Grizzly Bear

http://www.thedelimagazine.com/covers/1st.jpg

Early Adopter Indie
"These are the newest and coolest products our customers of Indie are buying. This list, updated daily, is based entirely on purchase patterns."

#07 - "Hilary Duff & Friends - Break Away Hits (karaoke)"
#10 - "Sinatra On Sax"
#51 - "Sing The Hits of Ashlee Simpson (karaoke)"
#87 - "Maximum Nickleback"
#96 - "Horn Of Plenty"

Wow.

The whole album is available here:

http://www.grizzly-bear.net/songs/horn%20of%20plenty/

sarah, they are touring soon... feb and march, i think... dates still coming out, apparently... but the ones that are known are up at their site... apparently they sound different live though because they have new members now.

they got reviewed in pitchfork today in a favorable way and got listed on dusted. they're coming to my town soon and for this i am very happy. in the full disclosure area, the singer is my friend which is perhaps somewhat awkward to note given the latter bit of this thread. but they are fully deserving of the attention... anyone feeling this shit yet?

Friday, March 25, 2005; Page WE08

GRIZZLY BEAR "Horn of Plenty"Kanine

While hip-hop, teen-pop and nu-metal battle for the future, a new generation of psychedelic folkies has unexpectedly arisen. From Tokyo to Stockholm to (of course) Brooklyn, N.Y., these troubadours make music that's odd, quiet and sometimes irksomely childlike; they may use electronics, but rely heavily on acoustic guitars and intimate vocals. Although hardly the goofiest of the lot, Grizzly Bear is not unrepresentative.

The 14 tracks on "Horn of Plenty" began as Brooklyn singer-songwriter Edwin Droste's demos and didn't become substantially more ornate once Christopher Bear appended his singing and playing. (Since the album was recorded, multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor has also joined.) Actually, there are many layers to these recordings; they aren't simply unplugged guitar and untempered sincerity. Yet the album's sound is deliberately scruffy, a blend of homemade electronica, languid raga-rock and lots of reverb. With their drowsy melodies, boys' choir harmonies and low-tech effects, such songs as "Showcase" and "Merge" resemble a back-porch jam session's take on "Good Vibrations."

If such comparisons suggest Grizzly Bear is a little precious and more than a little half-baked, that's about right. By the standards of this newly reborn genre, however, "Horn of Plenty" is reasonably focused and unusually tuneful. It's a somewhat vague trip, but not a bad one.

-- Mark Jenkins

Appearing Monday at DC9 with the Chance and Something for Rockets

makes no sense whatsoever

A++++ highly recommended

Man, the acappella version of "Knife" from the kexp compilation is quite astounding.

love that video

I was literally listening to Knife when I came on ILM and this was the top thread.

Freaky.

Been listening to Yellow House a lot lately. Wonderful record.

yes it really is wonderful. the alternate version of "Easier" that they released as a single is much greater than the, already great, original version.

It cracks me up that they played with Something for Rockets.

Schreiber reviewed the new Friend EP today and gave it BNM.

I may have to go pick this up.

good show in ny couple of days ago.nice atmosphere.
good band for watching while seating.

Funny Grizzly Bear(ish) story.

xxxpost i hate when reviewers go through an album song-by-song in a review.

Nice new song played on kcrw.

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/images/2008/06/20/animal_style.jpg

why are they not bad?

Anyone up for a bit of verbal masturbation over the songs they've been previewing recently? "While You Wait for the Others" and "Two Weeks" are far and away the best things I've heard this year. And I second the love for the acapella on the street version of "Knife".

Very nice harmonies, but aside from that, this is another band whose appeal I don't get (aside from the awesome Knife). The new song on their MySpace page -- While You Wait for the Others -- is okay, but indistinct (which is my complaint about most of their songs).

One of the few remaining arguments for paying attention to indie.

seriously brilliant.

I keep hearing "brilliant!" about Grizzy Bear. Maybe they're just not made for my (lol old lol) ears. I'll try listening to the band again.

It's good to listen to them in order, that is start with horn of plenty. First few tracks of Friend EP are probably the best thing they've ever done though. Alligator Choir version esp

I just saw them live, and I'm more impressed with them as a live act than I am with them on record. The harmonies just seemed so much stronger and less buried in the mix. They should really bring them out more on the recordings, because that's their strongest point.

don't you like the ambiguity that it lends?

I saw Grizzy Bear do live backing vocals (of Knife) to a Girl Talk song on Pitchfork.tv recently (I think it happened at last year's Pitchfork festival). Based on that live clip, I think Melissa's OTM.

