I just got done watching this bro ‘cover’ Grizzly Bear’s hit 2k9 anthem ‘Two Weeks’, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this bro has single-handedly proven that we no longer need the Grizzly Band Bears as an alternative resource of indie music.
When I think of Grizzly Bear, I think of ‘pleasant tunes’, ‘tons of harmonies’, and ‘a high production value.’ It seems like this bro has ‘outdone’ the actual band Grizzly Bear, since he was able to produce all of these by himself in his living room. Most alternative people will eternally remember ‘Two Weeks’ as the catchiest song of the year 2k9, but now we will remember it as being performed by some bro in a living room (who most likely attended some sort of gifted and talented school 4 the arts).
The modern world is a beautiful place, where one bro can buy multiple instruments, musical production equipment, and a lil viddy cam in order to outshine an indie pop masterpiece. While we often focus on bands which have established brands, we fail to see that sometimes magic moments can come together on a d.i.y. budget. Perhaps the future of indie music will not go down the same road as mainstream music [via over-reporting widely known band brands until hollow artists are created], but instead we will embrace individual moments of brilliance and musicianship [via the bro playing an xylophone/drums/singing harmonies].
Is Grizzly Bear still a valuable indie resource or has this bro rendered them obsolete?
Do u think that his bro should ‘join a band’ or is it 2 difficult to work with other ppl?
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IAmCarles.com
41 Comments
Grizzly Bear: endangered species
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//////////Reply by
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 8:57 am
ITT: Butthurt Grizzly Bear fans.
Over-rated band is over-rated.
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I h8 grizzly bear chewing tobaccer.
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//////////Reply by brad
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
@Farkus, I like the GRIZZ. None of that pussy SKOAL
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//////////Reply by Iceberg
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
@brad, everyone knows, real men Cope.
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//////////Reply by gentleman
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
@Farkus, sad that yall are still on that loose fermented garbage. get some real deal swedish snus and stop being so mnstrm
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//////////Reply by Iceberg
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
@gentleman, how are snus not mnstrm when they give them out for free at all the broho clubs in PDX?
Are only snus from Sweden the authentic snus?
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I’m sure this bro will hit the indie scene running because he can play multiple instruments, and regurgitate the brilliant musical developments of grizzly bear. Grizzly Bear are composers not just performers.
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Kids are constantly doing this on youtube this isn’t relevant or important in any way. Anyone can learn how to play any instrmnt these days still doesn’t make them creative. Eddy Droste 4 Life.
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//////////Reply by Justin
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
@Sean Hunter, this “bro” as it seems to be commonly said is one of my best friends/ band mate and is without a doubt the most creative and talented musician i know.
check out his ep on itunes..if you have any doubts
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//////////Reply by vdieselfor20
//////////Posted August 20th, 2009 at 1:08 am
@Justin, thanks bro
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//////////Reply by Jared Schwalbe
//////////Posted August 22nd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
@Justin, you tell him justin
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CRLS that post was blatantly trying too hard to b controversial. u kno the grizzle bares will be around until 2k12 via apocalypse NOW!
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carles you haven’t made me LOL in a while. I remember when I thought that you were what happened when I went to sleep. I’d wake up and see steve aoki pouring vodka into tweens collective mouths and i’d say TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO BE ALIVE. This is just a bro who can learn a song…
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Seriously? Its one thing to copy a performance brilliantly it is another to compose a brilliant performance. This kids got talent but this by no means makes Grizzly Bear obsolete. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?
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i don’t think we need phil collins anymore either thx to inspiring crippled bro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LMp4Vu_GXk
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the bow the cat wears is only a metaphor for those who come with empty stomachs
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like grizzbears?
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//////////Reply by al x
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
@cantoxiv, this made no sense at all.
