| | Full Review | Ratings (174) |
Give your Rating |
| 0.0 | Knott- EMERITUS | September 1st 09 |
While its good ideas are as good as you'd expect, Justin Vernon's collaboration with Collections of Colonies of Bees is at least inconsistent. Parts of Unmap drag and/or fade into self-indulgent, directionless nonsense; the 6 minutes that are And Gather and Mbira In The Morass are nothing but dull and needlessly strange. Without a clear purpose or concept, Vernon feels strangely lost, and those looking for the lyrical soundbites of For Emma or Blood Bank will be disappointed; his voice wails incomprehensibly, and while it's impossible to deny that his affecting tone was always part of the attraction, he too frequently borders on irritating. There are moments that make Volcano Choir's Unmap tolerable and at points it's outright enjoyable - Husks And Shells, Island, IS and Still (the latter of which samples Woods from Bon Iver's 2009 EP) are all welcome reminders that Vernon is capable of writing MUSIC rather than just experimenting for the sake of it, and there are a number of affecting moments worth hearing, but too often it feels like it's trying far, far too hard. Oh, and there's absolutely no way this is better than For Emma ;). There's a strong chance this will average a 3-3.5 rating; that's the highest it deserves.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | YouAreMySilence | October 4th 09 |
Basically this is a big mess of pretty sweet material with like 4 pieces of gold found within. Though the mess that was stated before isn't the kind of mess you'd find in a standard math rock band, instead it's a bunch of a'capella, warm ambience, random picks and strums on the acoustic guitar, and awkward tings. This is basically if Justin Vernon was in a math rock band, and hey, it's acually pretty freakin' awesome.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | kingsoby1 EMERITUS | September 1st 09 |
Well, this is better than For Emma after half a listen. Really interesting record that combines the intricacies of post-rock and math with Vernon's standard folk fare; he turns out to be an excellent indie rockstar/frontman. Some might call this "mindless experimentation", but a more accurate descriptor would be "highly dynamic math rock". Much of the more eccentric passages are placed well throughout - doing wonders for the album's pacing; half an hour goes by, yet it feels like merely minutes passed, leaving one with something new each time. This is an excellent outing for Vernon and company that will unfortunately go unnoticed due to Bon Iver fans feeling betrayed. Read: this is not for those that like their music vanilla. Strikey is crazy.
Coincidentally, my lady and I decided that Bon Iver's "Creature Fear" will be our first dance as a married couple. Sue me, that song rules.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | Timmy | January 31st 23 |
| 2.5 average | Miguee7 | October 19th 19 |
| 3.0 good | Mochin | August 6th 19 |
| 2.5 average | Juanpa | October 4th 18 |
| 3.0 good | JanK | June 13th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | ProfC | June 12th 18 |
| 3.5 great | Lassie | December 2nd 17 |
| 3.0 good | perlox | September 23rd 17 |
| 3.5 great | sncold | April 10th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Skoj | March 31st 14 |
| 2.5 average | pixiedu | December 23rd 13 |
| 3.5 great | bjorkil | November 26th 13 |
| 3.5 great | jmh886 | October 2nd 13 |
| 3.5 great | chayka | September 7th 13 |
| 4.5 superb | zoso33 | August 30th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | bokeh | August 26th 13 |
| 4.5 superb | dean3 | July 11th 13 |
| 3.5 great | c0ffee | March 8th 12 |
| 3.5 great | Donkey | March 10th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | twenty3 | March 4th 10 |
| 3.5 great | Zizzer | December 31st 09 |
| 2.5 average | BigTuna | December 2nd 09 |
| 3.0 good | qwe3 | November 21st 09 |
| 3.0 good | JoRos | October 13th 09 |
| 2.5 average | Downes | October 9th 09 |
| 3.5 great | natey | October 9th 09 |
| 3.5 great | bears | October 7th 09 |
| 5.0 classic | PABLO94 | October 4th 09 |
| 3.5 great | soma | October 4th 09 |
| 3.0 good | Yotimi | October 2nd 09 |
| 2.5 average | tomr4 | October 1st 09 |
| 3.0 good | Majesty | September 28th 09 |
| 3.0 good | Thef | September 12th 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | Mikesn EMERITUS | September 4th 09 |
| 3.0 good | ziroth | September 2nd 09 |
| 3.0 good | Kiran EMERITUS | September 1st 09 |
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