The Bowery Presents

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Governors Island - Ticketed Beach Show
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Grizzly Bear
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Grizzly Bear released Yellow House in 2006. It was a slow, steady and stunning ride—boundless in scope and elegance. Given the album's otherworldly charm and staying power, it's hard to believe three years have gone by.

That might seem like a long time. But given Grizzly Bear's hectic touring schedule, including stints with Radiohead, TV On The Radio and Feist—as well as several performances during a five-night tribute to Paul Simon at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a co-headlining show with the L.A. Philharmonic, and the release of Friend, a 10-song EP of re-recorded and re-worked songs, collaborations and covers—all of this seems very reasonable. They've been busy.

But about a year ago, singer/songwriter Ed Droste, drummer Christopher Bear, bassist Chris Taylor and singer/songwriter/guitarist Daniel Rossen —whose other band, Department of Eagles, released the sublime In Ear Park last fall—began passing demos around and working together creatively in different pairs and permutations. A few months later, blessed with producer/engineer Chris Taylor's willingness to transport his recording equipment, they began the recording process for Veckatimest, which would unfold over the next six months in three very singular locations. And in many ways, it is the recording process that reveals this record—each space catalyzing different interactions, inspirations, and ultimately, songs.

In July, the band spent three weeks at the Glen Tonche house in upstate New York. The beauty, mystery and surrealistic feel to the estate made anything seem do-able, possible and even magical. Though still finding their feet, much of the album's groundwork was laid there. After breaking briefly for the Radiohead tour in August, the band convened at a house on Cape Cod (graciously provided by Droste's grandmother) where they re-addressed and solidified the compositions they'd started at Glen Tonche. Lastly, Grizzly Bear came home, to a church in NYC, to fine-tune and complete the album—named Veckatimest, after a tiny, uninhabited island on Cape Cod that the band visited and was inspired by, particularly liking its Native American name. Following initial mixes by Chris Taylor, the band brought Gareth Jones (Interpol, Liars) over from England for a final mixing session with Taylor. The album was then mastered by Greg Calbi. Artist William O'Brien created Veckatimest's colorful, hand drawn artwork—a perfect compliment to the album's enigmatic title.

There is an unbelievable clarity of sound and vision to Veckatimest: vocals (a duty now shared by all band members) are sharper and more complex, arrangements are tighter, production is more venturous and lyrics more affecting. Having opened the creative dialogue at such an early stage, Grizzly Bear was able to realize these 12 songs together as a band, making it their most collaboratively compositional album to date. Taylor's artistry as a producer and engineer has only gotten stronger, both Rossen and Droste's conviction as singers and lyricists has swelled, and Bear's authority behind the drums is striking.

This yielded an unexpected mix of material that feels more confidant, mature, focused—and most of all, dynamic. From songs like "Dory" (a gracefully psychedelic, ever-evolving work),"Ready, Able" (a synth-y opus, and one of four songs that boasts string arrangements by composer Nico Muhly) and "Foreground" (a plaintive, vocal-driven send-off, and one of two songs to feature choral arrangements also by Muhly) to more resounding pop songs like "Two Weeks" (an other-worldly doo wop featuring backing vocals from Beach House's Victoria LeGrand) and "While You Wait For the Others" (a triumphant and melodically cacophonous pop masterpiece), Veckatimest is an album of the highest highs and lowest lows—an unbelievably diverse collection of songs that celebrates the strength of each band member, and the power of the whole. It was well worth the wait.
The Walkmen
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The music that inspired the Walkmen to compose You and Me follows in a tradition of song writing that goes back to early rock 'n' roll: the intimacy and energy of Elvis Presley's and Buddy Holly's early recordings, and the massive voice and orchestration of Roy Orbison. And it carries on through people like Bob Marley and Randy Newman and on to bands like The Pogues and The Modern Lovers - the sort of songs that are very much a product of their time and place while firmly rooted in tradition. The vocals were performed live right in the room with the full band, and sometimes a horn section too.

With some romance and drama, You and Me harnesses a sense of classic live-band production into meticulously constructed, unique-sounding rock songs. The sound would definitely not be mistaken for old, but it would be impossible to ignore the most timeless influences. You and Me offers a distinctive twist to "the Walkmen" sound of their first three records. Each song shows focus, and an up-beat enthusiasm apparent in all lyrics, music, and performances. It is a long record, clocking in at just under an hour, and it presents a wide range of ideas. The pacing is very important, as the band felt it was essential to set the right tone, and show each song in its proper light.

Writing and recording of You and Me happened over a vibrant and rigorous 2-year period, during which the members of The Walkmen were split between Philadelphia and New York. The band rode China Town busses five days a week to work in two small rehearsal spaces (an old nightclub in Chelsea, New York and a warehouse in Fish Town, Philadelphia) to freeze by the kerosene heater in the winter, and sweat it out in the summer. By the time of the record's pressing there were over four hundred cast-off 8-track tapes littering both spaces.

