Monday, June 26, 2006

Scary, Lonesome and Good.

There are a bundle of reasons that you might instantly like GRIZZLY BEAR:

- the initials of their debut album spells "hop". (Horn of Plenty)

- their myspace page tagline is "yay".

- their amazingly creative drummer is sweet as your favourite sweets...coincidentally his surname is Bear.

The band played West Germany a little while ago, in the middle of an exhibition that was on there of music poster art. Bright, colourdy posters from all your favourite bands adorned every inch of wallspace, and WG was transformed from a dingy doctors office to a bright and colourful er, doctor's office. Seeing their live show was my first experience of the band, and I was incited to go by the cute photo that popped up in the Exberliner, the four members of GRIZZLY BEAR lying in a field of daisies. I guess the line-up has evolved as they were a five piece that night, anyway they seem to be a bunch of extremely talented young musicians.

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Unseen in that picture is the member of the band who crouched in the corner totally engrossed in several different instruments.

clarinet,
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mini keyboard,
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headphones,
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Schoolboy chubby cheeks, rumpled shirt, heartfelt playing. Bless his little heart. He likes Ariel Pink.

the daddy of Warp records, Steve Beckett, said recently in the new issue of the electronic beats magazine:
"Probably the most exciting [release]

is our new band
Grizzly Bear from Brooklyn,
who sound like the Beach Boys being eaten alive by an animal collective."


More about the drummer:

The opposite of the beats he masters, he is softly spoken and polite. He's played since he was really little. He doesnt use floor toms. Sometimes he plays with his hands. (sorry i dont have a shot of that...)

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The band are keeping a fun tour diary that is handsomely bejewelled with MP3's. Apparently on their date in Hamburg, the band played an early show to accomodate (crazy german) people who regularly watched a crime show on tv there. The same night Final Fantasy joined the band onstage for some impromptu collabo. Its a fun blog. Read!

GRIZZLY BEAR. Definitely yay.

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