Grizzly Bear (With Bonus Remixes)—Horn of Plenty
This band's debut album, "Horn of Plenty," was the first we ever reviewed, and has been a Refinery29 favorite ever since it came out last year. A quiet and mournful album, "Horn" has a way of quietly taking hold of you, somehow masking the fact that, at its heart, this is a great pop record. Now that the band has national distribution, Grizzly Bear has decided to re-release the album appended with a bonus disc of new remixes from a host of indie stars and offbeat electronic mavens including Ariel Pink, Dntel, Final Fantasy, Efterklang, and Soft Pink Truth (Drew Daniel of Matmus), adding layers to an already complex album and proving that you can have your cake and eat it, too.


Giles Giles & Fripp—The Brondesbury Tapes (1968)
Try listening to this while driving along in early November somewhere New Englandish, when a rainstorm is about to hit and all the trees are nearly bare. It's haunting, majestic, melodic, and if you can't hear it, then we are tempted to believe you might think fashion mullets are still cutting-edge. After the first listen of these songs, you'll feel tempted to kick yourself for giving Stereolab and Broadcast so much credit. This pre-King Crimson material shines like nothing we've heard in ages. Get it while you can because as far as we can tell, it's hard to find. For us, eerie and subtly compelling=essential.


Deerhoof—The Runners Four
We'll admit, it takes some time to get into Deerhoof. The lyrics are at times trite, her vocals sometimes a bit grating, and the arrangements are borderline progressive rock. Why is it then we keep coming back to this CD and pretty much everything else they've put out? Aside from being relentlessly original, there are strong pop hooks embedded amongst the harsh guitars and innovative drumming. Of course, Refinery29 has seen them live a few times, and, boy, that drumming while sitting on milk crates could pretty much seal the deal for anyone.

Deerhoof—The Runners Four