BON IVER + KANYE WEST, Finding Your Voice
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- Опубліковано 30 тра 2018
- Without Kanye West, Bon Iver might have never made 22, A Million. Here’s why.
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Written, Voiced and Edited by Frank Furtado
#boniver #kanyewest #middle8
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Justin Vernon’s story is nearly a cliche by now. His band broke up, him and his girlfriend broke up and to top it off he got sick with mono before escaping to an isolated cabin in the winter. There a broken human poured himself into his music and crafted a critically-acclaimed, platinum-selling, emotionally-dense folk album. Then he proved it wasn’t a fluke with his Grammy winning follow up, Bon Iver, Bon Iver. But his third release is where we witnessed an unexpected shift - a reinvention. Complex called 22, A Million Bon Iver’s “most Kanye-sounding album yet.” Kanye West’s influence is definitely there - that is if you know what you’re looking for. And Vernon even takes it a step further. But what if I told you 22, A Million wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for Kanye West?
Vernon’s relationship with Kanye West began with the track “Woods.”
It features only Vernon’s vocals but they’re completely soaked in auto tune. Hip-hop’s favourite plug-in at that time.
It’s where Vernon was inspired to use the audio tool. The year before, Kanye released 808s and Heartbreak - where auto tune was heavily used. But unlike T-Pain, West’s use of the plug-in serves more purpose. The auto tune removes Kanye’s individuality from his vocals, helping to produce a hauntingly personal album. 808s focuses on themes of loss, feelings of alienation and self-reflection. Themes Vernon was well acquainted with.
(Canadian writer Stephen Marche viewed that West used "the shallow musical gimmickry of Auto-Tune, a program designed to eliminate individuality, and produced a hauntingly personal album.)
And on “Woods” Vernon was in isolation, still “down on his mind” distilling his feelings into song but obscuring the emotion with auto tune. The effect was something Vernon could hide his vulnerability in. Kanye liked “Woods” so much he featured it on his next album. “Lost In The World” On a track about feeling lost and searching for fulfillment. Again Vernon could relate.
Following his sophomore, Justin needed time to focus on his mental health and wanted to remove himself from the overwhelming attention the new album brought. So he fled to the Greek islands alone in search of himself. But he didn’t find what he was looking for in Greece. Believe it or not, it was Kanye’s words that helped remind Vernon to look after himself.
After hearing what he needed to, Vernon set forward to finish his next album. West recruited Vernon’s voice again for his album Yeezus before the two collaborated with Francis Starlite on the song “Friends." The track used a new voice effect created by Starlite, called the Prismizer. You can hear it’s first use on Chance The Rapper’s Colouring Book Mixtape. Using the Harmony Engine, the plug-in takes a lead vocal and splits it into multiple harmonies, like light through a prism. Francis created a beautiful electronic choir effect that could map vocals to a keyboard and manipulate it with the melody.
Already a fan of auto tune, Vernon wanted to adapt the Prismizer for 22, A Million. But the effect could only be applied after the vocals were recorded. So Vernon and his engineer Chris Messina got to work on creating something that could generate the effect in real time. The final product was the Messina. A combination of hardware and software capable of producing the Prismizer’s effect on the fly.
On 715 Creeks, Justin strips everything down to just his voice and The Messina. And it’s a testament to what Bon Iver does best on this album. And that’s celebrating the human voice.
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Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the videos or music used in this video. They are used for education and discussion purposes.
Kanye, Bon Iver, Francis & The Lights, James Blake, Frank Ocean, Chance. Musical geniuses infuencing one another.
The human voice as the ultimate musical instrument.
Lautaro Zejan Id add Thom Yorke and Destroyer too , even Anohni. Even electronic music artists like Burial has completely changed the landscape of how the voice can be perceived
you mean Travis Scott.
Especially considering that Kanye's badn CRS with Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco was supposed to drop an album in 2010 with only samples from Radiohead and Thom Yorke's solo work, all with his approval.
Take off chance and ur right
Jon Bellion.
This video is everything. I went through a Kanye obsession and a Bon Iver obsession separately. When I found out they were associated my mind blew up.
Dana and the Wolf exactly the same!!!!
ME TOOO
My bob Iver actually led to my Kanye obsession😂
Cool to see a Vero user here
SAME
I was blown away by 22, A million. I still get teary eyes every time i hear 715 Creeks.
22, a million quite literally changed my life
Best album ever
Absolutely, I love all of Bon Iver's music and Kanye's. Just incredible artists
WOW! good job.
lit
The comment is at 69 likes. Please let it stay there. Let's collaborate for this cause people.
