As mentioned, Bon Iver's new album comes out June 21 via Jagjaguwar. It's currently available for pre-order in three different bundle packages. You can order the deluxe bundle with a 12" single of "Calgary" b/w "I Can't Make You Love Me/Nick of Time," immediate download code for "Calgary," T-shirt and album art poster. The catalog bundle also includes the poster and Calgary 12" and download code along with For Emma, Forever Ago and Blood Bank. You can also order just the album and poster with immediate download of "Calgary." All bundles are available as LP or CD.

If June 21 is too long to wait to hear the album, it's currently streaming on NPR.

Bon Iver, who was recently heavily featured in the NY Times Magazine, will head out on tour with The Rosebuds (who just released an album) later this summer and stop in NYC August 9 at United Palace Theatre and August 10 at Prospect Park. The Prospect Park show is sold out but tickets are still on sale for United Palace.

Justin Vernon's Volcano Choir bandmates Collections of Colonies of Bees are releasing their new album GIVING on August 2 via Hometapes. They've filmed a live video for the album track "Lawn." IFC posted the video, along with this lineup change announcement:

The Japanese tour during which this video of "Lawn"--the first public taste of GIVING--was the last hoorah for the iteration of Collections of Colonies of Bees seen here. Mueller is concentrating on the glorious solo work and collaborations he's done during the past few years for Table of the Elements (R.I.P.) and Type. Tom Wincek, who you see on stage right behind a stack of electronics, has moved on to lead his excellent outfit All Tiny Creatures.

So GIVING is an interesting double transition, since Collections of Colonies of Bees have never before been so concise and direct and since they'll never exactly be this band again. The new Bees hit the road later this year with a new sextet lineup, reworked GIVING tracks and 40 minutes of new material.

Continue reading "NPR streaming 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver' (listen), Collections of Colonies of Bees releasing GIVING (watch a video)"

Volcano Choir

Wisconsin's Volcano Choir is Bon Iver's Justin Vernon with Collections of Colonies of Bees members Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Jim Schoenecker, Daniel Spack, and Thomas Wincek. Their album, Unmap, recorded in the fall of 2008, comes out September 22nd on Jagjaguwar (9/21 in the UK). The label described their sound as "ranging from David Sylvian and Steve Reich to Mahalia Jackson and Tom Waits." About the Volcano Choir record, Vernon said to Pitchfork, "I sing on it, but there aren't a lot of lyrics-- it's definitely more on the experimental side of things."

Bon Iver @ Sasquatch Fest 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

No word on whether Volcano Choir will play any live shows, but Bon Iver is currently on tour. That group has summer dates all over the place (Europe, the West Coast, Europe again, the West Coast again), up to Austin City Limits in October.

Bon Iver will be premiering a new piece in NYC on Thursday, January 21st, 2010, at Merkin Concert Hall. The show, part of the New York Guitar Festival's "Silent Films/Live Guitars" series, will feature a Vernon-commissioned score to Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush. He'll be joined by Volcano Choir collaborator Chris Rosenau. Performing separately at the show will be Steve Kimock, of Zero and Crazy Engine, who is scoring Buster Keaton's Cops. Tickets will be available as 4-show series subscriptions and individually.

More Volcano Choir band pictures, album art, track list and Bon Iver tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Bon Iver plays in Volcano Choir (new album), playing Merkin Concert Hall (NY Guitar Festival), other shows (tour dates)"