Tastemaking With Bryan and Chris part 1 section B

Tastemaking with Bryan and Chris allows us to banter, chit chat and discuss, well, taste, music that may or may not have already been tasted. This time around we chat about Grizzly Bear's new track from their upcoming album, "two weeks" (link in previous post) that was performed on letterman the wednesday of 23rd. 

Bryan:

I love this song. This plus 'While You Wait for the Others' is making Grizzly Bear's forthcoming album my most anticipated release of 2009. So what kinds of stuff are they doing here...what direction are they going in and how are they evolving? If Yellow House was an exploration into acoustic psych-folk and Firend EP was their electric response to that, this is different altogether. By scrapping guitars entirely on this track it seems they're moving more towards the psych/dream pop side of their sound and continue their journey farther and farther away from folk music. Songs like this make me latch onto that Zombies comparison even more. (I also appreciate the male-version-of-the-Ronnettes analogy as well).

'Two Weeks' and 'While You Wait for the Others' seems to be united in their generally more upbeat sound...less dark and mysterious (aside from the verses of WYWFTO) and more soulful and joyful. I've been making a mental comparison between Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear of late, and I would say that if Fleet Foxes were doing their best CSNY impression on their record, grizzly bear are moving towards a brighter and sunnier 60's psych-rock sound a la Odyssey and Oracle. Which is fine by me. Because really, they retain something incredibly distinctive here. This still sounds exactly like Grizzly Bear even without the presence of a single guitar (something i would have though to be very difficult). Instead we are reminded that what makes them so unique are their general use of reverb, their beautiful and original voices, and Chris Bear's great drumming. That drumming really ties it all together...bringing in the remnants of that 'freak folk' sound that they used to be described as, while also incorporating his trademark loose playing----clearly influenced by jazz music. It's like Elvin Jones meets Panda Bear. Ultimately, it's class, creative, intricate.....and yet sounds so easy and loose. Great stuff that continues to feed into my not-entirely-solidified opinion that Chris Bear is in fact the best contemporary drummer in indie rock. 

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in other news, Hamilton's young rival covered my favorite beach house track, master of none and made it a song for waking up not drifting towards sleep.