ACL Artist: Bear In Heaven
Bear In Heaven make music that I wouldn’t typically spend too much time with, but there’s something about this band that is stirring up quite the buzz pot lately that keeps spinning my attention. At first listen, you could write them off as a band being thrust into the fallout stream of hipster hype created by bands like Animal Collective and Yeasayer, but there’s something a bit more unique about these guys that I appreciate a bit more. Bear In Heaven seem to posses this idea of futuristic exploration in their music that feels much like some of the music that some of the music pioneers, more specifically electronic music pioneers of the 80′s. Band’s like Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, New Order, Skinny Puppy, just to name a few, that were making music that was experimental, a bit strange, but curiously good. Bear In Heaven doesn’t sound like these bands, they just seem to embody the spirit of those bands around that time while still maintaining a progressive sound in today’s saturated venue.
Seemingly fairly fresh to the scene, the band’s history actually goes back to the early 2000′s, with band member Jon Philpot recording his music first as part of the duo Presocratics in 2001, then recording the first Bear In Heaven recording in 2003. Numerous appearances by various musicians on recordings as well as members that have come and gone, Bear In Heaven’s first full-length Red Bloom of The Boom surface in 2007, and the band’s most recent release Beast Rest Forth Mouth in 2009. Beast Rest Forth Mouth is the reason that people are talking about the band today, and a nod from Pitchfork as “Best New Music” sure doesn’t hurt the situation, if you pay attention to that stuff.
The band have been constantly on tour around the world since the release of Beast Rest Forth Mouth gaining fans, while remixing various artists like Crystal Castles, as well as being remixed. All this mixing makes me dizzy.
Bear In Heaven play the ZYNC Card Stage @ 1:30 on Saturday Oct 9th kicking off your afternoon with some breezy, danceable beats.
MP3> Bear In Heaven ‘You Do You’
