I read the article some days ago, and I thought it was pretty favorable to them.

Guess I have to re-read it to make sure.

EDIT: I stand by what I said.

RE-EDIT: meh. like a lot of NY Times reviews, it's a roller coaster.

Originally Posted by whiterussian

I read the article some days ago, and I thought it was pretty favorable to them.

Guess I have to re-read it to make sure.

EDIT: I stand by what I said.

"Grizzly Bear’s songs rev without going anywhere."

"There is a nearly suffocating fussiness in this band."

"Rhythm is a frozen concern here, several orders less important than harmony."

"he, like the rest of the band, has almost zero body language"

"I left Town Hall grinding my teeth."


I think there were some positive statements, but these were not.

I thought it was well written as a review. I still need to give this album some more listens before I form a solid opinion on it.

What did he expect from Grizzly Bear? A Kiss-esq concert? You would assume you knew what you were getting into by their music.

Originally Posted by Steve Henderson

"Grizzly Bear’s songs rev without going anywhere."

This is bad, the rest sounds more like a description, not exactly negative or positive, to me.
Except:

Originally Posted by Steve Henderson

"I left Town Hall grinding my teeth."

Which I sincerely thought initially to mean something else.

It does seem a bit exaggerated, from someone who just said good stuff too.

Who the hell are they?

Originally Posted by whiterussian

This is bad, the rest sounds more like a description, not exactly negative or positive, to me.
Except:

Which I sincerely thought initially to mean something else.

It does seem a bit exaggerated, from someone who just said good stuff too.

I agree...there is a hell of a lot of contradiction in there. I can see both sides.

if he's calling out grizzly bear for being a bit pretentious (which, i think he is a little bit?) then fuck this review, because it's pretentious as shit. the language is so flowery without going anywhere, which is exactly what he says about the songs on Veckatimest. it's disguised as a very well written review, but i just can't tell what he means. he got no point across throughout the entire thing.

The vibe I get here is that he wasn't overly impressed but there were some good qualities. It's just weird to read because Vecktamist is being jocked like Merriweather Post Pavilion was.

I saw Grizzly Bear open for Radiohead and it was definitely cool, but I feel like they will never be a huge venue band.

Originally Posted by Charles777

Who the hell are they?

Huh?

Originally Posted by Steve Henderson

"Grizzly Bear’s songs rev without going anywhere."

"There is a nearly suffocating fussiness in this band."

"Rhythm is a frozen concern here, several orders less important than harmony."

"he, like the rest of the band, has almost zero body language"

"I left Town Hall grinding my teeth."


I think there were some positive statements, but these were not.

Seen this band a few times, and while I enjoy their music, these lines pretty much sum up their live show to me (which has always been a bit dry and boring from my experience). The "zero body language" especially rings true...these guys don't move around at all.

Originally Posted by poppa Q

Huh?

This is the first time I've heard anything about this band. These things tend to sneak up on me.

Grizzly Bear is the ultimate in boring white people music.

So he picked out a few things he didn't like and mixed them in with the things he did like...that's called a review. Nobody's perfect, every band is going to do some things you don't like in their live show. This guy, however, seemed to enjoy himself, despite a few flaws in the performance.