LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: GRIZZLY BEAR

I interviewed Danish band Efterklang about a month ago. Between many interesting things, we talked about Grizzly Bear, cause Efterklang’s label, Rumraket, was responsible for the European release of their debut album in 2004. Efterklang must think it’s very weird that the band they signed as unknowns 5 years ago are now a thousand times more famous than they themselves are. It took 5 years - 3 LPs and 1 EP - for Grizzly Bear to fully develop their sound, but now they got it perfectly and, seriously, listening to Two Weeks, the first single of their new LP Veckatimest, is a shivering experience. Efterklang must seriously try to figure out what they did wrong.

The thing is that Efterklang craft excellent songs too, but their sound is not original enough. I don’t mean to say that a song is better if it’s original. I think that when you listen to a certain song, if it’s good, it’s good, and that’s all it needs. But from the strict point of view of popular success, originality comes as a very important thing. Cause if two bands sound the same, the best of the two will sell everything and the other will sell almost nothing. Efterklang are excellent, but Sigur Ros are better, so they’re the ones who sell a lot. Grizzly Bear are also excellent, and why are they fucking big now? Cause, like Sigur Ros, they’re the best at what they do… and with Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear are actually the best in general.

To be honest, there ain’t a single song that’s not at least good on Vecka – I’m getting familiar with it already. I’ll just shoot the utterly perfect ones, cause otherwise it would be too long. There’s the folky and intense opener Southern Point, the immediately catchy Two Weeks, the cool and relax Cheerleader, the Pitchfork-gave-me-a-perfect-note-on-best-new-tracks While You Wait For The Others and the most perfect closer ever Foreground. But even if it's got some higher points, that's the kind of album that you listen from start to end, again and again and again. I used to think Merriweather Post Pavilion was well in advance in the run for best album of the year, but I have now to say that Veckatimest caught it back.

I LOVE SWEDEN

You all know that I love Sweden, and I love it even more when it comes to Montreal. It’s true that Peter Bjorn and John's last album is very unequal, but with the low points come some very high points, like Just The Past and I Want You! - that still have a Writer’s Block feeling to them -, and Nothing to Worry About and Lay It Down - that are dirtier, but still ultra-catchy pop. However, I would bet most of songs they're gonna play tonight will come from Writer's Block, so even those who are not fond of Living Thing will find something to enjoy. Don't shout it out loud though, cause they showed up not being as nice as we first thought.

With the cool Brooklyn band Charlift at Le National tonight, 8 PM, 23$ + fees, Buy your ticket on admission

Download Peter Bjorn and John - Just The Past Buy it on 

Gentille Musique

Camera Obscura doesn’t want to start a revolution. The only thing they want is making music that will make people happy. Does that suck? Yes. Are they good at it? Yes. Today, they released the first single of their new album that will be out next week. It's still a kind of mix of The Concretes and Belle & Sebastian, like the only old song I could name from them, Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken. I’m pretty sure the members of the new indie pop sensation, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, are big fans of them.

Download: Camera Obscura - French Navy Buy it on: 

PBJ Are Back and This Time, They're Not Whistling

Every time I hear 'Young Folks', my first thought is, 'That whistling really sounds like the flute riff in Kung Fu Fighting'. My second thought is, 'I want to marry that girl (Victoria Bergsman)'. My third though is, 'Gosh, I wish I had written that song'. Cause that song and the whole album are so good that I'm a bit surprised these guys come from Stockholm and not Gothenburg, the musical capital of Sweden.

Now, there's something I want to make clear: this band isn't a one-hit-wonder. I haven't heard their self-titled debut album or the instrumental ‘Seaside Rock’, but I've heard 'Falling Out' and it's also excellent. There's a song on it called 'It Beats Me Everytime' that takes a really big place in my musical subconscious and when you'll hear it, you'll know these guys really have talent.

That's why I was really exciting that Peter Bjorn and John released a new album today. Unfortunately, while Pitchfork was totally wrong yesterday, I have to agree with them this time: ‘Living Thing’ is not as good as it should be. They changed their style a lot and it seems that putting the focus on rhythm instead of melody doesn’t seem to fit them very well. At least, when you'll hear ‘Lay It Down’, which is one of my best new songs at the moment, you'll see that they totally put an X on the fact of being the cute whistlers from Sweden. We can only hope that 'Living Thing' is only a transitional album towards a better one in their new style.

Mediafire: Peter Bjorn and John - Lay It Down (320 kbps)

Drunk Americans in Montreal

I wanted to see Passion Pit tonight, but they had to cancel their whole Canadian tour for health reasons. Ok ok, their show was scheduled on Wednesday, but for some reason, I had written down that it was tonight. A bit confused and still in the mood to see a show, I decided to go to Il Motore, our new venue here in Montreal, to see what was there. It was my first time there and I think it's a cool venue. It's really located out of nowhere - near metro Parc -, but their washrooms are really big and clean. Overall, it's good.

The main band playing was Takka Takka from New York City. The five of them had the same sweater with an animal face in the back of the hood. I don't know about that, but I really enjoyed their music. Not only do they focus on melodies and arrangements, but they also make sure that their songs are danceable. I talked to the singer before the show and he sounded like a nice guy. He said they were going to get drunk to celebrate the end of their tour with the Montreal-based Sister Suvi. While they're enduring headaches in the van back to NYC, I encourage you to listen to 'Everybody Say', the best song of their debut album.

Mediafire: Takka Takka - Everybody Say (192 kbps)