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//////////Reply by tao
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
@cantoxiv, lol at the screenshot
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//////////Reply by lol wut
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 8:54 am
@Dantebro14, I ‘got’ it
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LOL CARLES, big EL OH EL
imitating some song isnt exactly what you call making sth obsolete tbh, its the EXACT OPPSITE DIPSHIT
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grizzly bear don’t capture my heart like AN/CO. so the answer to the question of life carles is this dude should just stick to the youtube and count his hits as the minutes tick by the clock..
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Oklahoma is for grzzly bear covers….
don’t hate 918 yall
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//////////Reply by cantoxiv
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
@al x, I’ve actually been to real cool so for as to say that is it even cool to be a student driver
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//////////Reply by anonymous
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
@cantoxiv, NOTHING YOU SAY MAKES ANY FUCKING SENSE.
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//////////Reply by al x
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
@anonymous, but is as for it might always never sometimes if will always does.
//////////Reply by gnar sesh
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
@cantoxiv, and to thine own self be true but remember what lies in the hands of the bequether……………..
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//////////Reply by juicesteese
//////////Posted August 20th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
@al x, oklahoma is for st. vincent
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918 Bros version just seemed uninspired. Grizzly Bears version is very playful and bouncy. His was tripping all over the place. Makes me think of ‘authorship’ though. Maybe that’s Carles’ point.
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piss awn grizzbear
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Agreed, clearly Carles is trying to push the envelope of stirring up some controvery with this one. Yeah this bro has sum talent, but he can’t even be compared to the brilliance that is GB. Prolly took the dood ‘2 weeks’ just to learn how to play 1 intrument of this song. Nice cover, nothing more.
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//////////Reply by Justin
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
@bRonerZ, i have no idea why i keep replying to these. i guess as a good friend and musician i know great work when i see it. If i were to guess, he took about half a day to learn the music and a couple days to record and master the video. (coming from experience recording with him)
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saw grizzbear in bloomington, indiana. got tugjob in the crowd from some indie chick during song, 2 Weeks.
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//////////Reply by tao
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@bredalt, no you didn’t.
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//////////Reply by bredalt
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
@tao, ahhhh i’m guilty!
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//////////Reply by rad positive youth
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 11:22 am
@bredalt, i think i was at that show. was there a disco ball, and did it feel sort of like a high school prom?
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//////////Reply by bredalt
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
@rad positive youth, yeah — they also had some ’shimmery’ stuff hanging above the stage.
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Crls your recent posts havn’t been too funny. I get the article and everything but it doesnt have any comedy to it, but maybe your a “serious” alt blog now, if so please tell me ya’ll.
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wuz rlly in2 them ‘pre-sung tongs’. thought it wuz weird that they released their double album ‘merriweather post pavilion / veckatimest’ so many months apart. still think they r ‘ok’ if not bet r than this bro.
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thank you! i’ve been saying for weeks taht grizz bear is OB SO freaking LETE y’all.
only thing that we need grizzbare around for is to generate memes via eddy droste hanging w/ feist and/or getting a tubjob with her mouth.
also grizzbare hanging w/ MTV news d00d. really don’t need them for anything else anymore.
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If you were musically inclined you would hear what a poor and sloppy performance this actually was. Nothing he did was very technically difficult either.
Grizzly Bear is nowhere near becoming obsolete because it takes compositional and performance skills to even make a legitamate dent in the music scene.
It isn’t too difficult to work with other people. All it takes is cooperation and an open mind/ear.
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//////////Reply by anonyt
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
@Andy, where have all these cmmntrs come from?
you’re all a bunch of fucking spuds
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//////////Reply by
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Looking forward to your album, Andy!
You sound really talented!!!
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//////////Reply by CT
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
@Andy, I agree.
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//////////Reply by Justin
//////////Posted August 22nd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
@Andy, I dont know what else to say but if you can’t appreciate what he has done, you obviously have a long way to go towards being musically inclined.
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Grizzly Bear
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We still need Grizzly Bear to write the songs, yo.
