Top Ten Songs On Elbo.Ws Reviewed In 50 Words or Less: 03/15/09--03/31/09

My concession to April fools is that this list consists of 11 tracks, and not ten. That's how awesome I've become in my late 20s. With that, have at!

1. Grizzly Bear - "Cheerleader"

Download: Grizzly Bear - "Cheerleader"

After a rhythmical, bluesy beginning, Grizzly Bear forge the baroque elements of their musical persona (mellotron, youth choir, torrents of harmonies) into a mash of modern psychedelia and soul. The pleasure lies more in discovering the creatively arranged harmonic layers rather than in the ultimate song destination (fancy talk for an anti-climatic end).

Grade: B+

2. Bill Callahan - "Eid Ma Clack Shaw"

Download: Bill Callahan - "Eid Ma Clack Shaw"

"Love is the king of the beasts/and when it gets hungry/it must kill to eat." Wow. Lyrically, If Callahan = Richard Thompson as a troubled, sing-speaky troubadour with a Beatles-esque sense of melody and Newsom = Linda, then fans of everywhere can rejoice. Wait a minute, that's kind of sick.

Grade: B

3. Harlem Shakes - "Strictly Game"

Download: Harlem Shakes - "Strictly Game"

It's been said before, and it'll be said it again: "Strictly Game" is the track that Gen Y will listen to after they lose their jobs, and it will be this song's exhilarating, but subtle, blend of pops electro, afro and indie that will lift their spirits throughout the recession.

Grade: A

4. Voxtrot - "Trepanation Party"

Download: Voxtrot - "Trepanation Party"

The Austin-based blog-poppers add some synth-goth minimalism and new wave doom-and-gloom to their effervescent brand of melodic rock. If Death Cab for Cutie wrote a rap song (or at least a song with a more rhythmic vocal), it might sound like this. Nothing to drill a hole into your head about, but a solid change in direction all the same.

Grade: B

5. Passion Pit - "The Reeling"

*MP3: Passion Pit - "The Reeling"

Suitable for a laptop discotheque, the dormroom-born electro-pop quintet throws a bevy of post-pro tricks (synths, The Go! Team-style chants, airy vocals and snare-hi-hat hits) up the flagpole of dance and disco to see who salutes. Upbeat, but strangely inert.

Grade: C

6. The Felice Brothers - "Run Chicken Run"

Download: The Felice Brothers - "Run Chicken Run"

The first and probably only hoedown to appear on the Elbo.ws charts. The sub-Dylan/Westerberg-isms (smoky, throaty vocals, ramshackle rock tempo and arrangements) are catchy, but commonplace. "Chickens don't get no life after death." So true. But hey, chickens are good people. At least they don't beat the shit out of their hens.

Grade: C

7. CFCF - "You Hear Colours"

Download: CFCF - "You Hear Colours"

Booming drum sounds give way to a keyboard line somewhere between Mark Snow and Harold Faltermeyer, along with a clear, ringing splash of guitar for texture, make for a cool, but somewhat detached, instrumental track.

Grade: B-

8. The Virgins - "Rich Girls (Le Castle Vania's Spring Break No Parents Remix)"

Download: The Virgins - "Rich Girls (Le Castle Vania's Spring Break No Parents Remix)"

The new wave of neo-post-punk arrived with the original, but this remix brings out the funk and rollerdisco inherent in the song, with solid, head-bopping results

Grade: B

9. The Prodigy - "Take Me To The Hospital (Hostage Remix)"

Download: The Prodigy - "Take Me To The Hospital (Hostage Remix)"

Techno remix of the 90s breakbeaters song straightens things out a bit beat-wise while retaining some of the original's nasty loops. The Prodigy's more syncopated rhythms are more intriguing on the whole, the remix as a simple, visceral appeal set to get movers on the dancefloor.

Grade: B-

10. The Decemberists - "The Rake's Song"

Download: The Decemberists - "The Rake's Song"

A macabre tale of familial murder, The Decemberists take a menacing two-chord vamp, and spin it into a darkly funny dirge with an unrepentant narrator. The shift from prog-rock majesty to hard-rock muscle doesn't quite suit the band's past strengths, but "Rake" is good for a wry laugh.

Grade: B

11. The Mary Onettes - "Dare"

Download: The Mary Onettes - "Dare"

I have absolutely no problem with this C86/Smiths revivalism that's going on right now, just as long as it keeps producing songs as singularly great as this one. The pains of being pure of heart have once again been transformed into beautiful pop catharsis.

Grade: A

Cross-published on CIMI

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

*MP3: Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

Grizzly Bear are making plans to change the musical world. "Veckatimest" will be out on May 26 via Warp Records.

