Grizzly Bear and Phoenix at the Hollywood Bowl

ON Saturday night I was lucky enough to catch these two bands at the Bowl. Both exceeded my expectations.

Grizzly Bear, a Brooklyn group with a bearded-hipster following and a knack for Pet Sounds derived vocal harmonies, has long been an enigma to me: I got their debut LP before it came out, and it literally destroyed my wife's car stereo even before we could hear it. But some of my most dedicated music friends kept urging me to check them out.

When they played Disney Hall a few years back, I was all set to go, but our babysitter fell through and we missed the show. I picked up their latest LP, which came out last year, and have found some of the harmonies interesting, but there's something sterile about it.

But those vocal tapestries, outdoors at the Bowl on a cool late-summer evening, had far more emotional directness, without losing their mystery. And the guitars and other instruments were edgier, dirtier, than on the overly smooth Veckatimest LP. Grizz is not just neo-psych with a Radiohead swoon, but something fresh and weird.

Phoenix is everyone's favorite French band since Air. They've got a knack for catchy melodies, slinky, funk-inspired basslines, and really cool haircuts. I expected a high-energy performance and they pumped it up a bit higher without losing their shy charisma. Members of the group came into the crowd a couple times -- once about 10 feet from where I was sitting -- and somehow it didnt feel cheesy.

As with many bands, especially from other countries, the group was quite clear about how excited they were to be playing the legendary Hollywood Bowl.

Parking was the worst ever -- especially getting out -- but my wife and I were reminded that the Bowl is one of LA's greatest institutions.

ALSO:
Let me update this blog to the recent Echoplex show by one of our favorite bands, the folky British group The Clientele. I've seen them twice and admired the perfectly crafted, delicate Arthur Lee-meets-Nick Drake songs, but this show brought the Television-inspired, high-on-the-neck guitar playing to the fore. This was folk rock without the delicacy, played by a kickass live band. They're touring on a fine EP called Minotaur: I hope it's not the last time we see them.


At right: The gentlemen of Grizzly Bear

Greil Marcus and Five Centuries of the U.S. of A.

WHAT do thomas jefferson, linda lovelace, and pentecostalism all have in common? oh, probably a lot of things. but at the very least, they're all part of a huge new book called "a new literary history of america," which has just dropped on harvard university press. no anthology is perfect, but this one is full of fascinating stuff.

HERE is my new LATimes piece.

part of what makes the volume interesting is that one of the editors is both a west coaster, a rock critic, and a man conspicuously without a Ph. D., greil marcus. the book is full of left coast subjects and contributors. the mystery train author, who has had family in the bay area since he 1880s, explained to me that he doesnt see california as a strange of exotic part of america: beach boys songs like "in my room" not only reflected american reality but helped create it.

(the other editor is multiculturalism scholar and harvard professor werner sollors, who first experienced american culture through the US occupation of germany.)

i asked marcus who would read it: he said he didnt know, but was wishing he could leave it on street corners and watch who picked it up -- and what they felt moved to cheer or argue about.