The song "I Lost You" was the first major breakthrough, and inspired many songs to follow. Maroon was teaching himself the viola and trumpet at the time, and the song was the culmination of many 8-track experiments. The new warmth and romance in the music seemed to beg for the same from the lyrics, so the cold and stand-offish tone that had run a-ground in recent years was abandoned for a more personal and real approach. "I Lost You"' s strange pacing, and the way in which both the music and the lyrics together pushed towards an Orbison-like crescendo, was the new direction everyone had hoped for. Songs like Red Moon, On the Water, If Only it Were True, and In the New Year were soon to follow.

The album was recorded in two installments - the first at Sweet Tea studios in Oxford, Mississippi (where they had worked on Bows and Arrows) with engineer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Hold Steady, Sonic Youth) and in a couple of sessions in New York's Gigantic Studios (built by Phillip Glass) with engineer Chris Zane (who the boys consider "the best f@#king engineer in the world" and a "f@#king god-send").

You and Me is a solid and complex showcase of inspired songwriting. Romantic and celebratory, this is the sound of The Walkmen returning to classic form.
Gang Gang Dance
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The arc and trajectory on which Gang Gang Dance has propelled themselves since their inception can only be described in terms of evolution. Five individuals with strong ties to the art community and almost boundless creative energy orienting themselves into a musical collaboration, the direction of which is almost as unpredictable as it is focused. It can be said that Gang Gang Dance grew out of the turn of the century Null New York scene, as various members played or worked with such outfits as The Cranium, Actress, Russia, SSAB Songs and Jackie-O Motherfucker. The genesis of the band was very much collaborative in nature with Brian Degraw, Tim Dewit, Lizzie Bougatsos, Nathan Maddox and Josh Diamond experimenting in tiny practice spaces and only somewhat larger public venues with various other musicians peripherally involved. At this point the band was called Death & Dying, but by 2001 or 2002 the GGD moniker had been embraced. A trip out to a studio in Kentucky and a few long nights in a tiny studio in Chinatown birthed the 40 minutes that would become their first self-titled full length. Tragically, in 2002 Nathan was struck by lightning and killed while watching a storm on the roof of his apartment building. By 2003 the band had refined the tribal-futurism sound which they had been working with to it’s purest form. In October Revival Of The Shittest was cut together and released on The Social Registry, first in a limited CDR edition of only 100. The release of their first full-length followed. The band was playing to packed clubs in NYC, exploding on stage, often passing out drums and flutes to audience members, their sound one of perfectly controlled havoc. Through the spring and summer of 2004 they began to resurface, often unannounced, with new material that found them preoccupied more than ever before with song writing & dynamics. The live performances were untouchable; bombastic and structured yet still resonating perfectly upon those innate elements of the psyche that their music had been playing to in the earlier years. By the close of 2004 they had played with Slint & Sonic Youth, toured with Animal Collective, cut together and released Hillulah, a live cdep, and tracked most of the material that would become their second full-length God’s Money. With God’s Money set to be released in April the band headed to out play the Vincent Gallo curated All Tomorrows Parties in March of 2005, doing a short tour of Europe which found them playing both Portuguese punk clubs and museum atriums. A proper tour of North America was embarked upon with Blood Lines, an outfit built around the other two members of Tim & Brian’s first band The Cranium. A riot was started in Seattle, members of the press found a new band to champion, and they ended their tour with a legendary outdoor performance on Spring Street in New York City. By the end of 2005 the band had also toured in Australia and Japan. In June of 2007 Gang Gang Dance followed up their constant touring and the critical success of God’s Money with Retina Riddim, a multimedia project which consisted of a 33 minute art film and a 20-minute audio collage both of which were drawn from the band’s archives of their activities from 2005 to 2006 and authored by band member Brian Degraw. The release showed the band’s willingness to embrace all aspects of the their creative nature as well as their ambition to work out of the standard preconceived notions of the music industry. This release was followed in September of 2007 by RAWWAR, a three track EP culled together from material recorded earlier in the year, and hinted at the direction the bands vision was taking. Even more based in classic song structure than God’s Money it featured songs that showed the pop potential of the band’s sound while maintaining their firm commitment to pushing the boundaries of musical convention. Gang Gang Dance’s ambition did not go unnoticed through 2007 as they were approached by The Whitney Museam of Contemporary Art to be included in their 2008 biennial, an offer rarely extended to musicians. For the exhibition, the four again chose to incorperate visual manipulation into their performance; utilizing film projections, a number of participants dressed in ceremonial masks – all elements combining to create a spectacle that was by all accounts breathtaking. Throughout 2007 and early 2008 Gang Gang Dance continued work on a new full-length studio album, Saint Dymphna, to be released in October of 2008. The album takes an even dancier, inclusive direction that continues to emphasize the ritualistic elements of their music. It features a guest appearance from UK Grime artist Tinchy Stryder and represents the most fully realized work by the band.. Saint Dymphna will be preceded by a single, House Jam, that will feature a remix of the track by Hot Chip. After the recording for Saint Dymphna was finished Tim Dewit decided to take a break from his duties in Gang Gang Dance to work on other projects. In his absence the band have bought in Jesse Lee on drums.
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