I love your videos
BON IVER ¿¿¿ Bone-y-Vair ??? Shiiit, I've been pronouncing it bon-eye-vir > bon, as in bond or ron, eye, vir like fur, or vertical.
It's pronounced "Bon Iver"?? I've been saying "Bon Iver" this whole time
Nah you guys are still saying it wrong. It’s “Bon Iver”
Yes
@@Paradiddles.1 sounds more like "Bon Iver" to me.
I had to Google how to pronounce it and did so.
Raymond Matthew it comes from “bon hiver” which means good winter in French !
funny his new album sounds very inspired by bon iver
seems like they just keep inspiring each other and I'm fine with that
I don’t hear that at all.
Bon Iver secludes himself in the cabin to record his album. Kanye recorded his latest album in Wyoming - one of the most isolated places in the country.
Justin Vernon literally helped write one of the songs so you might want to listen closer
Noah McDaniel Ye is Kanye's most vulnerable album. This is like 808s Part II combined with the craziness of TLOP.
Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago changed my life and their first album got me through the darkest times of my life. Hauntingly Beautiful , Always.
me too bro. sickens me to see him associated with a loser like Kanye
@@mathewpepe3645 racism
Very beautiful breath taking album
Kanye's creativity on MBDTF and YEEZUS is on whole another level. (of course every single album is AMAZING), but these two album means so much to me. Technically, musically, emotionally.
Mitchie Ocean my Kanye’s top 3 with 808’s
MBDTF took Kanye to a whole new level.
Me too, and 808s and heartbreak
Another whole level*
TLOP is his best work, sonically and thematically
22 million is a masterpiece. Very underrated
How'd you figure that? It was widely critically acclaimed!
How is it underrated ? It‘s critically acclaimed.
I wouldn't say "Underrated" but rather "Not talked about enough"
Love it. Can't wait to see what Kanye and Bon Iver do next.
This aged well
@@user-sb8kq8dx6h how so? Because of Kanye's public antics? They can still make music, y'know!
Douglas Gonzalez Exactly because of his public antics. Regardless of whether you do or don’t support his decisions, it’s was quite unexpected for him to appear in the Oval Office conversing about green energy. As for other things he’s done since his actions in the video, you can’t surely believe declaring “Slavery was a choice” was something that would be heard with praise? Of course they can still make music, but Kanye so often uses his life as an inspiration for his music. At what point will people disagree so much with the inspiration that they don’t want to hear the product. Im a firm Kanye Music fan.
Shuffle Quest Justin had a few production credits on Kids see ghost but yeah they always seem to work together.
Sadly, Justin said he doesn't feel comfortable working with Kanye after those recent developments.
I love Kanye West and his legacy even though am not fan of rap/hip-pop, he made me see the world in a better different way. As an Engineer I am forever thankful for Kanye. I always listen and study his works. And 808 & heartbreaks is for me his genius album. Even though all of his works are genius.
Wait till you hear his new album. Mind blown
you should get more into hip hop
As a sound engineer you HAVE to admire Yeezus, I still think it's his overall best album. Definitely right up there w/ 808's + MBDTFantasy.. For whatever reason the album I find myself re-listening to the most seems to be The Life of Pablo, though. IDK, I just love Kanye.
are you still a fan now?
@@isaacjones1211 yes always. I have faith in him.
Kanye West and Justin Vernon are two modern artists that have completely mastered the use, power, and versatility of the human voice. The fact we never got a full collab album from the two of them is so sad.
Whoopidy Scoop Whoop di scoop di poop. whoopidy scoop whoop poop.
That verse though
IKR. On a side note though, could you please make a video list of your album collection and your favorite ones amongst them ? I'd also be pleased to see you review and promote new albums in an 'album of the week' like concept. Love your videos and these channels are my primary sources for new music. Please consider my suggestion, Good luck !
It's so deep
i know people joke about it, but it's obviously deliberate and a critique
Bonity iveroop
You've done the impossible. You've made me appreciate 22, A Million. I'm gonna have to go back and listen to that album again.
Also, your editing skills are quite frankly getting disgustingly good and clever. Stop being perfect please.
LOL thanks Mitto! And please do, it’s a great little collection of sounds.
You definitely should. I've listened to that album at least 10 times. It's actually really technical when you listen to everything.
22 is brilliant. Once you get into it.
It's magic. Please give it another go.
Game Score Fanfare Man, yes, go back and check it out again. From beginning to end 22, A Millions is now and was an instant classic. Right up there with Kid A from Radiohead.
