Ever since I heard Grizzly Bear’s breakthrough album “Yellow House” I was hooked. With that being said I’ll try to leave this as unbiased as possible.

“Veckatimest”, pronounced “Veck” “Ah” “Tim” “Est”, seems to cover many era’s of music without losing the Grizzly Bear style. The style being considered, first and foremost, the vocal layering and harmonizing, but also the echoed tremolo folk guitar. Most of the songs remind me of 50’s era songs that you would hear in a Disney movie. I know that sounds awful but it’s not how it sounds, I just mean that Grizzly Bear has found that innocent pitch that were made so famous in old animated movies…excluding Fantasia…that movie scared me as a child.

The album starts off strong with “Southern Point” (Also is included at the bottom of this post). This song conjures up images of a guy setting off on a boat for an adventure for the first time and this song would the narration of his travels. Some have been saying the lyrics are a bit “re-used”, however I hardly listen to vocals anymore. I mainly just listen to the vocals as I would any other instrument, putting them together and listening to the whole. You may be thinking…”But your missing out on so much!”, my response to that is artists who depend on lyrics to capture the audience attention, most of the time put more emphasis on the vocals meaning no vocal layering, or effects. You can definitely tell when a band wants you to pay attention to their vocals.

The second song on the album is “Two Weeks” (don’t worry I’m not going through the whole album), This song has hit me like a sentimental song that you will hear in many movies to come…trust me you will. This is probably the most danceable song on the album

This album is by far first on my list for “Best of 2009″ and I will bet money that it will receive above a 9 on Pitchfork. If it doesn’t then I will forever shun Pitchfork and discontinue the use of it for music news.

The band has released a statement about being disappointed that the album has leaked so early, so I will do my part to stop the spread of this leak until the release date has come (May 26th) for support of this band. I will not nor can not stop you from finding it via other sources though, I do hope that you guys consider preordering or purchasing the album (links to do so are below).

• Website: http://grizzly-bear.net
• Demo: Southern Point
• Watch: Youtube
• Pre-order: CD @ grizzly-bear.net , Vinyl @ grizzly-bear.net
• Release Date: May 26

Renoir is an electronic/dance band…with maybe a bit of IDM in there to boot. The main thing that attracted me, were the uptempo, happy, uplifting beats that continued to please my ever saddening soul (rough week). Since Renoir is fairly new, it was called Old Houses, I had the pleasure of talking to the mastermind first hand. He allowed me to put up the exciting new EP free of charge! Imagine that RIAA, an artist who WANTS their music on the internet.

The songs remind me of happier times, more innocent times in my childhood when I didn’t have to worry about money, employment, or education. When I could scrape my knee and my parents would take care of it in a jiffy and even kiss it to make the wound better. Those times when you asked you parents about heaven and hell, and cared about it. You would scream, scared of death and try to hide under your pillow where nothing could get you. Just me? I think not. Later you figure out that life is based around banks, and the money that those banks make off of you. Depressing…

Anyway basically Renoir is a mix of Octopus Project, Crystal Castles, LCD Soundsystem, and MSTRKRFT.

Tracks to listen to:
- All of them (it’s an EP!)

• Website: http://www.myspace.com/rrenoirmusic
• Download: Sharebee
  
• Watch: Want to book?
  
• Buy: Contact the Artist

The main attraction to me was the simplicity of the arrangements. Most songs rely on a droning banjo to help progress the song and to keep the rhythm. I love banjos when used in the nontraditional sense, by that I basically mean outside of the stereotypical hillbilly, redneck, tobacco dipping, “Deliverence”, that people associate with banjos. The vocals have a kind of ghostly echo on them, not to mention the vocal layering. They also add electric beats at times, which may seem weird at first…but it works. It works so much that Zach Condon of Beirut released an EP called “Holland” under the pre-Beirut pseudonym ”Realpeople” which contains electronic music that distinctly resembles the music of Beirut.

Le Loup has really hit something special with this album because it combines just the right amount of electronic and folk, and the outcome is a super blend of Grizzly Bear, Samamidon, Bon Iver, and Ghost in the Water.

5 Tracks to listen to:
- Planes like Vultures.
- Outside Of This Car, The End Of The World
- To The Stars! To The Night!
- Canto XXXIV
- I Had A Dream I Died.

• Website: http://leloupmusic.net/
• Download: Sharebee
  
• Watch: Youtube
  
• Buy: @ Subpop , @ Amazon

Andrew Bird released a bonus cd with this called “Useless Creatures” and that’s where you get your change. To me I’d rather hear “Useless Creatures”, that’s just me though. I must admit I’m a bit distracted right now because I’m trying to write this review while a couple guys are playing ping-pong, so therefore if I start to ramble I blame the ping-pong players.

It’s been a few minutes now and I haven’t wrote anything and my battery is dying so I’ll go ahead and wrap this up. “Noble Beast” alone is well worth the money, especially if you get the deluxe edition…which includes “Useless Creatures”. If your a fan of chill music reminiscent of Beirut…on pain-killers…then you’ll love this album.

5 Tracks to listen to:
- Oh No
- Fitz and the Dizzyspells
- Nomenclature
- Not a Robot, But a Ghost
- Souverian

• Website: http://www.andrewbird.net
• Download: Sharebee
  
• Watch: Youtube
  
• Buy: @ Official Band Store , @ Amazon

Having listened to their back catalog recently as well, it is apparent that Animal Collective decided to go the more euphoric route with this album. Many artist have done this same routine the past year, including Panda Bear (the band not the member of Animal Collective), The Octopus Project, and Deerhunter. Not to say it’s a bad thing, because I believe it works. Hardcore fans complain that it’s not the Animal Collective they know though. If there is one thing I learned about music is that it is very subjective and never constant. Artists will change and grow up…music is truly the ever evolving organism. Get used to it because it happens to the best of them.

Now off of that rant, back to the music. The line up on this album is quite good because they put their catchiest songs both in the beginning and at the end to hook you. Quite clever Animal Collective.

Be sure to take a listen to this album because it might surprise you. If your a fan of MGMT, Grizzly Bear, or The Mars Volta…you should check these guys out.

5 Tracks to listen to:
- In The Flowers
- My Girls
- Summertime Clothes
- No More Runnin
- Brothersport

• Website: http://www.myspace.com/animalcollectivetheband
• Download: Sharebee
  
• Watch: Youtube
• Buy: @ Official Band Store , @ Amazon

Only now is the band starting to gain recognition. The band name Harvey Milk comes from the man, who was the first openly gay man to be elected to a public office in California. However neither the band’s member’s sexual orientation nor the music fit the term gay. It is probably the most brutal, heart-wrenching music you could ever listen to…especially their early LP’s.

Harvey Milk, the band, was active from ‘92 until ‘98 when they disbanded for almost a decade, coming back in ‘06 to release “Special Wishes”. Two years later, they released this LP “Life…The Best Game In Town”. The difference being on this release the band recruited Stoner Metal extraordinaire, Joe Preston. Preston was in the ever influential The Melvins, Earth, High on Fire, Sunn O))) and his own solo project Thrones.

Take a listen to Harvey Milk, especially if you happen to be a fan of Doom and Stoner metal.

Tracks to highlight:
- Death Goes To The Winner.
- After All I’ve Done For You, This Is How You Repay Me?
- Roses
- Goodbye Blues

• Website: http://www.harveymilktheband.com/
• Download: Sharebee
  
• Watch: Youtube
  
• Buy: @ Official Band Store , @ Amazon

They are mainly an instrumental group, producing such entrancing songs as the 20 minute epic “Djed”. This masterpiece proves that you can tell stories without lyrics.

Other than that there isn’t much more to say, they leave me speechless at times. Check them out, also keep a look out…they posted on their Myspace that they are working on a new album.

• Website: http://trts.com/
• Download: Sharebee
  
• Watch: Youtube
  
• Buy: @ Official Band Store , @ Amazon

“Blood Bank”, although an EP, is somewhat of a disappointing follow up to the majestic debut album. The concept of the title track is unappealing and the setting is downright bizzare. It feels like Vernon lost the passion that made “For Emma, Forever Ago” so special.

“For Emma, Forever Ago” made me feel like Vernon had just lost his lover, and the album was just the deep journey one goes through to get over that kind of loss. “Blood Bank”, so far, made me feel like his is trying to get in tune with that passion once again. Trouble there is, he had already gotten over that loss and the feeling it conjured.

Take a listen for yourself a demo is at the bottom of this post. The EP is set to be due out January 20th, a link will be put up when it’s released.

• Website: http://boniver.org/
• Demo: Bon Iver – Blood Bank
• Watch: Bon Iver – Blood Bank
• Download: Sharebee
• Buy: @ Official Band Store , @ Amazon

Klausener’s songwriting skills really shine in this album. The opening track has some of the most memorable lyrics of any song I have heard. Follow the lyrics is the rhythm that The Acorn uses to set the mood and tone for each song, like in “Flood pt. 1″, you can hear the ever constant drums in the background which mimics the steady pushing current of the water, while some haunting background vocals mimic the chaoticness and every changing direction of the current. I did mention “Glory Hope Mountain” not being perfect, and where the album falls short is where a lot of folk album fail, it just gets too repetitive. I have listened to this album a lot and it is hard for me to distinguish some of the tracks apart.

Don’t get me wrong this album is absolutely worth the time, that is if you enjoy the folk-indie genre. If you have ever dreamt of running freely through the woods at night while the moon lights your path…then please do yourself a favor and hear this album. I do recommend to everyone that they listen to the album and get their own opinions though. I personally love this album and listen to it at least twice a week.

• Website: http://theacorn.ca/
• Download: Sharebee
• Watch: Youtube
• Buy: @ Paperbag , @ Amazon