bear in heaven

this album is pretty good!

http://citizendick.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/TeamClermontPublicity_BearInHeavenBeastRestForthMouth72_11-300x292.gif

for fans of: synthy indie music

spinning off from What are the Hipster Albums of 2009?

The Bear in Heaven album is the only album I have found remotely interesting. It has some really cool rhythms and textures happening, and the album never stagnates from a mixing standpoint.

Animal Collective have become too formulaic to be interesting, XX is intolerable, and it is beyond me why people think the Girls album is worth any attention.

― drainCosmetics, Friday, November 27, 2009 7:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i didn't even tweet review Bear In Heaven!

Way way before CMJ fallout and glowing Pfork review I interviewed 'em for the Village Voice.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/09/yes_in_my_backy_17.php

I got their CD and I liked it and I thought "Oh this is pretty good, I'd like to give them some attention." But at no point did I think "Man, people are gonna flip the fuck out over this."

― eatin' spaghett' (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, November 27, 2009 7:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Enjoying the Bear In Heaven album 100x more than MPP. It's not going to end up on my year end or anything, but it is a pretty good hispter album of 2009 imo.

― caek, Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:15 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Oh, didn't know there was a Bear in Heaven record! I really liked them live the couple times that I saw them, and I liked Red Bloom of Boom, and then I kind of lost track of them. I had thought they were kind of slept on, so it's good to see them getting Pitchfork love.

― Bay-L.A. Bar Talk (Hurting 2), Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:21 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ahhhh . . . I'm sold. I'm going to have a beer, finish watching the UM/USF game, and download the Bear In Heaven disc all before I'm forced to watch the new iCarly at 8.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:23 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Digging You Do You and a few others. Still think the P4K review oversold the "towering choruses." (FWIW, when I think of "towering choruses," I think of Journey, so I'm no authority).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtH9MWGaAKw

You Do You is the peak for me after a handful of listens, yeah.

The choruses are no More Than A Feeling, this is true. But I think the Caribou comparison in that review was not complete bullshit. I have heard maybe 5 TVOTR songs, it's true, but they do remind me of TVOTR.

Still think the P4K review oversold the "towering choruses." (FWIW, when I think of "towering choruses," I think of Journey, so I'm no authority).

Exactly the sort of thing that always gets oversold in Pitchfork reviews -- "catchy hooks" "infectious dance grooves" etc. -- as though there's some across-the-board lower standard for indie music.

Yeah, I get that. Also, I'm liking that Youtube'd song more-and-more. Ironically, there doesn't seem to be much of a chorus at all. It's just that snake-y synth line.

"towering choruses" is just preposterous here, yeah.

terrible, awful, name for a pop group also, which pitchfork failed to call them out on, for shame.

Yeah, there's a weird clustering of indie band names around certain words, e.g., "bear" and "crystal." No Crystal Bears so far, thankfully.

love the cover

thought the xx was pretty anodyne; this is on spotify tho so will give a listen

not the slightest bit of southern rock in this. that pitchfork review got me all excited for some southern rock dammit! seems ok otherwise...

there is indeed something that is totally hard to place about this record--it's like highly evocative without evoking anything in particular. it's a little wallpapery tbh. but damn lovesick teenagers has been in my head for days.

wholehearted mass -> you do you -> lovesick teenagers is a great run.

all i think when i listen to it is "there is something really 70s about this" but again i can't get more specific. then i was thinking the singer is a dead ringer for thomas mars and/or the dude from mew and sure enough they opened for mew in nyc.

would you know my naaaaaaame
if i saw you in heaven
will it be the same
if i saw you in heaven
i must be strong, and carry on
cause i know you don't belong,
bear in heaven

I keep thinking this is going to be a hilarious 1p3 thread when I see it in new answers. But I'm okay with pleasant indie things, too.

"Deafening Love" is pure evil. I loves it.

Loving this.

i am no official bih street team, so take everything i say on this thread with a pinch of salt, but:

1. Beast In Peace (The Hundred In The Hands Beast In Beat Remix)
2. Lovesick Teenagers (Twin Shadow Remix)
3. Ultimate Satisfaction (The Field Remix)
4. Wholehearted Mess (Pink Skull Remix)
5. Fake Out (BRAHMS Remix)
6. Drug A Wheel (High Places Remix)
7. Deafening Love (Deru Remix)
8. Dust Cloud (Justin K. Broadrick Remix)
9. You Do You (Studio Remix)
10. Casual Goodbye (Epstein’s Galloping Gertie Remix)

23 august.

i am now official street team

South Street Seaport show was incredibly good. Heard some songs I didn't recognize that seem promising for whenever the next album comes out.

Also I just wanted to point out:

------------------

I just played a show with this Brooklyn band called Bear in Heaven and holy shit they were awesome. Their opener was like this weird mix of dance punk, prog and "Won't Get Fooled Again" by the Who (I don't know a better way to describe that keyboard effect where you hold down the chords and it plays a consistent rhythm). Incredible drummer too.

They do have a myspace page but it REALLY REALLY doesn't do them justice -- in fact I think this might be from the guy's older project because it doesn't really sound much like what I heard last night.

http://www.myspace.com/bearinheaven

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Sunday, January 22, 2006 10:51 AM Bookmark

wholehearted mass -> you do you -> lovesick teenagers is a great run.

― caek, Monday, December 7, 2009 1:56 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm

the remix album is pretty great. there's a 10 minute lindstrøm remix of lovesick teenagers kicking around too that i hope will see the light of day.

