Even though I was extremely underwhelmed by Yellow House, thinking that album was a total bore for a band existentially linked with Animal Collective, I had the heart enough to give Veckatimest a fighting chance, what with it being at our fingertips months before the “actual” physical release. Listening to it on the plane to Austin I found myself in and out of conciousness – there were points that pricked my ears, gentle calming orc-pop, but overall I was yawning, head drooping for the duration. Still, the internets persisted, screaming in my face that this was the record that would change all of our minds about Grizzly Bear if they weren’t convinced already. I skipped their blogger infested patio show at SXSW, cause at the time I’d rather be awake and alert – but now I’m kicking myself for this err. As the release date approached I was inundated with videos, live takes, and higher and higher quality rips from VKTMST, and slowly and slowly starting to drink the kool-aid. Then the vinyl came out (finally) and I was hooked. This is one of those infamous records that expands and contracts in its own grooves, its own reverb and atmosphere. Listen to it loud on the turntable, start to hear the miniscule arrangements hiding in the background – the luxurious ebb and flow of a band coming into their own chamber, opera house, stadium. This is one of those records that can only be heard on vinyl, some East Coast Boarding School Dark Side of the Moon made by band geeks and literary magazine editors. 2009 is starting to remind me of 1999, a year when a lot of (now) classics emerged. Rank and file.
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