Is it just me, or does the dollop of Best New Music stew that Pitchfork’s Paul Thompson ladled out to Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest today read less like a rave and more like a justification: “Sure, they seem kinda boring (and they def. need to quit it with the microphoblogging), but you should see them live! They try really hard! HARMONIES, OK!” It’s like Danny Gokey’s “A for effort” after The Scream, only with a Chinese Democracy reference in the opening paragraph and more references to being “fascinated.” Props to the guy in the MBV comments for calling the nine point oh score in that site’s predictatron game, btw. [Pitchfork]
May 26th, 2009 // 12 Comments
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When an album is as hyped at Veckatimest, I’d hope it does something epic. I think I read a review that stated it had epic subtlety or some similar way of describing mundane attributes as revolutionary. Don’t get me wrong, I really like what I’ve heard, but I’d much rather have Titus Andronicus change what the kids tell me is ‘indie rock’ than Grizzly Bear.
I support this post.
If this was marketed differently, this music would be PERFECT for the Lite-FM stations around the country.
@2ironic4u: “Your station at work (if you’re employed in a knowledge-worker capacity)”
“microphoblogging”? Really?
@mishaps: “Lord knows I could go my whole life never reading another Ed Droste Tweet about pho or seeing Chris Taylor use a neti pot.”
I think Grizzly Bear’s pretty alright, but what excites me about their success is the same thing Paul Thompson wrote about: it runs completely contrary to half of the dashed-off crap like Vivian Girls and Wavves that Pitchfork itself promotes. As I get older, I tend to prefer artists that sound like they give a damn about what they put out. Also, I like to see a fairly subtle orchestral pop band get successful.
It’s a great album. Someone will always be disappointed if you call it epic.
As far as it being “PERFECT for the Lite-FM stations around the country”. That’s a bit ridiculous. They’re not Coldplay… or at least not yet anyway.
@grackel: No, but if their music took on a more pop-like approach, than they would be a perfect fit. There’s nothing unlistenable about them and I guarantee you that if you play them to anyone who doesn’t follow the “blog community”, they will enjoy them. For example, if I played them to my 55-year-old Aunt, she’d probably say “wow, that sounds really pretty.” The same cannot be said for other blog favorites (Animal Collective, Crystal Castles, Cut Copy, etc.)
@Maura: I’m pretty sure that, even if radio as we know it dissolves, 106.7 Lite-FM will STILL be around and operating just as it is today.
@2ironic4u: Maybe. I try that stuff with my parents all the time and it rarely works out. We say that because, to us, music like GBear and FFoxes feels very smooth and listenable, but we are still filtering it through our “indie” frame of reference. Compared to Animal Collective and stuff, sure it’s very easy to take, but I don’t think it’d ever generate mass appeal. There are some weird chords and production choices on Veckatimest that are still pretty far from Lite FM.
@Lucas Jensen: Fair enough. It still might be a good cure for insomnia though?