I don't know a better way to describe that keyboard effect where you hold down the chords and it plays a consistent rhythm

They also closed with a Lindstrom cover.

the remix album is pretty great. there's a 10 minute lindstrøm remix of lovesick teenagers kicking around too that i hope will see the light of day.

― caek, Saturday, 10 July 2010 15:37 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

tried looking for this lindstrom remix and had no luck. Link?

Really looking forward to the remix LP and Studio's remix especially.

i love "lovesick teenagers" pretty intensely. i don't particularly need to hear a remix i just want the song to be 3x as long as it is!

the lindstrom thing is unreleased. not sure what's happening with it, so i can't link : / i hope this changes!

the arpeggiated synth stuff which was probably the best thing about the original is gone from the studio remix, but there is a lot of studio-style acoustic + electric guitar. works for me.

you should all check out this album! /street team.

Does Philpot sing through some kind of modulator? His singing voice sounds so high and nasally live compared to his speaking voice.

Been going back to Red Bloom of the Boom recently and enjoying it more. It's sort of more home-recorded sounded and less cohesive than BFRM, but good.

not the kind of thing i'm generally into, but i'm enjoying this a lot. like a lot a lot. "lovesick teenagers" of course, but most of the rest too. dunno why, but it's hitting me just right, especially side 2's slide into relative darkness. this despite my lack of interest in the strain of wispy indie psych/pop i keep wanting to slot it with (anco, grizzly bear, tvotr).

moments reminding me vaguely of three mile pilot, peter gabriel, geggy tah, pinback, mgmt, but none of those comparisons really hit the mark.

it took me a while to figure it out but these guys are way more consciously retro-sounding than any of the present-day comparables would indicate.

remix album came out in the uk earlier this week, on itunes et al. or lol cd from us http://www.dreamboatrecords.co.uk/catalogue/beastremixed/

apparently the lindstrøm remix will show up eventually but it is not on this album : ( it is fantastic.

/street team

U.S. in mid-september btw

it took me a while to figure it out but these guys are way more consciously retro-sounding than any of the present-day comparables would indicate.

― call all destroyer, Sunday, August 22, 2010 3:58 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

this makes intuitive sense to me, but i'm having a hard time nailing the specific reference points. "beast in peace" recalls yes circa "roundabout", but only in moments. same way "you do you" suggests moody 80s pop in the verses. and i keep hearing traces of arty 90s alt rock throughout, especially three mile pilot.

more 60s/early 70s than 80s. i may be the only one but i don't think a souped-up silver apples is an insane reference point.

i only know the silver apples 1st album, and can't see the connection

I also feel like there are echoes of Philip Glass, David Tudor, and other 60s/70s synth and/or minimalist music.

i can see as how there might be echoes of minimalist musics (i dunno, i don't hear any philip glass), but not so much that i'm inclined to think of bear in heaven as distinctly retro in that regard. i mean, CAD's point feels intuitively correct to me, there's an echo here that's more pronounced than the beach boys vibe anco/panda sometimes give off, but i can't quite pin it down. yes still strike me as the closest reference point - both 70s & 80s incarnations of the band, both "roundabout" and "owner of a lonely heart".

so the lindstrøm remix will show up on a 12" along with a bear in heaven cover of a song off the lindstrøm and christabelle album.

excellent!

hoping this happens soonish

So new one forthcoming
http://bearinheaven.com/?page_id=6

They're doing this thing where they're playing a single runthrough of the album "stretched" over like three months, which I think is a little corny, but w/e love these guys anyway and looking forward to the record

http://pitchfork.com/news/45074-listen-to-the-new-bear-in-heaven-track-the-reflection-of-you/

like it

seeing these guys on sat - p excited

that song u posted above is good--maybe i'll try to see them in bos in may

i can't stand the upside-down beat on that song. don't know what they were thinking, except for trying to be clever.

paging johnny crunch--how were these guys when u saw them?

this album jams, i'm trying to decide if i should see em or not.

present!

were ok, i had the flu or something tho & the venue was lame so im p sure that affected my judgment

it's prob worthwhile 2 see them. they seemed like nice dudes & yeah, new album is p interesting, im not 100% sold on it

thanking u! i will try to make the effort and drag my ass across town on a weeknight #old

these guys were fun live. singer guy has an interesting case of frontman syndrome but on further review i'll allow it. he's also secretly old which makes his weird voice even weirder.

yeah that guy has actually been kicking around brooklyn making music for something like 15+ years IIRC

https://twitter.com/BearInHeaven/status/213721456855621632

liking this new album. somewhat less blaring than the last one - some nice drifty passages, a few decent grooves

damn it, this album is great. they've definitely done something to their sound on this that gives the songs a lot more breathing space

not sure how to describe it but it's kind of lindsey buckingham meets school of seven bells meets zooropa

actually the u2 comparison is grossly unfair, even though the bass and drums do kind of sound like they're channeling 'sunday bloody sunday' on 'demons'

best songs on this are the softly psychedelic bits of astral yacht rock. 'the sun and the moon and the stars' sounds like 'i'm not in love'-era 10cc meets the bass player off melodie nelson; 'they dream' sounds like the korgis being sucked out of the airlock

Sorry to say I find the new one kind of snoozy and samey. I've given it about 10 listens and it just never stays with me. Some great drum parts though.

more like barely heavin'

yeah i listened to the lead single and it just seemed really flat or something

I'm a stan of these guys too but I feel like they are losing steam. Beast Rest Forth Mouth is one of my favorite albums of the 21st century.

i'll still check out their gig soon, always like em live

What ever happened to