Da Bears

When you read this band’s name, the first instinct is to yell it out, SNL-style. We all wanna do it, there’s no fighting it. I’m not sure if the proper pronunciation is to actually yell it out, but they should introduce some sort of mandatory policy. What a great name. As far as I know, the members of this San Diego, CA-based band — Sacre bleu! They aren’t even from the Windy City! — are not actually members of Bill Swerski’s Superfans club, but that’s not a problem… I guess. (Sigh) To make up for the lie they live, though, the band have done an amazing thing: they’ve decided to give away their music. No, no, I’m not talking about a couple of MP3s on MySpace or a friend’s blog. I’m talking about two albums and a couple of demo EPs. The one to focus on is The World Famous Da Bears, which the band just reissued on Grizzly Records. A pretty solid album from start to finish, this harmonious little indie rock act have a ramshackle collective bargain that rallies like those climaxes we all love in Broken Social Scene’s messy universe. "Cage of Ribs” does a nice job of demonstrating this, building the song with rambunctious jams interspersed throughout some pensive piano and backwards vocals. A personal favourite though is "Standards of a Rock Album,” which a snippet of is just below (sorry, but if you like what you hear, why not download the album?). The lyrics are clever, the vocals reach the perfect pitch of whiny, the piano almost brings me to tears, and then that gnarly guitar solo kicks in and out, which just might be the best solo I’ve heard all year. Da Bears!



Da Bears "Cage of Ribs”

Download The World Famous Da Bears

Da Bears MySpace page