Seems to be competing with MPP for most drooled over album of the year. I passed up the opportunity to download it for $4 off Amazon the other day, mostly because I was disappointed w/ MPP. I think it's interesting that the most cutting edge music of today is very heavily Beach Boys influenced.

I don't see what the hype is all about. It strikes me as above average generic indie.

I think the album is very good. It is however, not a masterpiece, nor a near masterpiece. I really like 4 of the tracks, and while the rest are all right, they can get a bit boring at times.

Not even in the same league as Merriweather. Still prob #2 of the year so far though :/.

I really am surprised at the high reviews. I finally gave it a few listens two days ago, and the first couple of times I fell asleep during the second half due to its languor. It certainly wasn't as consistently interesting as MPP. Finally, after about five spins, it started growing on me, but it still isn't as good as last year's seventh or eighth best album. I even prefer Crack The Skye so far this year.

It is not Beach Boys influenced though.

I thought I had read a review that mentioned "Beach Boys harmonies."

I don't know - to me, anyone who can't hear that the spirit of Brian Wilson hangs just as heavily over VECKATIMEST as it does over MPP isn't listening closely enough (and I say this after only one listen). AC and GB borrow different aspects of Wilson's aesthetic and worldview, but he's all over both records.

Well, maybe I went too far in saying it isn't Beach Boys influenced, since Wilson's best music pervades virtually all rock since the 1960s. If you try hard enough, you can find Wilson in any music. Yes, the first song of Veckatimest brings to mind Fleet Foxes, so there's a good bit of Beach Boys in there. And also true, there are some distinctive harmonies throughout that, when one thinks about it, are Beach Boys-esque. But that's the thing, you have to think about it. So many indie rock albums have harmonies. The influence isn't overt, the harmonies don't sound any more like the BB than many other bands. When I heard the album, I didn't immediately think "oh, Beach Boys." But now that someone else has mentioned it, I can hear it.

Ironically, when I went back just now to listen for Wilson-ics, I found to enjoy it much more.

Maybe I'm opening a huge can of worms by saying this, but I think it's BS that everything that came after the Beatles and Beach Boys is in debt to them. Like I said, I haven't heard Veckatimest, but MPP is heavily influenced by the Beach Boys sound. You can't say that about, say, Belle and Sebastian.

Beatles were kind of the first pop band to successfully be artsy and popular at the same time, and immediately after they did, a whole lot of the best pop music ever recorded was made by bands trying to keep up with them.

I suppose you can argue 'it would have happened anyway', but the Beatles were certainly the spark that led to pop music as we now consider it. Of course, the Beatles owe their sound to a whole lot of R&B bands and 50s rock.

Getting back to Grizzly Bear, I can see what people mean by 'Beach Boys harmonies'. It applies to them the same way it applies to Person Pitch. The whole album though comes off to me as designed to be the sort of music indie kids like. The fact that they're pandering to *me* doesn't make it any less pandering. There are these random experimental flourishes here and there that just don't work in the context of the album. The melodies themselves just aren't that interesting.

Interestingly enough, my parents seem to love this album. My dad walked into the computer room and asked what I was playing: he couldn't believe it when I said the latest Indie Rock record. I played "Fine for Now" (my favorite track) and his opinion went from "this is good" to "this is VERY good". Unfortunately, they still can't stand Animal Collective.

The album is growing on me after the 3rd and 4th listen, although it still suffers from having much stronger first half than second.

Listened to it twice today.

"Two Weeks" is the sole standout (and the video is really f$cking weird!), but I found the rest of album to be rather boring.

Fleet Foxes grabbed me by the short-and-curlies right away; this one was like a sugary fart passing under my nose.

Its beginning to grow on me which is certainly a good thing. After the first couple of listens I really coundn't see what all the fuss was about.

I've got tickets to the show in Toronto tonight. Its gunna be amazing, I can feel it.

i get that this is the kind of album that really begins to grow on you. one of my friends considered it to be a bit 'meh', and much prefered yellow house. but after a few listens, he loves it. i've only heard it once, and found it interesting, but don't 'love' it yet...

it is interesting though, that this is probably the second-most-hyped-record-of-2009 (after MPP), and it seems that this will probably end up 2nd in the EOY. A site like pitchfork (one of the biggest hypers) only gave it 9, which isnt that high for the apparently 2nd best album of 2009...

Veckatimest is definitely an album that you have to work with and focus on to enjoy. I personally think it's the album of the year so far.

There are some low points in the middle("Dory" and "About Face" are my least favorite), but the beginning and ends are filled with fantastic music. "Southern Point" thru "Cheerleader" is 20+ minutes of fantastic music. The album also ends well with "While You Wait for the Others" thru "Foreground." And then they throw in my favorite, "Ready, Able," to bolster the middle. I, for one, can't stop listening to this album and think it deserves all the praise it gets.