Lost in the world is one of my top 5 favorite Kanye songs.
22 A Million is my favorite album of all time. Saw it live at Coachella last year and it changed my life. Really something new for music
I enjoyed this. I've always wanted to know more about the vocal effects Bon Iver uses (and how they changed from For Emma to 22), but I never took the step to research it myself, so this was useful. I always thought it was weird that these two started making music together as they are very different in style and (from a personality standpoint) bravado, but laying it out like this makes it clear that the way both have always made music-focusing on the voice-is where their common thread lies, and both have pushed each other to find more and more creative ways to utilize that approach.
Cool stuff, man.
Love your editing. Beautiful aesthetics as always
Thank you!
They both inspired each other. Justin Vernon(lead singer/composer in Bon Iver) did a lot of the things kanye does now, way before kanye did. Justin has like 5 bands that do a a bunch of different genres. Kanye West took a lot from Bon Iver and Justin's other band "volcanic chior"
Volcanic Choir lolol
volcano choir didnt exist before 808s
Middle 8 could be the best new music channel
Tommy Flynn LieLikesMusic is a good contender too.
Tommy Flynn 9.3 BNM.
It really is the best
And Deep Cuts and Alfo Media
Are you my Dad?
Thank you for posting this as Bon Iver is one of my favourite artists. Despite being a polarising album I love 22 a million and hearing the songs live is a whole other experience
Yo man,enjoyed this,this was dope!
Glued to the screen as always. Sometime, somewhere, someone is gonna make a videon
on how Middle 8 inspired Lie Likes Music haha. Good to see the collab between you and
Shuffle Quest already. Much love.
It’s rare that i am left speechless by a youtube video and staring at my screen for a minute just thinking. This is just a whole other level of quality, can’t wait to see what you do next x
Was having a conversation with a fellow engineer at chipotle just this afternoon about Vernon’s use of this “prism” effect and we were assimilating it to Francis’ and hypothesizing on how he does it. Then just 5 minutes ago this popped up randomly in my feed. Thank you so much. You’ve answered so many questions. I liked and subscribed because you have done nothing but earn my respect. Keep em coming!
That’s hilarious, glad I could help answer some of those questions. Welcome to the channel!
Middle 8 it’s all so crazy to me because I saw him last October in Asheville, NC, and his head engineer told me that the effect for “woods” and “creeks” is found on ableton. When I tried to pry a little more, he said, “I’m sorry man. I just can’t tell you.” Haha. So... not sure what if he accesses “the macina” through ableton as his daw vehicle of choice or what, but regardless is still funny to me.
Bon Iver is one of my favorite artist, he is so creative. I’ve also admire Kanye’s work, never knew the two worlds were connected.
A lot of “Woods” is also drenched in a vocoder. Not so much auto tune.
Sam STS I love Woods. Such a great track. I think Blood Bank EP is Justin's best work. Those 4 tracks are so dense and heavy. Once you listen to it & close your eyes, you really think like you're alone in the middle of nowhere.
yeah i thought the same
Woods doesn't have a vocoder on it whatsoever. It has justin singing through autotune with a looper.
yeah it's layers of autotune, seems like a vocoder but it's not.
@@AwesomeActivist are you sure... cos this sounds exactly like every vocoder ive ever heard and there is a much more densely occuring sound which is more common with a vocoder because you can play the same note youre singing in multiple voices. also theres is alot less of the emphasis on consonants in words you usually hear with singing, and a big emphasis on vowels which is another very big give away of the use of a vocoder or talk box.
I love how in-depth your videos are!!
This video was AMAZING!!! Thank you so much, I truly enjoyed it
Thanks for watching! Is there another music story you think deserves more attention? Tell me in the comments below.
Dan Auerbach
If you wanna stay in the Justin Vernon rabbit hole you should talk about his, and The National's Aaron Dessner, music festival Eaux Claires. It's in Justin's hometown of Eau Claire, WI. He premiered his last album there in a live performance. This year is it's fourth year of existence and they aren't going to officially announce the lineup. It's a wonderful wonderful experience, I've been going since the beginning, and it more people should know about it.
Thee Oh Sees/Oh Sees/OCS
Middle 8 Lucy Rose please
Middle 8 the last album of The Black Keys!
This! This is exactly the type of content im looking for. Beautiful!
i love how amazingly thorough your vídeos are!
This was eye opening and enlightening. Thank you for making this!
This video is so well made. Hats off.
I feel like I should be paying to watch this video. Its so well done
unbelievable video! 22, a million is probably my favourite album of all time
This was amazing...thank you!
