It’s beginning to look as if, in certain online circles, there’s going to be quite a fuss around the new Grizzly Bear album, “Veckatimest” – comparable perhaps to the heat around the Animal Collective record at the end of last year. Security’s comparably tight around “Veckatimest” ...
It’s beginning to look as if, in certain online circles, there’s going to be quite a fuss around the new Grizzly Bear album, “Veckatimest” – comparable perhaps to the heat around the Animal Collective record at the end of last year. Security’s comparably tight around “Veckatimest” – ironic considering it was Grizzly Bear themselves who benignly leaked a couple of “Merriweather Post Pavilion” tracks – but we did manage to sneak one listen yesterday.
A lot to take in on one listen, so I’ll hold off a proper preview until I get hold of my own copy, but first impressions suggest that if you enjoyed the breadth and atmospherics of “Yellow House”, the delicately-threaded melodies, a sort of grandeur and otherness that remains magically subtle and unself-conscious, then you’ll be fine with “Veckatimest”. I guess a few people will be expecting more compacted, shaped songs in the vein of the Department Of Eagles album, but that’s not really the case.
Lovely stuff – and no, before you ask, I’m not going to leak it, stream it, post MP3s or anything like that. Some more good new arrivals among this lot, along with a couple of donkeys.
1 The Hold Steady – A Positive Rage (Rough Trade)
2 The Rockingbirds – The Rockingbirds (Heavenly)
3 Rodriguez – Coming From Reality (Light In The Attic)
4 Prefuse 73 – Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian (Warp)
5 Cluster – Grosses Wasser (Water)
6 Peter Walker – Spanish Guitar (Birdman)
7 Royal Bangs – We Breed Champions (City Slang)
8 Richard Swift – The Atlantic Ocean (Secretly Canadian)
9 Love Is All – A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night (What’s Your Rupture)
10 Part Chimp – Thriller (Rock Action)
11 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! (Polydor)
12 Pink Mountaintops – Outside Love (Jagjaguwar)
13 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)
14 Wildbirds & Peacedrums – The Snake (Leaf)
15 The Juan Maclean – The Future Will Come (DFA)
16 Omar-S – Detroit: Fabric 45 (Fabric)
17 Alasdair Roberts – Spoils (Drag City)