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Grizzly Bear
Every now and then I consider starting a new mp3 blog called something like "The Lazy Reviewer" in which I post an mp3 I like and make the laziest comparison possible that would still peak the interest of you, the gentle reader. I've been listening to Grizzly Bear tonight, and it's made me very sleepy. So I think now is a fine time to break out The Lazy Reviewer.
Grizzly Bear is what would happen if Elliot Smith and Phil Elvrum (of the Microphones / Mt. Eerie) went off and became recluses in the Pacific Northwest and made an album together.
MP3 Grizzly Bear - Central and Remote
Technorati Tags: music mp3 grizzly bearBrightblack Morning Light
I said it a year ago, but I'll say it again. You can't go wrong with a band that sleeps outside. Brightblack Morning Light is the best hippy slowcore stoner psych freakfolk band that I know of. And yes, I realize those labels are all grossly inadequate.
MP3 Brightblack Morning Light - Everybody Daylight
Technorati Tags: brightblack mp3 music hippy slowcore stoner psych freakfolkPitchfork has an RSS feed now
I'm not really sure if this is old and I'm just now noticing it, but Pitchfork finally has an RSS feed. It's only headlines, but it's a start. Maybe by 2010 they will have full articles (If someone figures out how to completely saturate a feed with ads, feel free to move that date up).
Technorati Tags: pitchfork media rss musicNew Xiu Xiu
I'll be honest. I don't care much for well thought out, level-headed, rational music criticism. I like reviews where the writer either loves1 or hates a record/band/genre and uses their bully pulpit to rally people to their cause. That said, I love reading Xiu Xiu reviews. There is pretty much no middle ground with people about Jamie Stewart. While I obviously fall into the "love" camp, I totally get people who think this is pretty much the worst music ever made. People who would likely put the word music in quotation marks as they wrote that last sentence. I mean really, there's not really any reason you should enjoy Xiu Xiu. It's pretty messed up. But somehow at the same time, if you try hard enough, it's really beautiful.
Anyway, there's a new Xiu Xiu record coming out all the way in September, but luckily a few (and by a few I mean all) of the songs from The Air Force have found their way onto the internet. It seems pretty good at first listen, and Caralee McElroy gets to sing a song, and she does a good job. There are more synthesizers than in the past, and less "I'm scared for my life" moments, for what that's worth.
1 The following sentence from Brent DiCrescenzo's review of Kid A never fails to crack me up: "The experience and emotions tied to listening to Kid A are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax."
Technorati Tags: music mp3 xiu xiu the air force