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what an entertaining video!
hot!
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Let’s hope Grizzly Bear does not enter into the non-alt realm that DCC and Rilo Kiley so fatuously entered.
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really not that in love w/918 or the geebz.
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indie doesnt exist in the 21st century, morons.
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//////////Reply by Joshbro
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
@zoetrope, I like you. thnk we mite ‘have soemthing’. See you around or something. :S
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they are not that obsolete, they can still influence people (via mutantism): http://lookbook.nu/look/207758-grizzly-bear-ed-music-mutantism
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i hate grizzly bear so much. They write simple songs and are all queer
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//////////Reply by gnar sesh
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
@anoon, your just bein a queer smearer… which is no better than a queer. smearer.
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Carles you are definitely on to something here. Why doesn’t someone grow a sack and say what everyone has been thinking. Grizzbear’s music is BORING. Big deal if they are good at harmonizing their voices. How is copying a style that was played out 40 years ago (see: Beach Boys, The) any better than copying a style that was played out in 2k7?
I think they all need to take guitar lessons and learn to write music that has some real emotion to it, assuming fame and fortune haven’t stripped them of all authenticity and rendered them soulless personal brand automatons.
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//////////Reply by anoon
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
@Iceberg, Here Here!!
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//////////Reply by Andy
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
@Iceberg, No one is saying they’re only good at harmonizing their voices. The rest of their album is actually quite intricate. Technique, meter changes, harmony, song structure, and prescence.
They have taken lessons, all but Ed D. are accomplished and formal musicians.
I doubt they’re rich and famous. Yet.
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//////////Reply by Iceberg
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
@Andy, You’re right Andy, perhaps I am being unfair to the Grizz. Any discussion about overrated indie bands has to begin and end with The Dirty Projection Machines.
“Take one part talent and four parts bloghype. Shake. Serve chilled.”
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//////////Reply by Orange Jews
//////////Posted August 22nd, 2009 at 8:22 am
@Iceberg,
i second that, gb is a tried and true yawnfest.
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If the dude could play every instrument in the world and play every part of a Mozart symphony better than anyone would he be making Mozart irrelevant?
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//////////Reply by Joshbro
//////////Posted August 18th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
@Penguin, quite possibly. Mozart can’t play for shit anymore [via deadness], might be time to re-up the Allegro in C.
Salieri was slighltly more alt and would probe sign to Ed Banger.
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that was dumb, people that talented can do that with anysong, y u picking on grizzly?
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mothereff
i just spent three hours listening to this song last night, practicing all the vocal parts so that i could post my own cover vid. fuck you, coverbro
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grizzly bare kind of puts me to sleep yall. dunno y we ever stopped listening to the panda bears. feeling nostalgic for when fucking your “significant other” to good girl/carrots was still relevant.
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//////////Reply by chong
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 8:19 am
@panda bro, yea pandy bear made gizzly bear irrelavent way bfore this gheybro
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Yeah, Grizzly came up with it first. Props to them. Check back when ‘bro’ has written his own material. GB’s version is much better anywayz.
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//////////Reply by Will
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
@CT, here’s my own material, check back now plz?
http://www.myspace.com/willsturgeon
but i agree, GB version is much better.
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Thanks so much for the feature Carles! I do, however, have a few comments.
Firstly, I agree with most everyone here and don’t think this makes GB obsolete. let’s be honest, I pretty much just copied their instrumentation and tried to make it sound close to theirs. It’s not better than their recording, and obviously I didn’t write it, so overall, it’s not too impressive. BUT I am very thankful that you enjoyed it and posted it here, though i do think the controversy is a lil contrived.
Secondly, though I should expect nothing less, I would like people to understand that I DO compose my own material and I’m pretty proud of it, and would love it if people wanted to listen to my originals before making a judgment on my musicality. So, for you, hipsterrunoff, a free download of my EP.
http://willsturgeon.bandcamp.com
thanks again for the article. and the comments are somewhat helpful, so thanks to you guys too.
lastly, this is not the end of Grizzly Bear, or anyone else who can write amazing songs. just because someone like me can copy their recording doesn’t mean i can copy their songwriting.
