Looking for today’s most popular blog post? Hit grizzly-bear.net, where eldest Bear Ed Droste pens a look back at the great year in Grizzly that was ’07, teases a forthcoming track collaboration with Ms. Indie Rock shortlister Leslie Feist, and shines a light on a choice moment in pop-trash-to-moving-track transubstantiation, courtesy of bandmate (and Mr. Inde Rock contender — it’s the glasses) Daniel Rossen. The trash in question: Jo Jo’s ’06 innocence-lost ditty “Too Little Too Late.” Apparently Ed threw the gauntlet a year ago, saying:
I wanted him to sing it very seriously, as if he really meant all those lyrics (which, if you know the song, is really hilarious) and he did, and what happened? Well, everyone who has heard it can’t even believe it’s the same song. He turned something so auto-tuned and trite into a really great song.
If you don’t remember the OG, head here. Now wash it away by downloading this:
Pretty fucking great, dusty and hazy and hooky in the same order as Dan’s “Deep Blue Sea,” or his “Graceland” (also noted in the blog post: Paul Simon attending that NY Society For Ethical Culture gig that we sort of lost our shit over). Makes us call all the more adamantly: Dan, more Department of Eagles now please.
[Pic of Dan from Grizzly's set at the Bookeaters Benefit @ Beacon Theatre 8/27/07]
And for a blogger bonus, Ed rattles off his Top 15. “Everybody’s doing it,” he writes. True. Check ‘em after the jump.
01 Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
02 Radiohead – In Rainbows
03 Deerhunter – Florescent Grey EP/Cryptograms
04 Cass McCombs – Dropping the Writ
05 Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
06 Foreign Born- On A Wing Now
07 Feist – The Reminder
08 Vampire Weekend – Blue CD-R
09 Beirut – Flying Club Cup
10 Papercuts- Can’t Go Back
11 Justice – ?
12 Sleeping States – There the Open Spaces
13 Róisín Murphy – Overpowered
14 PJ Harvey – White Chalk
15 Yeasayer – All Hours Cymbals
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dep’t of eagles rules yo face
What?! A top ten (15 in this case) list of albums for 2007 and he fails to include The National? I think he did that on purpose…it’s like part 2 of doing something silly (covering JoJo = forgetting Boxer) while acting completely earnest in doing so.
some people don’t like the national jeff!
that cover is great
that cover is amazing and is yet another point towards daniel being a complete genius. yes more dept of eagles. and listen, seriously, more grizzly bear. these upcoming things are going to be AMAZING.
im so tired of people saying that an artist turned something pop into a “really great song” by doing an acoustic cover of it. the song hasnt changed, only the presentation and arrangement. all he did was make it easier to see that it was a good song in the first place, when it was immediately dismissed by most people simply because it was a JoJo song. if the song was “trite” before, then it’s still trite. if you think it’s a good song now, then it was a good song back when she sang it, even if you didn’t like JoJo’s performance. if you actually like music (and are not an ignorant pretentious elitist) then a good song is a good song regardless of who is singing.
hey stop having a chrissyfit christopher
I think it’s clear Ed liked the song, but thought it was cheesy but still a catchy song. Dan didn’t like it but did it for his birthday. Some people have enjoyed it others haven’t. The world keeps turning .
His friends are really his Friends, no? He only missed Band of Horses tho.
I like most of the list and I would have left The National of that top 15 for sure.
haha i like that chrissyfit name. i agree it doesnt seem like a big deal, and by itself it’s not. my problem is that this is exactly what people say every time someone comes out with a cover like this. i’ve just heard way too many covers of “hey ya” where people go, “wow you made this song good!” pop songwriters dont always get the credit they deserve, in my opinion at least.
Finally some love for Dirty Projectors and Rise Above!
i fucking love Dirty Projectors’ Rise Above.
constant, heavy repeat.
“some people don’t like the national jeff!”
Oh, you mean people that enjoy JoJo, and/or people that do not necessarily enjoy JoJo but still have bad taste in music.
This cover is insanely good.
Sorry, the original is better. Maybe its provenance makes it a guilty pleasure, but sometimes bubblegum pup was meant to be that way.
This cover is the shit. I am loving it. I am an unabashed GB fan and love Dan’s other covers/Department of Eagles songs. Btw I loved The National’s Alligator but wasn’t soiling myself over their new one. I didnt quite understand what they were talking about with that Fake Impala song–was that a Snoop Dogg reference? If anyone can break it down for me it might help my enjoyment of this album.
“some people don’t like the national jeff!”
Oh, you mean people that enjoy JoJo, and/or people that do not necessarily enjoy JoJo but still have bad taste in music.”"”"”"”
—-so, if you don’t like the national you have bad taste in music?
that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. And leave poor jo jo out of it!
“Hey Ya” is quite possibly the best song thus yet written in the 21st century. Anyone claiming to have made it better should be burned at the stake.
Why do people always flip out at other people’s musical tastes? Top lists are only relevant to the people making them. Are you all totally insecure or what?
I take this as: if you like Grizzly Bear, maybe you’ll be interested in what Ed thinks is the best music of the year, and find something you wouldn’t have listened to, and maybe you’ll like it. Personally, the angle of attacking it for omitting things that I LIKE doesn’t even enter my mind. Why do you do that?
BECAUSE YOU’RE ALL CRAZY. THAT’S WHY.