Tag: Grizzly Bear

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Music

Dede – Faultline (Feat. Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear)

I sit here writing, looking out of a Helsinki apartment window through crisp Nordic air — the sun rises at 4:45am and sets at 10:30pm — a strange paradox for an expatriate from LA. My view of old bricks, cream & salmon stone, stoic church steeples and tin roofing reminds me that Europe was ancient before America was even a dream. Massive cranes and glass mesh with the historical fabric into a retro future, we don’t get the same juxtaposition in the United States where cities are still young.

Fitting that my soundtrack would be this gem from DEDE & Ed Droste…ephemeral, transitory, capturing crystalline space and time in these moments where I feel removed and foreign. Just an observer in a place that isn’t home, carried along by haunting, almost alien melodic flow. And it should be noted that the duet is executed perfectly — voices fusing each other into a kind of hypno-soothe, the perfect sedative for reflective world travel.

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Categories
Music

Grizzly Bear – Will Calls (Diplo Remix)

I recently had the rather awkward conversation with my current love about our last loves. He did not see the reasoning for wanting to know more about them as what is in the past and gone. Understandable. Being a girl and also not trying to be a crazy girl, I was trying to explain that you just want to know. What did they do wrong? What was the breaking point? In the very least, it is also sort of a boost as you get to sit back and think “What an brat, I would have never done that!”. But really at the end of this talk, you realize there is a sense of vulnerability there when you share what caused the last heart break. Scratching at your scars. I suppose it is because currently, I only know this person from the moment we met. Literally, the moment we met, it was obvious and there was no ‘before’ after we met. We didn’t know anyone in the eachothers lives, we didn’t know anything about where the person came from. Which is fun and also scary. You move based on the feeling that you should be with this person. The before no longer matters at it never existed. You have the now and the later. Honestly, I think I just wanted to be involved. I wanted to be there when he got to go through those past few years. I wanted to see what he did. But I guess that is more drive for wanting to be more together in the future. And I guess it doesn’t matter much anyways. I guess you go blindly.

–

Grizzly Bear may not be what you would normally have heard with some EDM twang, it is much appreciated in this rework put out by the band and the producer.

Although not too surprising to see the likes of Diplo working with the Brooklyn-based band, it is a treat to hear his rework adding in layers of base and his signature styles.

Grizzly Bear is one of my favorite musical additional to the past few years, but still a rather young group. The music they produce reads like poetry and drives their song and message in to your mind and body. Observe:

“I don’t wanna be, I don’t wanna know the lies
Shouldn’t ever be what it was alright
I’ll choose to believe what’s right
Even if in the end I’m blind
I don’t wanna be, I don’t wanna know the lies
Couldn’t ever be what it was, alright?.

Even if we send
Everything from both ends
So little left to, say, do, it depends

If we are past what we keep
All that was promised that was sheathed.”

Grizzly Bear – Will Calls (Diplo Remix)

Categories
Music

Grizzly Bear – Gun-Shy

The days get shorter. The nights grow colder. Thoughts drift northward, to the windswept bleaks where lonely hearts find no comfort in sunshine.

The daily news hawks tales of despair on the dirty streets. But what can you do? A man in the shadows squeezes his hands tightly in a pair of tattered socks.

On Rodeo and 5th, fur muffs recall an en vogue era and fill the sidewalks with the scent of antiseptic. Long nails, painted red and green, of course, grip tiny leashes of tiny dogs that shiver on the cold concrete.

And in lands far away, innocents starve under the desert stars and on palm-lined beaches. The days get shorter, colder, for them too.

A crackling fire may cheer the night, but all fires burn to ashes in time.

The holidays are here again, jingle jangle, gimme more. The neighbors’ lights are up, an electric temple to excess and plastic. The big box sales are on, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! The Ford F-150 is again America’s best selling auto, 31 years running.

I climb, up, up, onto the gentle slope, where the ocean is visible and the only sounds are the echoing chirps of crickets and birds rising to greet the dusk. My lover and I hold our breath. We hold hands.

We sit together and watch the fiery sun, not yet fallen to ash, dip into the big blue drink. We count the stars until the chill in the air fills our eyes with painless tears. Our silent return down the packed earth trail is made in darkness. Our smiles don’t need light to be felt.

Grizzly Bear – Gun-Shy

Categories
Music Remixes

Grizzly Bear – Gun Shy (Lindstrøm Remix)

What more could we possibly ask for than to be at peace with the conditions we live in and the people we are surrounded by? We strive for several different things everyday, but in the end, it’s our own destiny that we choose what is right for us: trusting ourselves, and doing what’s good for the me in the equation. Unfortunately, as selfless as we hope to be, we are ultimately living for ourselves. And to truly listen to that desire, that which is purely human, and constantly carry it out everyday, is difficult. But perhaps that is what the essence of maturity truly is, adulthood, with a youthful heart.

This song came to me on a day of much thought. I talked to a friend earlier, who was disappointed at some recent events that had taken place in his life. We talked for a while about all that transpired for him in the past week, and then I reminded him that in the past month, everything good that could possibly happen to him, happened. And that one week, sometimes feels heavier than one month if the contents of that week are weighed down by negativity and confusion. The big picture, was what I walked away thinking about.

The original Grizzly Bear track runs for about 4:31 and makes me want to look at the big picture. Though this remix by Norwegian producer, Lindstrøm, puts a lovely sound in my ears and rides a very relaxed wave of sound.

Grizzly Bear – Gun Shy (Lindstrøm Remix)

Categories
Mash-Ups Music

Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks Of Hip Hop

I’m not usually into mash-ups but my friend Will sent me this a few weeks ago and I thought it was great. Dead Prez is an underground hip-hop group known for their socially conscious and politically charged lyrics. Though never achieving much commercial success they’ve garnered incredible respect and street credibility from both fans and fellow artist. Hip Hop, the most well known song from their 2000 LP Let’s Get Free, is an attack on the commercialization and exploitation of hip hop. This song was written in 2000 so the downfall of Hip Hop had already begun with the questionable leadership of Puff Daddy and post Hard Knock Life Jay-Z. Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear is a great song, I won’t say much about it so the focus remains on the Dead Prez lyrics, but enjoy the mash-up, we don’t post many.

Dead Prez – Hip Hop

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks Of Hip Hop