Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

Rating - 8.3

       So I, like most indie-enthusiasts, have been listening to this album for well over a month in some shape or another despite it's actual release date being this past Tuesday. Before this album, I  had a passing farmiliarity with Grizzly Bear. I'd heard "Knife" and a few other tracks from 2006's Yellow House, I knew of their close association with one of my favorite band's Animal Collective (a connection I still don't understand, is Grizzly Bear Panda Bear's cousin or something?), and I was for a short time obsessed with their Dark Was The Night and Friends EP track "Deep Blue Sea."

       But with Veckatimest they've come to occupy a place very different from all of those previous impressions, one less like their brethren Collective and more like the texture-pop of Yeasayer or Bon Iver's louder side. And more than a sonic connection to those acts, there is a unified feeling of purpose, a sense of meticulous production, intense soundscaping, and an end product that is extremely refined. The arrangements are interesting most of the time, with the baroque-meets-Stravinsky string section becoming an integral part of this album. Ed Droste's vocals float in a lazy fashion, which sounds great atop the rhythmic punches of the arrangements.

       For all it's perfections, though, Veckatimest still sounds a bit stale, particularly in it's middle third, with the band settling comfortably into a steady motion. This may be an unfortunate result of the excellence of the openers and closers of this album, but somewhere around "Cheerleader" through "About Face" its B-side at best. I've listened to this album more than any other over the past month, yet I still feel like I don't get it. If this is the best album of the year (as so many have claimed) it certainly doesn't feel like it. There are a couple things about Grizzly Bear and Veckatimest that I do get:

1. "Two Weeks" is the shit! The great video that came out last week was icing on the cake for this track, as it balances spritely piano against vibrant harmonies with a perfect pace.

2. Veckatimest Island is an uninhabited island off of the Massachusetts coast. Thanks for the geography lesson, guys.

       But thats about it. And maybe that's what this album is meant to be: A Mystery. Like the Free Jazz pioneers (Coleman, Ayler) that Grizzly Bear takes so much influence from, Veckatimest may make more sense in a few years. Of course, by then, they'll be releasing a Ghettotech album sung in Esperanto....

Graduation Mix!

Well, all my friends here at SUNY Oneonta are getting a bit too sentimental over our impending graduation. Admittedly, the idea of no longer getting to stay out late, sleep in, and lead a mostly privileged life of relaxation has got me reminiscing about the good times that made up my four years here. Between playing a season with the school soccer team, studying abroad in Rome for a semester, and playing a ton of shows (mostly solo, though last weekend's send-off with Simone Felice and a stripped down set at Bluefields Cafe on saturday night were the two most enjoyable shows I've ever played) I created a college experience that was a little atypical from the rest. But what is the typical college experience? Asher Roth stereotyped the hell out of it, but maybe he wasn't too far off. We grow up in a culture that glorifies the non-educational elements of college (fraternities, binge drinking, random hookups) and so its not a big surprise that people seek to become those images, no matter how ridiculous or a waste of money they may be.

And so this mix is just as ridiculous! A light-hearted look back on the pros (booty calls, house parties, beercans) and cons (getting a job, date rape, falling for a teacher) with a couple college standards thrown in. Seriously, can you think of anything more "college" than Dave live from Luther College or Otis Day & The Knights doing "Shout"? 

