New York Music Blog

If Auto-Tune hit its peak as a joke delivery device last week amidst the spectacle of a weirdly robotic Katie Couric involuntarily singing an "O Superman"-reminiscent lament for melting polar ice caps, it also hit its nadir at about the same time, when a tape surfaced of an Auto-Tuned Martin Luther King "singing" his epochal "I Have a Dream" speech. If there is a god, the internet's random desecration of one of the all-time great oratorical moments of the 20th century should finally put Auto-Tune-as-a-joke in the internet meme grave, hopefully never to rise again. As far as the larfs went, the technology had a good run.

The phenomenon started simply: Former Exxon seismic data explorer Andy Hildebrand manipulated a technology that had previously been used to detect oil under the Earth and applied it to music, debuting his Auto-Tune software in 1997. The program was immediately popular, used to detect pitch, correct vocals and resurrect the careers of Oscar-winning future Christopher Guest parody subjects. Humor ensued. And thus we begin.

What are you listening to these days?

Dude, I can't stop listening to this one Lucinda Williams album.

The new one, you mean?

Yeah, I've totally listened to [Little Honey] like 40 times for some reason, and then World Without Tears I listen to constantly as well.

That's a great record to return to after a few years.

That's exactly what's happening to me right now. All I can do is hear that album--and I barely ever do that, where I just fixate on an album. [But recently] it came back super strong. -- Nick Anderman

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who we spoke with earlier in the week, plays Town Hall tonight and the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, December 12. All dates are with the Tallest Man on Earth. Tickets for these shows are sold out.

Bon Iver plays Town Hall this Wednesday, December 10 and Thursday, December 11 and then the Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 12. All dates are with the Tallest Man on Earth. Tickets are still available here.

Bon Iver, "Skinny Love" (MP3)

"My next record might be super fucking happy, and I don't want to shy away from that if that's what's happening, you know?"

Jesus references aside, you would think that since the highly praised release of For Emma, Forever Ago last February, Justin Vernon's life has changed dramatically--after all, just a year ago he was band-less, girlfriend-less and broke, whereas today he's beloved by folk-loving kids the world over. Although the bearded troubadour admits to "living his dream," not much has changed on a day-to-day basis, apparently. He just bought a house in small-town Wisconsin, right down the street from his childhood home, and when he's not touring, he's been playing music with Collections of Colonies of Bees, a Milwaukee-based experimental band, gearing up to write and record the next Bon Iver album in February, and awaiting the release of a four-song EP Blood Bank out next January 20th on Jagjaguwar.

I recently spoke with Vernon over the phone about life on the road, making sad-guy music, and how Bruce Springsteen is sort of bollocks these days. - Nick Anderman

Want to play darts?

Bon Iver
Tuesday, July 29
Bowery Ballroom

Bon Iver’s been called many things this year. I think Jesus has been one of them—the new messiah of Sunday-morning folk, where those who are named Emma are forever haunted, or at least swearing up and down that they’re not like his Emma. But what hasn’t emerged is a different description: he looks like a beer-gutted schlub. He wears a somewhat form-fitting T-shirt onstage, and some baggy hiker-type pants, and could totally be your best bud that is really good at darts and will help you move. These are all good things, and as anyone who’s confronted aging recently, working off those Milwaukee’s Best calories is a bit tougher than you might think. In an odd way, it almost makes Justin Vernon more endearing than his fabled back story—not only does guy make nice break-up record about breaking up in the middle of nowhere, but the “whatever” appearance he favors gives his “fuck off, Emma” sentiments much more validity. And in a weird, perverse, lucky-for-him sort of way, probably makes him even more attractive to the sundress-clad ladies that packed Bowery last night.