DOWNLOAD: Grizzly Bear on AOL's the Interface (MP3)

When they weren't busy talking to the NY Times, Fader, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, or one of the many other publications who wrote about them this month, Grizzly Bear stopped by the AOL studios for a session with the Interface. MP3 and picture from that above.

The band also visited WNYC the other day. The results of that session can be streamed at WNYC's site (or downloaded here).

Their new album Veckatimest was released Tuesday, and last night (5/28) was the first of two shows for the band at Town Hall in NYC. Tonight (5/29) is the second. Here We Go Magic is the opener on the whole tour. Pictures are coming, but in the meantime, last night's setlist is below...

Continue reading "Grizzly Bear played Town Hall (setlist), WNYC & AOL (MP3) "

Nico Muhly, Chris Taylor & Ed's arm @ BAM (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

"Produced by the band's own Chris Taylor, Veckatimest - named for a Massachusetts island the band visited during recording - is a stunning collection of twelve songs, featuring guest turns by composer Nico Muhly (whose string parts grace four of the tracks) and Beach House's Victoria LeGrand. It's an album of homespun elegance, bubbling with orchestral flourishes, haunted harmony vocals by all four band members, and a graceful, unrestrained beauty. Splitting their time between recordings in Cape Cod and a church hall in their native Brooklyn, Grizzly Bear's attention to details in the studio is felt on every track. The songs and arrangements are more complex than any of their previous compositions, a result of the band writing together in solitude for months on end. Despite their many layers, there remains a sparse, singular quality to these tracks that ultimately makes them so affecting - in between their fine lines are slow-burning emotions and dynamic melodies. Veckatimest is ultimately confident and delicate, sophisticated and alive; a line no one walks with quite as much panache as Grizzly Bear."

That little statement came in the official press release that also announced Grizzly Bear's entire May & June tour, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, and the two shows at Town Hall included. All dates below...

Continue reading "Grizzly Bear - all the 2009 North American Tour Dates "

Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear return May 25th with a new album Veckatimest (pronounced veck-ah-tim-est) , the follow up to the 2006's critically adored 'Yellow House'. Featuring contributions from Beach House's Victoria Legrand and classical composer Nico Muhly, the album is named after a beautiful uninhabited island off the the coast of Massachusetts.

Tickets are back on sale for the February 28th Grizzly Bear / Final Fantasy / Brooklyn Philharomic show at BAM.

Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, who have their own show (with their own special guests) coming up at BAM, will play guitar ane banjo with Grizzly Bear on two songs at the Brooklyn show. Grizzly Bear (and the National) have songs on the Dessner-curated Dark Was the Night compilation that is out now.

Grizzly Bear is also playing SXSW, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, and Norway's Oya Festival this year. Grizzly Bear Dan's band Department of Eagles will be at SXSW too.

Veckatimest (in the running with Bromst for best album title of 2009) track listing, below...

Continue reading "Grizzly Bear BAM tix back on sale --- VECKATIMEST"