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Bear share
A Grizzly bedroom band reinvent the remix
BY DAVID DAY
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It’s a scenario endemic to indie buzz. Boston native EDWARD DROSTE’s bedroom art-folk project GRIZZLY BEAR released a debut album, Horn of Plenty (Kanine), that unexpectedly garnered praise from all quarters, spreading from the Internet elite to the New York press to the high-class fashion tome V (which described them as "Neil Young on cough syrup"). "We were very lucky to have all this great press, but the album was probably in a total of 20 stores nationwide," Droste says. "It was practically impossible to find, but knowing that Grizzly Bear were not going to stay with Kanine, the label was not about to re-release the album with no reason, so that’s when the concept of having a bonus free CD of remixes came to light." The idea worked: on November 8, Horn of Plenty gets a re-release to capitalize on the buzz and also to take advantage of a new distribution deal for Kanine through Fontana, a new division of the Universal empire designed to capitalize on the hot indie market. The album will include a second disc of remixes from such producers as Dntel, Soft Pink Truth, and SF electro-pranksters Safety Scissors. "It's bizarre how easy it was to track people down," writes Droste from his new home in trendy Greenpoint, Brooklyn, just before embarking on a 10-day trip to Cape Cod, "and how nine out of 10 times, people are just excited to be part of a different type of project with other artists they respect, and how once I sent them the CD they all loved it and did it for free." The disc also includes versions by non-traditional remixers, such as Momus-endorsed electro-folkster Phiiliip and Arcade Fire’s Owen Pallett. "We got people like Ariel Pink, Castanets, folk artists who’d never remixed anything, to give it a go. There are great dancy ones, as well as drony, mellow, and folky ones." After high school, Droste spent a year in Europe, enrolled at Hampshire College, found it "too remote," and ended up at NYU, where Grizzly Bear came together. "I was glad to be out of Massachusetts. No offense, but I had grown up in Boston my whole life and I just needed a change." But when it came time to finish the follow-up to Horn of Plenty, which is due in the spring, he came back to Boston. "We set up camp in July and August, in my childhood home in my living room." Although Grizzly Bear began as a solo project, it has quickly evolved into a band, and the new album "is definitely more akin to the live show, and it shows that it’s not just me in my bedroom anymore but rather four guys in my mom's living room. Ha-ha." If you like the Funk Carioca remix style of DIPLO and M.I.A. and every other bandwagoneer this side of Brazil, you’re advised to keep this Sunday open. DJ MARLBORO may or may not have invented the genre, but the São Paulo DJ, producer, and promoter is the godfather of the sound. Following a summer gig in Hyannis, he’s back October 23 at Wonderland Ballroom, 1260 North Shore Road in Revere. Miss it at your peril . . . Blogger/DJ Blair Carswell — a/k/a Mr. Blair — of the esteemed MP3 blog Music.for-Robots.com takes the decks Saturday at Enormous Room. Expect a mad mix of current electronic trends, dance rerubs, and more-current-than-you supersmashes . . . Boston-bred KRIS KONO is one of the few lesbian deep-house DJs on the scene. She drops the funk Sunday at UTOPIA, at the Office in Government Center. Helmed by DJ BRUNO, the weekly night has one of the best sound systems in the city and surely has the best dancers. It might be a trip to get to, but the upstairs, weekend-only spot has the bass to shake your face. David Day spins Thursdays at Middlesex Lounge and Fridays at Enormous Room. He can be reached at circuits@squar3.com.
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