hometapes

The transformation undergone by Bear In Heaven between their outstanding Home-Tapes debut, Red Bloom Of The Boom, and their sophomore release Beast Rest Forth Mouth, is, quite literally, breathtaking. Red Bloom debuted Bear In Heaven’s experimental rock with a sound that was, for the most part, entirely their own. Sure, there were traces of influence that in my opinion sided pretty heavily toward artists like Animal Collective, but it was also fairly unparalleled in its style of experimentation.

You rarely hear the words avant-garde associated with pop music. Yet the eclectic and sometimes ear-wrenching sub-genre can be found in all corners of music, but perhaps most notably in jazz through classic artists like Ornette Coleman. In some ways avant-garde is simply a pretentious way of saying experimental. But the definition of the term is merely a push of the boundaries away from the norm. That, then, brings up the question what is the norm?