#1 Album of 2009

January 16, 2010

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest [Warp; released 5/26/2009]

“While you wait for the others to make it all worthwhile, all your useless pretensions are weighing on my time.”

“While You Wait For The Others”

Much of the year’s best releases owe their success to a new found accessibility in the music, and no band refined their sound more from a previous release than Brooklyn’s (where else?) Grizzly Bear, whose 3rd album Veckatimest makes it to the top of my list as the best album of 2009.  It wasn’t as if 2006’s Yellow House was a bad album, but it did peg Grizzly Bear as a ambient and boring band whose music didn’t really go anywhere, save for a couple excellent exceptions.  However, the songs on Veckatimest don’t meander nearly as much and contain actual, honest to God, melodies.  Grizzly Bear still retains their atmospheric tendencies and signature harmonies that characterized Yellow House, but the the songs are more traditional and much more memorable and strike a perfect balance between their experimental ambitions and straightforward pop to create an absolutely triumphant album.

You don’t have to look any further to find what Veckatimest does so well than the two opening tracks “Southern Point” and my song of the year “Two Weeks” which are rivaled only by the openers on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix as the best one-two opening punch of any album this year. “Southern Point” is the psych-folk opener led by Daniel Rossen that introduces the album in a way that almost seems like an appetizer for 11 tracks that follow.  It leads into “Two Weeks” which is as standard of a pop song Grizzly Bear has ever written.  An instantly memorable piano hook backs the entire song which is carried by glorious harmonies thanks in part to guest vocals from Beach House’s Victoria Legrand.  From there the album wonders back and forth from orchestral tunes to other examples of sophisticated pop such as “Cheerleader” and “While You Wait For The Others”.  Veckatimest is a meticulously crafted record in every sense, from its production to superb songwriting.  It’s an album that many bands in similar boats as Grizzly Bear have probably tried to create, but not every band has the dedication and better yet, ability, to be able to create something so majestic.

[“Two Weeks” – Veckatimest]

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Mid-2009 Music Awards

July 6, 2009

A little something I like to do every year is dole out some awards for the music up to the halfway point of the year.  Nothing too detailed, just a little summary.  As usual for all my lists, the only albums I’m including are albums that I own and are currently in my itunes library.  And of course all this can change as I listen to albums more, but this is what I’m feeling so far for 2009.  Enjoy!

Animal Collective

Animal Collective

Best, let’s say, 7 Albums (in order of release date):

Antony & the Johnsons – The Crying Light

  • It’s a beautiful and affecting listen, which was to be expected from Antony Hegarty.  It was the first great release of the year and has stuck around to now.  I already mentioned in my 1st quarter of ’09 wrap-up…nothing more to add to that really.

[“Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground – The Crying Light]

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

[“My Girls” – Merriweather Post Pavilion]

The Antlers – Hospice

  • Once again, check my 1Q of ’09 post that mentions this release as well.  People are starting to pick up on its brilliance but it will surely gain even more of a following once Frenchkiss reissiues it this August.

[“Two” – Hospice]

Passion Pit – Manners

  • A very fun listen and impressive full-length debut from the Boston, Mass band that I already featured in my review here.

[“Little Secrets” – Manners]

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

[“1901” – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

  • About as perfect as an album gets.  The review goes into more detail.

[“Two Weeks” – Veckatimest]

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

  • The only album of these 7 that I haven’t mentioned on the blog yet.  The first 6 songs are hard to top.  Longstreth tones down the weird just a bit, and it gets album of the year hype…go figure.

[“Stillness is the Move” – Bitte Orca]

Most Overrated:

Japandroids – Post-Nothing

  • It’s a fun, rockin’ little album, but the 4th best reviewed release of the year?!…come on!

[“Young Hearts Spark Fire” – Post-Nothing]

Most Underrated:

Loney, Dear – Dear John

  • One of my most listened to albums so far this year.  It doesn’t deserve any album of the year or even top 10 talk, but I think it deserves more attention than it’s getting.

[“Airport Surroundings” – Dear John]

Biggest Disappointment:

The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha

  • They left behind their melodic pop hooks that made Peregrine so good, and went back to their post-rock instrumental days with bland results.  Best description I’ve heard was that it’s like Explosions in the Sky tried to make an Appleseed Cast album…not what I was hoping for.

[“The Summer Before” – Sagarmatha]

Biggest Surprise:

Maria Taylor – LadyLuck

  • Already mentioned this one here, but the more I thought about it, the more I concluded that it probably is my biggest surprise of the year.

[Time Lapse Lifeline – LadyLuck]

Need to give more listens:

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains

  • I just haven’t put enough time into this one to get a reading on it.  Some of it has some early Built to Spill indie feel to it, which deserves my attention.

[“Indiana” – Why There Are Mountains]

Notable albums I still need to get:

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

St. Vincent – Actor

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Posted by Hawkins

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

June 16, 2009

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As far as I’m concerned, 2006’s Yellow House was a decent album, with a few songs, most notably “Knife” and “On a Neck, on a Spit”, that blew the listener away and at least put Grizzly Bear on the map. But, for me, it was a bit overrated as the album was devoid of many memorable moments and was, well, boring. A beautiful album yes, and it was certainly evident that there was something there that hinted at Grizzly Bear’s talent and potential, but as a whole, I put the album on the back burner and never really felt a need to come back to it. Enter In Ear Park, the 2008 release from Grizzly Bear’s sister band Department of Eagles. Led by Daniel Rossen and featuring 2 other Grizzly Bear members, I surprisingly felt a much greater connection with this release and considered it one of the best albums of the year, just barely missing out on my top 10. There were elements on this release that I felt could benefit Grizzly Bear, but who knew if that would ever happen, so in essence, I became a fan of Department of Eagles more so than of Grizzly Bear.

I didn’t pay any attention to Grizzly Bear news, including their Friend EP release in 2007, but knew they had a new full-length album in the works for 2009 and was sure I would at least give it a listen. My first sense of excitement surrounding the new release was hearing “Deep Blue Sea” on the Dark Was the Night compilation (also featured on the Friend EP as a Dan Rossen home recording) and noticing hints of what I hoped Grizzly Bear could become and despite the fact that “Deep Blue Sea” would not be featured on the new album, the hype for Veckatimest continued to grow. The album leaked in early 2009 to horrible quality, but continued to generate buzz. So here we are, three years after Yellow House and with a fantastic side project release in between, Veckatimest finally has its day, and alas, the foundation laid by Yellow House has been built upon to create an epic release, easily Grizzly Bear’s masterpiece, that is sure to go down as one of the year’s best and the album that takes Grizzly Bear to a new level.

Click to read the rest of the review >>

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Posted by Hawkins