Fuzzy Bon Iver memories
+ Che, Argentinian trap, '70s country-folk revival & more.
Sorry for the delay this week. I’ve been busy sourcing vintage hats for Jack Harlow. Every week, GOOD STUFF blesses you with one new album, five new songs, and a throwback track you need to hear.
Listen to the official GOOD STUFF playlist on Apple Music, Spotify and Audiomack.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Bon Iver — VOLUMES: ONE (SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC CONCERTS 2019-2023 BON IVER 6 PIECE BAND)
Live albums are rarely essential and often a money grab. There are exceptions (Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Alive 2007, Sinatra at the Sands, Dark Magus, At Fillmore East), but unless it’s radically different from the source material I typically don’t care much.
Exceptions can be made. The first edition of Bon Iver’s archival series collects 10 live performances between 2019 and 2023. i,i performances might not be everyone’s first pick for a Justin Vernon archive dive, but it’s hard to argue with these results. These versions are grander, weirder, and feel like a group hug. “MAN LIKE U” and “33 ‘GOD’” touch Heaven.
For some reason, there’s also a performance of “A SATISFIED MIND” from December 8, 2017 that falls outside the album’s very specific date range. I saw Bon Iver at The Anthem in DC seven days prior to that show. I couldn’t tell you if he performed “A SATISFIED MIND” that night. In fact, all I really remember, other than the fact that the show absolutely blew my mind, is that the venue was brand new and oddly pristine, it was a Justin Vernon solo show, and he wore a yellow t-shirt. Memories are funny like that.
It’s interesting to think about the small differences in live versions of songs, which exist only as fuzzy memories in people’s minds over the years. Maybe they’re sitting on a hard drive somewhere, waiting to be pulled years later for a surprise compilation. Someone out there is listening to “666” from April 2022 and comparing it to the fuzzy memory they have in their mind. Maybe I’ve been thinking about live albums the wrong way.
5 NEW SONGS YOU NEED RIGHT NOW
Che — “Promoting Violence”
Right after I said the pendulum was going to swing toward melodicism, Che made his voice sound beamed in from Hell over a beat that sounds like a car alarm going off. I can’t stop listening to it. It sounds even better right after “Million Dollar Mansion.”
Alex Amen — “Diamonds”
I’m done with the indie sleaze revival and ready for the ‘70s country-folk revival. Hannah Cohen’s Earthstar Mountain was one of my favorite albums last year, and I needed another vintage-sounding album that doesn’t feel like nostalgia cosplay and makes me want to smash my iPhone and move to the mountains and unlearn Summer House drama and grow a mustache.
AQUAFINNA — “plata negra”
With all due respect to Che this is the hardest song in here. Not sure what’s going on in Argentina but I need to find out.
Loukeman — “To The Sky”
Canadian propaganda via blissfully chill electronic.
Cece Natalie — “DOMINO”
Cece Natalie slots into the post-Brat 2010s electro-pop renaissance, but her music is just weird and DIY enough—she started as a producer recording in her bedroom—to stand out amidst the opportunists. Her first new single since opening for PinkPantheress on tour almost sounds like a demo, but it’s addictive.
THROWBACK TRACK
About a month ago I saw this 1990 clip of The Sundays performing “Here’s Where The Story Ends” atop horse-drawn carriage in Berlin and was immediately in love. How could this song have escaped me my whole life? And how many more songs this are out there that I’ve never heard? How special is it that I was able to hear this song so perfect for me?
Apparently not that special. Suddenly it was everywhere on my feed, soundtracking “outside vibes” and “car ride stages” Reels and Pigeons & Planes throwback posts. On one hand I was blessed with a song I like. On the other, a reminder that I am just an unwitting participant in the algorithm, clocking into the short-form content factory each day to “please, sir, I want some more” my way into building a personality. Anyway, song is great.
Goodbye:
