what is hip?

Once one gets over the sheer proliferation of music available on the internet, (developing avalanche instincts, as it were)...the logical response, aside from flight, is to set up a gatekeeper, or series thereof, where one can turn on a trusted tap when one feels the need to dabble in the new, or get an opinion on new from the old.

Along with the innate excitement of watching social media progress is the flip side...an abundantly exuberant blogosphere that seems intent of burn & churn, the building up and tearing down of new acts to quickly fill all that cyberspace. Almost to the point of resembling the tawdry English music weeklies...

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Vampire Weekend were two great examples of this...So far it seems only the Arctic Monkeys, and some would say Animal Collective, have had the musical goods to transcend this...making it to a third album relatively unscathed.

Today's object lesson is Grizzly Bear. 2007 saw the release of the much praised 'Yellow House', and with news that they were back in the studio working on a followup, the stage was set for the hype machine to reach full throttle...

Last year saw them secure a high profile opening gig for the east coast first leg of Radiohead's US run. They acquitted themselves well, and the buzz built, leading up to the leaking of tracks from the by now, highly awaited 'Veckatimest'. It was immediately acclaimed as on the best albums of 2009, even though it was: a) still 2008, and b) horrifying to the band, given the less than ideal sound quality of some of the leaked work.

Still, the machine rolled on. When the album was finally released it somehow cracked the US Top Ten, the tumult growing to dizzying heights, and having swallowed the giant lump of salt needed at this point, one actually listened to the finished product. And was quite pleased. It's a really good album, heavily layered in a baroque indie.pop style that reflects the sixties masters, but seems firmly of the moment. Beach Boys comparisons abounded given the ornate vocal layerings, but to me it seems most redolent of Love's 'Forever Changes', perfectly capturing that elusive melancholy...maybe not the year's finest, but surely a lock for the top 5 at this rate.

Rolling right along, the next stages of the process being Celebrity Interest, (Jay Z?!), in the band that generated more headlines, and then of course, Backlash...in a sweetly subversive move, news broke of the newest single, which featured a guest artist lending his pipes to a remix of 'While You Wait For The Others'...
(wait for it...)
Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, solo, et al) was the voice of choice, and early fingers pointed the obvious crossover sellout potential inherent in the move, but once again, the proof is in the listening...what is dreadfully and absolutely Wrong on paper, once heard, is like chocolate and peanut butter...it just flows...

and that's where we'll leave our Grizzly Bear, ambling through that particular Hundred Acre Wood of the music blogosphere, living to ramble another day...