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//////////Reply by Wildwood
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
@Will, Good songs man! I like it, though it’s softer than my personal tastes – thanksgiving was more to my liking…Very psychedelic and driving. The initial stereo switching on ‘The Undeserv’d’ is a little jarring because it’s so abrupt. Other than that, I really like the mixes. Your recordings are good enough to offer your services to people, if you have the space…..
Keep up the good work man!
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feeling like “2 Weaks” isn’t even in dude’s timbre…
bro’s original lyrics seem a bit _____ (constructive critique)
keep it up dog, your totally rigid perception of scale movement + tonality + opaque-romantic lyrics will still be relevant to pop music in 2kbeyond
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//////////Reply by bheron
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
@bheron, as a homerecorder myself not tryna insult bro. just tryna emphasize his relevance.
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//////////Reply by Wildwood
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
@bheron, You obviously didn’t listen to any of his songs if you feel he has a ‘rigid perception of scale movement (did you mean melody or progression?) tonality (whatever his acoustic guitar is, that thing has TONE, man – great reverbs as well, good, if overused compression) as for the lyrics…well yes, they could be better, but we can’t all be a baudelaire or a cobain. But they’re not bad either.
For a ‘homerecorder’ you really need to invest some time in a good music theory book.
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//////////Reply by bheron
//////////Posted August 19th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
@Wildwood, not trying to get into a heated discussion with you– just trying to fit the “HRO aesthetic” (which is a partial justification for vagueness). I only listened to the undeserved…
regarding scale movement: I was talking about the way the melody develops over the course of the song and how the harmonies and chords are voiced (voiced in a way that, to me, sounds generic– e.g. the multiple vocal lines, reverb guitar lines)…
regarding tone: reverb and compression don’t signify “tone” to me– but this is only my perception (like you say these effects aren’t foreign to pop music). The tone of an acoustic guitar– I think, would be dictated by the actual physical properties of the instrument and the environment it was recorded in– not the reverb presets slapped onto it in garageband or whatever.
regarding lyrics: I honestly don’t think cobain is a great lyricist, or that being a good lyricist is an inherent property of a good songwriter (because will surgeon or w/e is a good songwriter)… I am a lot younger than will (he’s 19 right?) and I just have a different perception of what constitutes good lyrics…I am mostly into Pusha T, old Jay-Z, old Bun-B, old Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Lil B U NO?
regarding homerecording vs. knowledge of theory: I am a youth musician playing in multiple orchestras, through this orchestra experience I’ve learned a little bit (this is a lykke li reference) about theory. I have written pop music in my bedroom for as long as I’ve played in orchestras (around 6 yrs) I’d say that one doesn’t directly inform the other at all– I never consult my (ostensibly limited) knowledge of theory consciously in writing my own music.
again i wasn’t trying to insult anyone or start an argument– I just meant to communicate the fact that kids making generic pop music (no matter how much “talent” they have as songwriters) will always be around. hopefully i made my comments clearer/more constructive?
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//////////Reply by juicesteese
//////////Posted August 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
@Wildwood, “we can’t all be a baudelaire or a cobain”. we cant all blow our faces off with shotguns either.
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All I know is this: I MUST HAVE HIS T-SHIRT. Where can I get one of my own???
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S0 SIQ OF THE GRIZZLY BEARS ALREADY.
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This kid has NO soul. This rendition is but a shadow of th original. Whoever wrote this article is a moron.
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Why does everybody keep saying bro?? Among the plethora of words out there to describe some random person on youtube, bro is one of the more annoying ones, especially when it’s used repetitively. Does bro have some secret meaning or significance on here that I’m not aware of??
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