They sound so fucking great it's near annoying. The Letterman version of Two Weeks sounds a bit muddy though is there a proper take on it anywhere?

xpost, this nearly put me off them

With Daniel: Knife is amazing, nothing else by the band has appealed to me half as much. Think they're better than okay, though.

(Was that faint enough? Is it still coming through?)

I assume all you Knife enthusiasts haven't heard Alligator (choir version) then?

On A Neck, On A Spit is better than Knife, surely?

^this

The new song on their MySpace page -- While You Wait for the Others -- is okay, but indistinct
Madness. The letterman version is what I'm basing my Two Weeks appreciation so can't be that muddy. The harmonies are certainly clear.

On A Neck, On A Spit is better than Knife, surely?

Not to me, but I may be bats--t crazy, I guess. In fact, in ILX talk, Knife >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On A Neck (to me).

blogotheque grizzly bear made me realise this

Knife isn't even in the top tier of the songs on Yellow House.

i think my favourite of theirs is the alternate version of Easier. they are incredible live.

Knife isn't even in the top tier of the songs on Yellow House.

-- jed_, Wednesday, August 6, 2008 12:51 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

In the context of what most closely approximates popping 4 Tylenol PMs, I'd have to agree

The "each day / spend it with me yeah / all my time / spend it with you year" bit was perhaps my favourite thing in all music from 2006 that I heard.

Knife is like a hit but surely there are a lot of other great stuff, it's just not stuff of hits, it's something else. great band

anyone feeling dept. of eagles?

i like it fine. it's no yellow house, but I think it stands on its own just fine. it's more of an exploration of dan's styles, which is cool. i'm really really looking forward to the next grizzly bear album though.

i like the record because it's a sunny pop album that you can listen to as it gets cold without feeling perverse

So apparently they had a guest star or two today.

a grizzly bear?

Is that what they call him these days:

http://twitter.com/skeetonmytwitts/statuses/3653814003

http://twitpic.com/fwg04

I like Maura's take:

http://twitter.com/maura/status/3653827386

Haha. Beardos and Beyonce.

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo don't do it jay

already fucking around w/coldplay but grizzly bear? don't give them any more undeserved legitimacy

Future Jay-Z collaborators: Foghat, Air Supply, They Might Be Giants.

I'm sure there are one or two last remaining mashup artists out there who will oblige you.

Actually Jay-Z/Air Supply has potential.

Oh, never mind.

if only jay-z would consult w/ ilm before deciding which indie rock bands he's supposed to like

No, no; I was just clowning. I like the new Grizzly Bear disc, and the Jay-Z collaboration sounds cool.

So sick of hearing about this mediocre indie dribble.

ya your life must be pretty tough

HAHAHAHA

So sick of hearing about this mediocre indie dribble.

― Spinspin Sugah, Monday, August 31, 2009 2:24 PM

Yeah, because it's not like there are any currently updated threads on the front page about Neil Young, Mariah Carey, Chris Brown, Kraftwerk, Rush, Womack & Womack, Bert Jansch, ZZ Top, James Brown and Terence Trent D'Arby that you could visit instead. ILM = All Grizzly Bear, All The Time!

enthusiasm for what you spontaneously like --> enthusiasm for indie + disdain for what you used to spontaneously like --> disdain for indie + enthusiasm for what you spontaneously like + enthusiasm for obscure/difficult music and pop music --> enthusiasm for what you spontaneously like, conditioned by a deeper appreciation of many genres + disdain for what you genuinely dislike

Spinspin Sugah is probably somewhere in the "disdain for indie + enthusiasm for what you spontaneously like + enthusiasm for obscure/difficult music and pop music" stage.

Anyone heard the version of "While You Wait For The Others" with Michael McDonald on vocals? Fairly WTF.

I was just looking for that. Guess I'll have to wait until I get home to download it from iTunes.

I streamed it from here
http://volume-knob.blogspot.com/2009/08/jay-z-hearts-grizzly-bear.html

this sort of sounds like the band can't count

Excellent, thanks, NN!

Is Michael McDonald really singing about 'the perfect cleft' in that chorus?

wow, I wish Michael McDonald did this more often

oh, I guess I was standing about 15-20 yards away from Jay-Z yesterday, then.

Heard "Two Weeks" on Conan recently and the song is like a jammier version of the Rascals' "Beautiful Morning."

