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Now, I have written at length about Grizzly Bear already this month, so I won’t use this review to wax redundant about Veckatimest’s astounding singularity— but I will say simply that it gets better live. If, however, it is the band’s meticulous attention to sonic detail that stands out on record, it is their astonishing technical virtuosity and aesthetic cohesiveness that allow these songs to grow and explore their own boundaries in a live setting.

After so many listens on headphones, I was somewhat concerned that these songs would feel distant and unfocused elsewhere; transposing intimate, textured compositions into a room packed with a drunk and sweaty audience is no small task. On stage, many great bands are wholly demystified as their compositions unravel into individual instruments and melodic lines that expose their weakest links and structural clichés. With Grizzly Bear though, the constituent parts always unite— they always play to a larger purpose than their own.

We have long known that Grizzly Bear make great records (and 2009’s critical Best Of lists will further illustrate this), but last night’s performance revealed to me that they are our next truly great band.  And I mean great in the Radiohead sense of the word. Now, I would never propose any kind of meaningful comparison between the two bands in terms of artistic importance or whatever— I’m just saying that as I stood watching Grizzly Bear last night— I was always, consciously or otherwise, I’m not quite sure— associating them with big S superlatives and the band so unreservedly declared the best in the world.

To me, the reason that Radiohead have sat on top of the music kingdom for so long now is twofold:  unrivalled individual musicianship and an irreducible group unity. And this is what struck me about Grizzly Bear last night. The combined effect of each of their considerable talents is something far greater than their aggregate face value. Its like, 1+1+1+1=5. Or something.

Anyways, this is not necessarily a justification of or an apology for a real Radiohead/Grizzly Bear comparison, but I am now going to briefly expound upon a few of the love hearts that I came home with on a napkin last night.

“Chris Bear is the best drummer in indie rock.”

Sure, John Stanier is wildly idiosyncratic and technically perfect, but Bear’s free-jazz progressivism is, in my mind, the key ingredient behind Grizzly Bear’s heart-quickening transitions from hushed folk to widescreen psychedelia.

“Daniel Rossen is the best guitarist in indie rock.”

The world’s greatest jazz musicians know that technical virtuosity is only relevant insomuch as it facilitates emotional or aesthetic expression. Rossen’s jaunty rhythms and dense chord progressions create a quietly unnerving sense of longing and unease; his knotty arpeggios and intricate noise rock segues are, to me, the fullest reinterpretation of the basic psychedelic aesthetic since the 70’s.

“Chris Taylor is the best producer in indie rock.”

Like Johnny Greenwood or TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Taylor takes on the role of invisible bandleader. Taylor controls every facet of the Grizzly Bear aesthetic; his manipulation explores textures and layers without sounding precious or over-produced. The sounds he gets from his pitch shifted clarinets or reverb coated flute delay loops are not just experimental— they are, like Greenwood and Yorke’s vocal scaling on OK Computer, entirely groundbreaking.

“Ed Droste is the best vocalist in indie rock.”

He has more control, more range, more depth and certainly a far greater ability to sends chills down an audience’s spine at will than anyone else I have seen in the past few years, Thom included.

“Grizzly Bear are the best band in contemporary indie rock.”