Download

1. "Fraternity Blues" - Townes Van Zandt

2. "College" - Animal Collective

3. "Campus" - Vampire Weekend

4. "Booty Call" - G. Love

5. "Graduate" - Third Eye Blind

6. "Shout" - Otis Day & the Knights

7. "Get A Job" - The Silhouettes

8. "(Ain't Nothin' But A) House Party" - J. Geils Band

9. "Art School Girl" - Stone Temple Pilots

10. "Beercan" - Beck

11. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" - The Beatles

12. "Army" - Ben Folds Five

13. "Date Rape" - Sublime

14. "Chemistry Class" - Elvis Costello

15. "#41 (Live)" - Dave Matthews

16. "Harvard Blues" - Count Basie & His Orchestra

Yonder is the Clock - The Felice Brothers

Rating - 7.0

About three months ago, on a Tuesday, I received a call from a good friend who had just been asked to run sound for The Felice Brothers at an impromptu show in New Paltz, NY. Unabashedly, I asked if I could tag along, offering some extra hands and ears in exchange for the chance to see their notoriously raucous live show, get a few free beers, and possibly meet the gang themselves. The bar was small and seedy, with the Brothers' name on a chalk board outside as the only means of promotion. But then again, word of mouth is what got them to the stages of Bonnarroo (an offer they turned down this year), SXSW, and the Newport Folk Festival. That night they performed some of their most acclaimed songs, a number of gospel/folk covers, and a few selection from the then unreleased record Yonder is the Clock, out now on Team Love records. And while their live theatrics may be the greatest show on earth, The Brothers are still struggling to translate that energy, ambition, and authenticity onto an album.

Taking its name from a Mark Twain vignette, Yonder is the Felice Brothers first "proper" album, meaning they had a legit budget, proper promotion, and all the songs on it are previously unreleased (their self titled breakthrough had several tracks from locally released Adventures of the Felice Brothers, Vol. 1). Having built their reputation with their crowd-pleasing, rag tag sing-a-longs, its no surprise that there is a ton of energy pulling the reins of this album's best tracks; and with each stomp the Brother's continue to build their ever-growing mythology. "Penn Station" refers the band's notorious stunts in the subways of NYC, while "Chicken Wire" and "Memphis Flu" play on their reputation of setting up, playing, and recording whenever and wherever it seems fit, be it a chicken coop, barn, or near a railroad.

The Brother's have always balanced their barn burners with contemplative ballads, usually supplied by the gravel-voiced keyboardist James, or the gentle drummer Simone. However, on Yonder, the band creates a distinct separation between the two, and by losing that middle ground they also lose the longevity of their previous works. The steady pulse of "Radio Song" or the surprisingly authentic New Orleans funeral march of "Greatest Show on Earth", both on last year's self-titled, are gone not only in a literal sense, but also in spirit.

Originating in a small town in the Catskill Mountains region, The Felice Brothers have existed up to this point in the legendary shadow of Bob Dylan & The Band, who notoriously nestled into Woodstock, NY and breathed a new Americana. Dylan & the Band's music glorified an American history which never actually existed, but was built upon the very real traditions of early American music. Forty years later, Yonder is the Clock, with its Mark Twain title, and ghostly images of ambulances, glass ships, and chickens, is still exploiting that brand of American mysticism. The problem, however, is that the Felice Brothers are more concerned with telling the actual story, and unlike Dylan, Twain, Steinbeck, or their hometown brethren Levon Helms, their lack of imagination and the creative ability to paint stories and characters that leave a lasting impression will limit them to being a novelty act, rather than the torch-carriers. I could of swore the box said "Hollywood Blanks", but...

Simone Felice is Coming to Oneonta

This Friday, May 8th, Simone Felice will debut his new band The Duke & The King at the Autumn Cafe. Simone has received much critical acclaim in recent years with his Catskill Mountain based roots rock band The Felice Brothers, who have performed at Bonnaroo, The Newport Folk Festival, and SXSW. Despite being the drummer behind some raucous and bluesy stomps sung by his brothers, Simone's own work has always set itself apart by embracing the frailty of life. In the context of the Felice Brothers, Simone's song most frequently represent those sobering moments that valley life's biggest risks, a motif he has also expounded upon in his novels, which were released and praised well before the band garnered international attention.

Simone takes his whispering Americana and makes it the central focus of this new project, which will make its "official" debut in Woodstock, NY later this month. The Duke & The King take their name from a Huckleberry Finn tale, and their first album "Nothing Gold Can Stay", due in August, refers to both Robert Frost and S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders", a hint to the severity of Simone's American music roots and the story-telling nature of his songs. It is an honor to have a musician/songwriter of Simone Felice's stature come and perform at such an intimate venue as the Autumn Cafe in downtown Oneonta, and I would encourage fans of folk, blues, and roots music in general to not miss this concert. The show will begin at 10pm, is open to all ages ($6 cover) and additional performers include The Gambler, Nun, & Radio, Mike Lovesick, and Broverdose.

Live on WDST Performing "If You Ever Get Famous"