MySpace

(Ian Anderson)

Into the Anachronistic

*MP3: Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"
*MP3: Chuck Berry - "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
*MP3: Van Morrison - "Sweet Thing"

In the recent promo run for his Astral Weeks concerts, Van Morrison sliced into the American pop rock equation in an issue of The New Yorker by audaciously suggesting that music existed before 1960, taking issue with the term “pre-Beatles,” calling it a “meaningless” product of American ignorance, and claiming the superior music knowledge of a nebulous Anglo-Gaelic “we.” Morrison is, of course, being Morrison, but there's a funny game to be played here.

He no doubt refers partially to the folk birthright of his Gaelic ancestors, a reference which he is fully right in making (Fleet Foxes might owe more to the Renaissance than they do the Blue Ridge Mountains). He also talks reverently of his adoration for rock and roll's originators, all of whom were American and were well-known to Americans in their time. He takes Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley for his countrymen, while unceremoniously dumping the “peripheral” Beatles on a delusional America.

The switch is humorously pompous, and again, Morrison is using his mystic persona to spout bullshit, but there is some confused truth to his words. The strands of influence in modern music have been tied in knots, but some clear strands remain, and ADD hipsterism would do well to pick up the ancient threads of the current folk revival. Besides, we still have Grizzly Bear to make all the Beatles-chained melodies we could possibly want, and Rolling Stone and Pitchfork Media to mistakenly attribute every one.

And Van? He can't be bothered with new bands. “Why do I need to keep finding new bands when I have the originals?” How dare he.

(Erik Martz)

Grizzly Bear Announce Tour Dates

*MP3: Grizzly Bear - "Ready, Able"

The might Grizzly Bear have announced May-June tour dates with a Mpls show at the Cedar.

5/24 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
5/25 George, WA @ Sasquatch Festival
5/26 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore
5/28 NYC @ Town Hall
5/29 NYC @ Town Hall
6/01 Washington DC @ 930 Club
6/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
6/03 Boston, MA @ Berkley Performance Center
6/04 Montreal, QUE @ Le National
6/05 Toronto ON @ Phoenix
6/07 Mpls, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
6/08 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
6/09 Bloomington, IN @ Buskirk- Chumley
6/11 Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle
6/12 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
6/13 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle (With TV On The Radio)
6/15 Dallas, TX @ Grenada
6/16 Austin, TX @ The Parish
6/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern
6/20- Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern
6/21 San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
6/22- San Francisco @ Fillmore

(MySpace)

New Music: Grizzly Bear - "Ready, Able"

*MP3: Grizzly Bear - "Ready, Able" (MP3 Removed by Request of the Label)

Grizzly Bear has leaked a new track entitled "Ready, Able" off of their forthcoming "Veckatimest," due out in April. It is awesome.

(MySpace)

Grizzly Bear - "Veckatimest"

*MP3: Grizzly Bear - "Graceland" (Paul Simon Cover)

A beautiful album cover. Can't wait.

(MySpace)

Grizzly Bear, Wilco Debut New Material At Lollapalooza 2008

(Wilco - "One Wing" - Live at Lollapalooza 2008)

Despite the fact that its in my backyard, I opted not to attended Lollapalooza this year, due to high ticket prices and the fact that I'd seen most of the main acts at Lollapalooza 2006. But, the more and more videos I see from the Midwest destination fest being upload, the more I start to question the wisdom of that decision (and then I remember: oh yeah, when was the last time I had 200 bones to spare?).

Still, the people who did go--and there were a lot of them--got to see (rather, are seeing) some amazing things. Two of the more noteworthy sights were new songs debuted by both Grizzly Bear and Wilco. Stereogum had the scoop on them both. "One Wing", Wilco's new song described by S-Gum as a "meandering rocker with a triple axe-explosion" (wasn't that "Impossible Germany?"), was
premiered by the site. As far as Grizzly Bear is concerned, the already leaked "Two Weeks" was amongst four new songs played the group. Again, Stereogum's got the scoop, and you can read about it here.

As for the rest of the fest, here are some notable clips I found. Obvious, video and audio quality vary:


(Radiohead - "Everything In Its Right Place/Fake Plastic Trees")


(Rage Against The Machine - "Testify")


(Rage Against The Machine - Zack De la Rocha's Rant during "Wake Up")


(The Cool Kids - "Don't Trip")


(Bloc Party - "Banquet")


(Duffy - "Warwick Avenue")


(Lupe Fiasco - "Intro/Kick Push")


(CSS - "Left Behind")

More here. And, undoubtedly, more to come.

(Jonathan Graef)