Beach House in January?

Yippee. There's a new Beach House album coming out in January.
The newly minted Sub-Poppers are working with Grizzly Bear producer Chris Coady (of course). The title of their follow up to Devotion? Teen Dream (of course).
In other Beach House news, I just listened to the Grizzly Bear track from the Twilight soundtrack. It features Beach House's Victoria LeGrand...and is actually lovely (gulp). Aww Jam. I'm getting sucked into this thing aren't I?
[Pitchfork]
[youtube]

Grizzly Bear/ Beach House, Metro, 9/27/09

I saw Beach House and Grizzly Bear tonight at Harmonyfest 2009. O.K, well it wasn't officially called Harmonyfest, but it should've been.

Beach House made the live versions of their songs a bit punchier than what you'll find on their ambient, shoegazy, moody albums. Victoria's voice is amazing and she didn't hold back at all, belting out my favorites with (I just realized) a voice eerily similar to Dusty Springfield's.

My Grizzly Bear experience was greatly improved over their Pitchfork set, I think their music is much better suited to intimate venues. There were moments that astonished me with their beauty, and yes their harmonies are excellent...but there were also a few (admittedly rare) moments where I got a bit lost in the proggy-ness. The couple next to me progressively got drunker over the night, and by the end of the set were trying to dance along to the music. Grizzly Bear's songs are pretty convoluted, so I'm sure you can imagine how successful they were. The lighting on stage was quite twee (in a good way). They had lightbulbs inside mason jars. Aww.

Grizzly Bear and Beach House tonight!

I'm going to see Grizzly Bear and Beach House tonight at The Metro...show's at 7pm.

Upcoming Shows

Well, it seems that the Chicago live music scene hasn't totally dried up after all.
Here's some upcoming concerts I'm excited about:

Grizzly Bear/ Beach House at the Metro. September 27th, 7pm.

The Horrors at The Double Door. October 11th, 9pm.

Dead Man's Bones at Schubas. October 21st, 10pm.

Pitchfork on Sunday was The Very Best

The Flaming Lips, Pitchfork Music Festival. 7/19/09

I was only able to got to Pitchfork on Sunday this year, however, it seems I picked the best day. I got to see old Victorian Horror favorites, M83 - as well as Grizzly Bear (who were amazing), DJ Rupture, The Walkmen, The Flaming Lips, and The Very Best.
The Very Best were the surprise of the evening, those of us who left The Flaming Lips to go check them out were duly rewarded with a fantastic show.
I couldn't do a festival post without my award-winning shaky video...so here's a mash up of all the stuff I saw yesterday:

What now?

So the Blur reunion is over*. Still no word on any other dates, so for now it looks as if this was it. I'm obviously still hoping for a last minute announcement of a one-off American show...you never know.

So now what? Well I'm pretty sure Victorian Horror might switch over into full on Plastic Beach hysteria. The announcements about the new Gorillaz album are becoming more and more hype-worthy. I mean The Horrors? On a Gorillaz album? It's like my fantasy band come to life.
Another upcoming topic will be the Pitchfork festival, which is this weekend. I'm only going on Sunday (due to other commitments), but I'm really excited to see M83 again...and Grizzly Bear!

So, all is not lost. The Blur reunion has made me realize that, while Blur are, and always will be, my favorite band; I'm actually more excited about the new things that Damon's doing. Now in a perfect world that would include a new Blur album.

*Maybe.