I've heard the new Grizzly Bear, and I have to say I'm rather impressed.

The same aesthetic is there from the last one Yellow House, but this is a much more focused effort. Veckatimest is much more song oriented, and the ideas are much more fleshed out and the psychadelic flourishes better realized than the whistful meandering and noise-as-art of Yellow House. On this new one, there's an organic feel to the music, and attention to song craft which shines through the production, instead of being lost in it.

Grizzly Bear isn't the only act out this year with a throwback, paen to '60s psychadelic pop (ala Beach Boys, Zombies, early Pink Floyd). Animal Collective came out earlier with theirs, Merriweather Post Pavilion, but IMO, its a mess compared to Veckatimest. Not that Veckatimest doesn't have its schitzoid moments, but these have been reined in, and the style and aesthetic doesn't over shadow the songs, like it does for most of Merriweather Post Pavillion.

Grizzly Bear sound like they are actually channeling Brian Wilson or Sid Barrett instead of just aping Mercury Rev. It was hard for me sit through Merriweather Post Pavillion, and Veckatimest is over before I know it.