You're videos bring back the goosebumps I get when I listen to the music for the first time, thank you so much for bringing me that feeling back.
This album got me to go back and listen to Bon Iver's previous works with a new ear, and now he's one of my favourite artists. Great video!
Incredible video man, well done
I really like these kind of videos, I always take notes and perfect my ideas. It's very inspiring.
love this, thanks man
keep these vids comin
Love those kinda video, thanks Middle 8 !!!!!!!
Im from Brazil and your channel is awesome! Congrats bro
Thanks!
This is amazing dude
so much more respect for this album thank you!
i love these videos
Really loved this, great video.
Great production on your video, bud.
I've been lucky enough to see both Kanye and Bon Iver live on the Saint Pablo and 22, A Million tours in Edmonton... I can honestly say that although they perform a very different kind of music from each other, they make you feel THE SAME emotion. Its an out of body experience. Both incredible artists.
Justin's "For Emma, Forever ago" was my first love is the world of music, everything he releases is a new way for me to listen to music especially "22, A Million" that is a true masterpiece
Absolutely brilliant video 👌🏻
Your content never fails to impress. Easily one of my favorite channels. Glad to have been here from the beginning!
Thank you 🙏
wow... just found your channel today and i'm obsessed....!!!!
That was an incredible story and a beautiful video telling it.
Thank you for this video, honestly. This album (22 a million) is extremely important to me and I feel you nailed what made it so amazing to me.
This is exactly the video I was looking for. Makes me love and so much more interested in the both of them
This was so beautiful
Loved this. Great work please keep it up. Should have been longer!
Thanks!
Very interesting. Thank you
I love Emma Forever Ago but 22 million was amazing,especially the 2nd part of the album
Agreed ... From 666 to 0000 A Million. Especially 8(circle)
I have been frantically watching this video over and over.. this is truly amazing work. at 3:55, that saxophone is the stuff of dreams and I'm still looking for what song it's from
Excellent video, man. Thanks for the upload!
Thanks! And thanks for watching.
Love the op-1 graphic, very neat
what an amazing video!
Love it!!
Definitely my new favourite channel
Bro! You gave me goosebumps! Great video!
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed!
This was great! I'm writing my dissertation about how 808s & Heartbreak influenced other artists right now, so this was useful insight ;-)
This was awesome! I really enjoyed that. Subbed
Can you do a video on Sufjan Stevens?
But, no.
Sufjan is the beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeest 🎸🎸🎸
would be great
Yes please!
I guess we love the same types 😂
Great video man ! Keep it up ^-^
Great video
Fascinating video! I hope you've got a video on Sufjan Stevens somewhere in the roadmap :)
Nice work on this analysis
Amazing video, glad it popped up on my feed!
Thanks for watching
Dude, fantastic work!
Thanks!
the editing is CRAZYYY man
This video is just great
We need a video on YE this album has so much more to it than meets the eye
I didn't know anything about Bon Iver other than his music. This video just compounds it and makes it even more full of art than before. Love the title, finding your voice, and great video length too.
This is outstanding content - just found you the other day through the Tame Impala vid, watched a couple vids and couldn't sub fast enough.
Thanks and welcome to the channel!
Dope!
I really like these, subscribed
Perfect example of two artists brining out the best in each other
i love bon iver
Hate to be that guy, but I just love Kanye for his sampling and those squeaky voice hits on Good Life is actually an MJ sample. That flip is insane.
Wow, quality of this content is amazing. Keep it up man 👍
well researched. Well done
Great great video man
this is so cool
This is a great video
That was just great :) good work
Thank you
Dude this needs to be way bigger than just this UA-cam channel. Your work is amazing and needs to be documented via an online magazine style platform! So much appreciation for this man!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
Great Video... SUBSCRIBED!!
This is probably going to be my first serious comment thanking a channel for their existence. I only found this video through some Bon Iver listening, and a vague memory on Kanye and Bon Iver working together.
This video has brought me to a deeper understanding of both of their musical styles and an overall greater appreciation of music in general.
Thank you, Middle 8.
Haha, loved the subtle pitch shifting in your voice as well
Your channel is awesome- keep broadening people's exposure and understanding of these artists and the skies the limit
Thank you, will do
Great video. Ive really enjoyed your videos in the past, but usually they’re just summarizations of a bands history. You’ve really nailed it this time by going after a more specific topic. Keep up the good work.
Thanks! And yeah I'm definitely trying to move away from the band summary thing when I can.
Middle 8 great to hear. I think a great topic idea could be one on Danger Mouse and how much he influences the style of artists he works with.