Grizzly Bear

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.

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