled album. Check out the video below which features a little boy exploring the vast and breathtaking landscape of Iceland.



- Spence

Bon Iver Album Details

As promised, here are more details on the upcoming Bon Iver album. The extremely anticipated follow up to For Emma, Forever is self titled (artwork above) and will be released June 21st via Jagjaguwar. Check out the track list below, which includes a track called "Calgary" (for you that don't know, Calgary is the city that Bryce and I are from). I'm very interested to hear what it is about and if means Calgary may be seeing a tour date. Anyway, here the tracks and stay tuned for more details such as singles and tour dates as they become available.

01 Perth
02 Minnesota, WI
03 Holocene
04 Towers
05 Michicant
06 Hinnom, TX
07 Wash.
08 Calgary
09 Lisbon, OH
10 Beth/Rest

- Spence

Must Watch: New Bon Iver Album Teaser

Justin Vernon and the boys behind Bon Iver are gearing up to release their new album this summer, and after their debut effort For Emma, Forever Ago, this is definitely out most anticipated album of the year here a Blue Sloth. Released today was a 50 second teaser video for the new album, check it out and see what you think. It's not much to go off of but so far, sounds good!

Untitled from Bon Iver on Vimeo.

- Spence

Yellow Bird Project

Thanks to Dan Mangan's tweet the other day I came across the Yellow Bird Project. The project was started by a couple university grads that, like Bryce and myself wanted to spread the word about indie music but also wanted to give something back. The Yellow Bird Project is a non-profit organization out of Montreal that commissions indie artist such as Bon Iver, Hayden, The National and Broken Social Scene to design t-shirts (American Apparel to!) that will be sold via Yellow Bird Project with proceeding going to various charities. I bought a couple t-shirts and a hoodie yesterday and I already want to buy some more. Head on over to Yellow Bird Project to get the full story and buy some shirts!

- Spence

Bon Iver Releases Details About New Album

Looks like Bon Iver will be releasing a new album which is still untitled in June that will feature 10 tracks. This is one of the most anticipated albums for me this year! Read the whole story over at Rolling Stone.

In the meantime, enjoy the video for The Wolves (Act I & II).





-Bryce

Lia Ices - Daphne featuring Justin Vernon

Here on Blue Sloth we are pretty up on any works by that of Bon Iver or their front man Justin Vernon. So when new comer to Jagjaguwar Lia Ices released her new album this week called Grown Unknown that features Justin Vernon on the track called "Daphne" I couldn't help but put it up.



Lia Ices - Daphne

- Spence

Tis the Season of Giving Back: Dark Was The Night Contributes Over One Million Dollars to Charity

These days when you summon a bunch of great artist together to make a collaboration it is rare that the finished product is a good album. 2009's Dark Was The Night, spearheaded by Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National featuring artists such as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Iron & Wine, Feist and Andrew Bird is not only a great album but a great humanitarian effort. Dark Was The Night proceeds have contributed over a million dollars to non-profit charities.

Have a listen to Yeasayer's "Tightrope", The Books with Jose Gonzalez's "Cello Song" and Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner's "Big Red Machine". If you like what you here, go and BUY this one, either through iTunes, Amazon or your local record store.



Yeasayer - Tightrope

The Books w. Jose Gonzalez - Cello Song

Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner - Big Red Machine

- Spence

S. Carey Daytrotter Session and Justin Vernon on working with Kanye West

S. Carey is the moniker of musician Sean Carey of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Carey is best known as the drummer and supporting vocalist of indie folk band Bon Iver. In August 2010, Carey released his first solo album, All We Grow, which he began working on in 2008 during hiatuses from performing with the band.
The music blog Daytrotter recorded a live session with S. Carey yesterday and it's definitely worth the listen. One of my favorite tracks from the session is In the Dirt.
Check that out HERE.




Also, there is an interesting blog post on the music label Jagjaguwar's website that talks about Justin Vernon's involvement in the making of a couple new Kanye West songs. An article in Complex Magazine talks about the creative process throughout the making of the new album and Justin Vernon left this amusing quote,
“I’m just a fuckin’ lumberjack dude from Wisconsin. I’m not going to go out there and try to be this awesome rap guy.”
There's also a couple videos on the Jagjaguwar site that are worth watching. Check all this out at the Jagjaguwar site HERE.. Anyways, that's all from me.

-Bryce

Anticipated albums

Personally, I think 2007 and 2008 were big years for indie music. There were releases from artists such as Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Santigold, Iron and Wine, Lykke Li, and Lupe Fiasco just to name a few. As the next year rolls around it is expected that many of these artists will be releasing their sophomore albums or for indie veteran Iron and Wine his 4th studio album (never mind all the EPs and compilations). This makes 2011 a scary year considering how many great artists have had huge sophomore flops over the years. This being said, any new music is good music in my ears and I am sure many of these artists will not fail to impress. Music is alive and well my friends.

If any of you want to dig deeper into some of the anticipated new releases coming out in 2011 I suggest you head over to Stereogum and check out their list of the 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2011 right HERE.

Also speaking of Bon Iver, I welcome you to check out this catchy remix of his song Skinny Love by Das Kapital.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love (Das Kapital Rerub)

-Bryce

Kanye West and Bon Iver

Back again with a new song from Kanye West featuring Justin Vernon's Bon Iver. For anyone who is a fan of Bon Iver might recognize their contribution to this track as Woods from Blood Bank, Bon Iver's follow up EP to their incredible album For Emma, Forever Ago. It is definitely a new direction for Bon Iver and a cool new track. Check out "Lost In The World" below and Kanye's new ablum My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, coming out next Tuesday November 22nd.



Lost In The World - Kanye West

- Spence