Am I right or what? After savaging the wolf-band-name population and exhausting the same linguistic ecosystem of deer phrases, the indie-rock mammal-band juggernaut has extended its hungry gaze toward the ursine community. Yes, yes, there’s already Grizzly Bear and Volcano the Bear, Bear Vs. Shark and Minus the Bear — but those are really just the beginning. A whole new sloth of bear bands is coming this way. (And by the way, check out my new band, the Specious Sidebars.)SEABEAR | Reykjavík’s Sindri Már Sigfússon also goes under the name Sin Fang Bous, and if you heard his 2008 debut, Clangour, you’re already acquainted with his oddball charm. Seabear are a folksier, more collaborative seven-piece realization of his softer side. Their debut, We Built a Fire, is fresh out on Morr Music.
BEAR HANDS | This Brooklyn four-piece had a great go at the music festival I promised never to mention again, and now they’re bounding around the country with our own Passion Pit. The pairing and their popularity are easy to understand — a little Modest Mouse, a little Shins, a smidge of the Pit. Their BBQ-ready “What a Drag” single is about to drop on Cantora records.
IWRESTLEDABEARONCE | If you’re in the market for sprawling, Busey-inspired, attention-deficit avant-metal with jarring loungy interludes, this Shreveport wrecking crew may be for you. If you hate little shits with asymmetrical bobs and checkered jeans, you should probably skip their appearance on the Warped Tour and just get their It’s All Happening LP (Century) for the decidedly non–Hot Topical confines of your home.
BEARFORCE 1 | In case you were waiting around for a joke about the other kind of bear band, with guts and beards and man-on-man nookie and what not, you’re too late — they broke up last June.
Related:
Photos: Tegan and Sara at the Ames Hotel, Photos: Silversun Pickups at the Ames Hotel, SXSW 2010 (Saturday): [Photos] J Mascis, Exene Cervenka, and Fucked Up, More 
- Photos: Tegan and Sara at the Ames Hotel
Photos from Tegan and Sara's special live acoustic set at the Ames Hotel.
- Photos: Silversun Pickups at the Ames Hotel
Photos of the Silversun Pickups' visit to the Ames Hotel
- SXSW 2010 (Saturday): [Photos] J Mascis, Exene Cervenka, and Fucked Up
Photos of J Mascis, Exene Cervenka, and Fucked Up, live at SXSW 2010
- Molten metal
Let’s cut to the chase — metal is back. And not just as a popular musical style, but as a subculture, freely seeping into the mainstream in a variety of strange ways, from the bullet belts you see on a dance floor to the devil horns being thrown by everybody and your uncle’s band.
- Photos: Band of Horses at the Ames Hotel
Band of Horses, live at WFNX Ames Hotel Session
- Photos: Pearl Jam live at the TD Garden
Pearl Jam's Boston stop on their 2010 tour
- The Big Hurt: What would Jesus download?
True, I may be the wrong guy to review the top tracks on the Billboard Christian Songs chart. I’m not religious, so songs about Jesus mean about as much to me as songs about Popeye.
- Crystal Castles | Crystal Castles (2010)
The battlefield of ’00s electro-tantrum spazz-ravers is littered with the corpses of those who burned too brightly at the outset and, in the process, burned out any interest in a sustained career of noisemaking.
- Joyride
It is May 1966, in the Prelude Club in Harlem, an Atlantic Records release party.
- One night, one jazz trifecta
True, there aren't enough paying gigs for musicians, but the live music is out there — and last Wednesday, I had to scramble to make three promising shows.
- Hipster University
On-campus concerts — for us graduates or college abstainers — offer a lot to complain about, but it’s worth taking a chance on a college gig or two this year.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Entertainment, Bear Hands, I Wrestled a Bear Once, More
, Entertainment, Bear Hands, I Wrestled a Bear Once, I Wrestled a Bear Once, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Music Festivals, Modest Mouse, Minus the Bear, passion pit, Less
