Bon Iver

We’ve known about this for a few weeks now but for some reason haven’t posted anything about it… *slapped wrists etc* 4AD Records and AIDS charity Red Hot have joined forces with Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National to produce a whopping 32 track album of original material from all your favourite indie superstars. Yup, you’ve guessed it - Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Beach House, The Decemberists and of course The National all feature. It is certainly set to be one of the must have records of 2009.

Some info from the label below, plus the complete lineup.. Tracklisting so far, hasn’t been revealed.

Dark Was The Night we can confirm will be released on February 16th (Worldwide) and 17th (North America) 2009. Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National produced the album, with John Carlin (founder of the Red Hot Organization) its executive producer. A total of thirty-two exclusive tracks have been recorded for the compilation, which will be available as a double cd, triple vinyl and download album, with profits benefitting the Red Hot Organization - an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS.

Red Hot was founded on the premise that even without a cure, AIDS remains a preventable disease - using music as a great vehicle to raise both money and awareness for it. This is also the twentieth year of Red Hot as well as their twentieth compilation.

The complete list of artists (in alphabetical order) that recorded tracks for this release are:
Andrew Bird
Antony + Bryce Dessner
Arcade Fire
Beach House
Beirut
Blonde Redhead + Devastations
Bon Iver
Bon Iver & Aaron Dessner
The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
The Decemberists
Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
Kevin Drew
Feist + Ben Gibbard
Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear + Feist
Iron & Wine
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Kronos Quartet
Stuart Murdoch
My Brightest Diamond
My Morning Jacket
The National
The New Pornographers
Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch
Riceboy Sleeps
Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio)
Spoon
Sufjan Stevens
Yeasayer
Yo La Tengo

Pretty awesome huh? I’m particualry looking forward to the Ben Gibbard and Feist collaboration.. More news as and when we get it.

Fred Nicolaus, with Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen, is one half of the beautiful collaboration that is Department of Eagles. Following the recent release of second album In Ear Park, we had the opportunity to pitch some questions to him, telling us about the band’s inspirations, how the two members work together, and the artistic concept behind their name. If you’ve not already done so, read our review of the album here. Continue Reading

New York duo Department of Eagles are sometimes, a little unfairly, thought of as simply being the “side project” of Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen. Featuring Rossen and his NYU roommate Fred Nicolaus, this collaboration actually prefigured the formation of the latter band, and In Ear Park is their second full-length release after their 2003 debut The Cold Nose. Continue Reading