Album Review Double-Header: Phoenix vs. Grizzly Bear!
....VS....
Two of the year's most hyped-up albums, Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest, were recently released; what better way to highlight them both than by pitting them against each other, though the extent of their musical similarity might just go as far as their currently hipster-approved stance. Here we go!
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Vibe: Conflicted, yet sounding cool and straight-forward, vocally and instrumentally. Unmistakeably French.
Opener: "Lisztomania", an apparent reference to the fervor over composer Franz Liszt in the Romantic era and/or the bizarre 1975 film starring Roger Daltrey as Liszt. Seeing as the album title itself is a reference to Motzart, and the video for "Lisztomania" was shot in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in Germany, where an annual festival honoring 19th-century opera composer Richard Wagner takes place, the classical references seem to hint at a more dedicated Phoenix. Does that mean they have lost their sense of fun and style? Far from it!
High Point: "1901", which was the first track I heard from the album, or rather, a remixed version, which had me hooked into the Phoenix sound straightaway. Thomas Mars' voice is notable for his half-detached, half-insistent quality here, and throughout the album. Retro chicness abounds!
Low Point: Erm...low point? Where? There are only 10 tracks here, and it is refreshing to see a band that understand that a album doesn't have to be stuffed to the brim with filler to reach an album's full capacity.
Closer: "Girlfriend". Over so soon?! Not an hour long, Phoenix's latest does what any good album ought to do: leaves you wanting more! This is an instrumentally-focused outro that picks up some of the album's earlier motifs and accelerates it all.
Overall Vitality: Though Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix does draw from the best, most stylish bits from their previous works, there's no mistaking that this is an album from 2009. Will be on best-of lists year end, including my own.
Opener: "Lisztomania", an apparent reference to the fervor over composer Franz Liszt in the Romantic era and/or the bizarre 1975 film starring Roger Daltrey as Liszt. Seeing as the album title itself is a reference to Motzart, and the video for "Lisztomania" was shot in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in Germany, where an annual festival honoring 19th-century opera composer Richard Wagner takes place, the classical references seem to hint at a more dedicated Phoenix. Does that mean they have lost their sense of fun and style? Far from it!
High Point: "1901", which was the first track I heard from the album, or rather, a remixed version, which had me hooked into the Phoenix sound straightaway. Thomas Mars' voice is notable for his half-detached, half-insistent quality here, and throughout the album. Retro chicness abounds!
Low Point: Erm...low point? Where? There are only 10 tracks here, and it is refreshing to see a band that understand that a album doesn't have to be stuffed to the brim with filler to reach an album's full capacity.
Closer: "Girlfriend". Over so soon?! Not an hour long, Phoenix's latest does what any good album ought to do: leaves you wanting more! This is an instrumentally-focused outro that picks up some of the album's earlier motifs and accelerates it all.
Overall Vitality: Though Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix does draw from the best, most stylish bits from their previous works, there's no mistaking that this is an album from 2009. Will be on best-of lists year end, including my own.
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
The Vibe: Over-staying your welcome at a cabin in the woods, after which you are booted out on your own and forced to scavenge for food in the wild, being followed, affectionately, by small pixies all the while. Or something.
Opener: "Southern Point". From the get-go, Grizzly Bear have been tricky to peg. Are they a bit psychedelic? Post-rock? They've been too experimental to fall under just one label, and with Yellow House in 2006, certainly showed they were capable of turning out a modern classic. I had already been a fan of Department of Eagles (In Ear Park made my best-of 2008 list), of which Daniel Rossen (singer-songwriter and guitarist) became a member of before joining Grizzly Bear in 2005. "Southern Point" adds an extra, perhaps over-ambitious dimension to what was previously established, sounding like avant-garde jazz.
High Point: "Cheerleader" was the first Veckatimest track that I heard, and it is a stand-out of the lot, along with "Two Weeks". It is easy to hear the group's love of the Beach Boys in tracks like these, though of course, with a folk-poppy, Grizzly Bear-spin on it all.
Low Point: From "Dory" to "Hold Still", the tracks feel muted, and not fully-realized. This sort of self-imposed restraint is what holds the album back from reaching the heights of its predecessor.
Closer: "Foreground". Now this is more like it. Quite a beautiful track, bringing in the sweetness the aforementioned low point tracks missed, and using sparseness to an advantage.
Overall Vitality: Yellow House had a near-magical quality about the whole work that simply isn't present often enough on Veckatimest. The first string of songs are stronger than the rest, save ending track "Foreground". Too uneven to have that immediate 'wow-factor', though there is plenty of material here to entertain.
And the clear winner is...
Opener: "Southern Point". From the get-go, Grizzly Bear have been tricky to peg. Are they a bit psychedelic? Post-rock? They've been too experimental to fall under just one label, and with Yellow House in 2006, certainly showed they were capable of turning out a modern classic. I had already been a fan of Department of Eagles (In Ear Park made my best-of 2008 list), of which Daniel Rossen (singer-songwriter and guitarist) became a member of before joining Grizzly Bear in 2005. "Southern Point" adds an extra, perhaps over-ambitious dimension to what was previously established, sounding like avant-garde jazz.
High Point: "Cheerleader" was the first Veckatimest track that I heard, and it is a stand-out of the lot, along with "Two Weeks". It is easy to hear the group's love of the Beach Boys in tracks like these, though of course, with a folk-poppy, Grizzly Bear-spin on it all.
Low Point: From "Dory" to "Hold Still", the tracks feel muted, and not fully-realized. This sort of self-imposed restraint is what holds the album back from reaching the heights of its predecessor.
Closer: "Foreground". Now this is more like it. Quite a beautiful track, bringing in the sweetness the aforementioned low point tracks missed, and using sparseness to an advantage.
Overall Vitality: Yellow House had a near-magical quality about the whole work that simply isn't present often enough on Veckatimest. The first string of songs are stronger than the rest, save ending track "Foreground". Too uneven to have that immediate 'wow-factor', though there is plenty of material here to entertain.
And the clear winner is...
PHOENIX!
You're welcome to share your feedback on these albums in the comments, as well as your feelings on A Future in Noise's new 'Album Review Double-Header' format; this may not be the last time you see it here!
8 COMMENTS / POST COMMENT:
Awesome review. This is really well done. :)
uhhh no
veckatimest is timeless
phoenix is fun but forgettable
@Surukei: MAX?! Man, this reminds me I need to call you, I've been absorbed into the vortex of recording my upcoming album :P
@Anonymous: But...Veckatimest only just came out! Well, it did leak awhile back. I don't see how it could be as epic as Yellow House, though it could be 'a grower', as they say. Both albums are really quite good though, and further proof 2009 has been a really fab year.
great review!
i wasn't huge into the phoenix album at first, but now that i've given it a couple more listens i'm definitely on board.
and the new grizzly bear album... a little lackluster especially compared to their previous works.
thnx!
new grizzly bear is a bore, and yellow house is barely good if at all
@johnElectric: thanks! :D
@Cristiano: well...I am more of a Department of Eagles person. Yellow House has SOMETHING though, ya know?
Cool idea having Phoenix go head on with Grizzly Bear... and great review!
http://danishpoet.blogspot.com/
What about the combined sound of both? phoenix - fences and grizzly bear - two weeks (fred falke remix) in a mash up...
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