Justin Vernon, massaging his neck.

Well, we’re going to drop all pretense and officially dub this week “BON IVER WEEK.” Damn, there’s a lot of buzz around Mr. Justin Vernon’s band’s new album – Bon Iver, Bon Iver – to be released on Tuesday. Some highlights:

Pitchfork Likes It

Today, notoriously finicky and absolutely massive music review website Pitchfork has given the new album an astounding 9.5, which, for Pitchfrok, is akin to saying it was produced by Jesus Christ Himself (who also played drums on a few tracks). Not to be outdone, Volume One Magazine has given the album a 9.5.9.

Tonight: Colbert Report

Tonight (June 20) Comedy Central’s faux news/real comedy show The Colbert Report will have Bon Iver as a guest, kicking off a week of rare musical guests of which the show rarely has, rarely ever. (11:30PM EST/10:30PM CST)

Tuesday Night: Jimmy Fallon

Tomorrow night, Justin Vernon will be returning to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as the musical guest, barely a month after appearing with Phil Cook for an interview and a Bonnie Raitt cover. This time, it appears the entire Bon Iver ensemble will perform. (11:30-ish for Chippewa Valley viewers)

Monday Night: Revival Records

Tonight around midnight, Revival Records (418 S. Barstow St., downtown Eau Claire) will host a listening party, and on Tuesday, they’ll be selling the album with a cool promotion for the Feed My People food bank. Details here.

Tuesday: Local Store Listening Party

You can check out all the stuff Volume One’s Local Store (17 S. Barstow Street) will be doing on the record’s release day right here – besides playing the album all day, we’ll have exclusive posters and bonus CDS (free for the early birds), special sales and even soul-quenching Bon Iver bars. We’ll even throw up the ol’ webcam so you can watch from home.

Wednesday: Justin Vernon Interview

Volume One’s crowdsourced interview with Justin Vernon will be in Volume One Issue #180 and online Wednesday – Justin sat down to answer a ton of the questions you all asked through Facebook, Twitter and VolumeOne.org – see if he answered yours!

All Week Long

The Local Store (17 S. Barstow Street) will offer the CD and vinyl on sale – all week long!

Weekend: Near Galaxy Exploration

By Friday night, scientists estimate that the tremendous buzz around Bon Iver, Bon Iver will have easily propelled Justin Vernon beyond to confines of our galaxy and well into the nearby Andromeda Galaxy. Since he’s such a nice guy, Vernon has agreed to email some pictures from his iPhone to NASA.