I think that a lot of the Nu-Pagan bearded animal bands sound like the kind of music mid-60s pop bands made around 1968 or 1969, when they were trying to adapt to the hippie-era before their popularity ran dry, and hiring an Eastern guru was a sound business decision. The touchstones seem to be the Hollies' Butterfly, Notorious Byrd Brothers, the Beach Boys' Sunflower et al.

Just got back from seeing them with the london symphony orchestra. Epic amazingness.

Bear's drumming, it never ceases to amaze.

Maybe I had built this up too much in my mind, but i was a little disappointed. It was still very good though. I liked the way that the orchestration added more details to some of the songs, but at times I struggled to hear the orchestra under the band.

Owen, were you there? I thought I saw someone who looked like you.

I think it depends on where people were sitting; i was on front row so got a lot of drums and guitar, but thought maybe further back the mix would be more balanced? Regardless of that they seem to get better every time i see them and the orchestra was a big added bonus

That's probably true. I was at the front last night too. For efterklang I was sat halfway up in the stalls and it sounded a lot better

Yup, I was there. I loved it... the band was in great form.

The problem with band+orchestra style performances is that the audience will tend to expect massive changes and rearranges from all the additional personnel. In cases like Grizzly Bear's, where the band is already so fully formed, there's really no room for all that much orchestral embellishment.

Most of the time, it worked great. Every song had a moment of transcendence... "Foreground" and "Ready, Able" especially were pretty special.

the latest album is my least favorite of their releases, I think, or at least, the one that sticks in my mind the least.

did they do little brother, owen?

i could imagine them drawing out foreground quite a bit with the help of an orchestra. it's so full of space, and that rare type of melody you can just play forever.

i still love veckatimest, but i'm starting to wonder if it actually is better than yellow house or horn of plenty. i really like the idea of a more compact and precise grizzly bear, but they've maybe lost too much of their glowing, silverey atmosphere to the cause. i suspect their next album will take a half-step back towards their earlier strengths. or they could do something totally different that they've never done before, which so far seems to be the their game plan.

Never listened to Friend before -- cover of He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss) is fantastic.

this is a good grizz sounding record that's better than actual grizz records (& it's prod by one of the grizz dudes)

http://www.seizurechicken.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/bigecho.jpg

even tho it's a pretty airy record it feels less hollow to me than grizz's songs -- also prob part of it has to do with hype (sorry), like i can meet morning benders on a "this is a cool, mellow, sunshiney record with good singing and some nice arrangements" & leave it at that where with grizz i'm like "what do people here in this? i guess it's okay but... what?" and i kind of reject it & move on to something else cuz i don't see myself ever meeting it on that level

ppl should listen to this morning benders thing tho

hear* obv

also i listened to this cuz whiney gave it a 7 on twitter, so big ups

Whiney gave an indie record a decent score?

heard parts of this on YouTube or whatever -- didn't see the big deal. i should probably seek some of their stuff out in a higher-quality format

i made this thread, The Morning Benders - Big Echo but it seems no one on ILM really was interested,

this album is pretty good thou.

i mean, it's not a "big deal" so to speak -- even by pfork standards it's pretty much this year's cymbals eat guitars or whatever -- but it's just a nice palette cleanser sort of thing -- pleasant throwback beach rock -- would make good background music if you were reading outside

yeah, that's sort of how i felt about whatever i heard. not that it was awful, but i could more or less take it or leave it

is there a thread where we talk about Cant (Chris Taylor's solo project)? Dreams Come True, 2011, is pretty great and not very grizzly bearish, more like sadsack R&B-influenced lo-fi electronic music.

I mentioned it somewhere once but. Don't think anyone else joined in.

Cant's live show was/is really, really amazing.

So Painted Ruins is wonderful.

well this is hilarious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPI7oU-fuGw

holy shit

One of my favorite anecdotes from peak Brooklyn indie rock came from a video interview with Holy Ghost, where they talk about having lunch with one of the Grizzly Bear dudes. They tell them about their new song with Michael McDonald, and GB are like, "Wait no, we have a new song with Michael McDonald."

hahaha

Honestly never think about this band that often, so I suppose no surprise that I *was* surprised that it's been four and a half years since the last one, and also that I guess Ed Droste left the band last year. Covid time simultaneously flies fast and slow in both directions.

enjoying this
https://danielrossen.bandcamp.com/album/you-belong-there

Gigs this autumn in the US.

They sound incredible on this tour, every member is so good at what they do.

what's the feel that they'll do another album