Justin Vernon - Hazelton [2006]

Boy, I have not posted here in a long time. I have been insanely busy with my review blog, Curse of the Great White Elephant, as well as my job... such as it is. Anyway, I hope to post more often here, since Persona is my homeboy and I like his blog. I promise to post lots of shitty obscure Death Metal from the 90's and even shittier Incantation worship bands in the near future. But for today, I have something different and exponentially better.

For the uninformed, this album cover gives off a total chubby white nerd-rapper vibe. Thankfully, this is not a collection of Nintendocore beats and Yoda raps(fucking white boy rap, am I right?), but instead the solo work of American Folk Singer-Songwriter/Kanye West homeboy Justin Vernon. Vernon is best known as the vocalist/egotistical spotlight hog of Bon Iver, who suddenly got all popular and shit(what's with that?) Vernon has made a very impressive musical career by piggy-backing even more talented musicians and songwriters to newer heights of glory and popularity. Starting with Mt. Vernon, a band comprised of probably the most talented teenagers in history, then moving on to the Cook brothers in deYarmored Edison, before standing on the shoulders of Sean Carey and co. of Bon Iver to become a superstar of Indie hipsterfags.

The thing is, Vernon might be an egotistical dude who uses those around him and absorbs all the praise and spotlight, but he really is one fuckall of a songwriter. Hazelton is one of two albums Vernon has done under his own name, writing all the material. And it is by far the best thing he has ever done, period. Better than Bon Iver, better than Volcano Choir, better than all of it. Hazelton's is so brilliant, it is closer to an experience than a mere musical album.

A free-flowing, basically genreless piece of low-fi pathos, Hazelton is by far the wettest, most heart crushingly sad album I have ever heard. Yet what makes it stand out and above most sad Folk music is how uplifting it becomes, how it forces you to let go. When Vernon, backed by a full forced male gang vocal, screams a whisper for you to "lay down your end, " you are ready to give into the fullness and truth of his words. This is the kind of music that changes your perspective on the world around you, not merely color it. Basically, not to be missed by any music fan.

Next time, I swear I will give you some shitty Incantation worship.

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