The Dirty Projectors Albums (6)
What The Critics Say
Dirty Projectors' mastermind David Longstreth appears to be attracted to sounds that will simultaneously draw in and confound the average listener; he has a clear, sweet voice and a gift for well-crafted harmonies and melodies that bring out the innate beauty of his music, but he often weds them to fractured time signatures that cause the songs to shift gear at the least expected moments, and he tosses in sudden bursts of atonal skronk that are either bracing or puzzling, depending on your point of view. 2009's Bitte Orca certainly follows in this tradition, and there's enough aural shapeshifting on this set to keep anyone guessing on first listen. Despite that, in many respects, Bitte Orca is one of Dirty Projectors' most accessible efforts to date; the slinky "Stillness Is the Move" could almost pass for mainstream R&B with its potent groove, lush harmonies by Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, and elegant string coda, though with Longstreth's wiry juju guitar leads floating over the top, this ain't quite Beyoncé, and the placid semi-folkie grace of "Two Doves" (which bears a certain melodic resemblance to a-ha's MTV-driven hit "Take on Me") is truly lovely even when the dramatic dynamics of the string section seem intent on calling attention to some darker undercurrents. On the other side of the coin, there's "Useful Chamber," which combines bent vocal samples, wheezing synthesizers, steadily chugging beatboxes, and sudden blasts of overdriven electric guitar to form a pocket concerto of beauty and noise, and "The Bride," where Longstreth's guitar hops back and forth between polite acoustic strum, bluesy slide work, and shards of noise while the rhythm section ties to keep up and the vocals drift past the foreground like a cloud. Bitte Orca's nine tracks all seem to be bursting with ideas that they can barely contain, but despite the sometimes fractured synapses of this music, the songs are at once surefooted and agile, and "Remade Horizon" and "No Intention" are joyous and funky in their own curious way, and you can dance to them if you're in the right frame of mind. David Longstreth isn't quite trying to make things easy for his listeners on Bitte Orca, but there's far too much pleasure in this music for its eccentricities to put off anyone who is open to its gleeful, eclectic, internationalist heart. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Supposedly David Longstreth was on tour with the Dirty Projectors, the indie rock band he's been fronting since 2002, when he found himself thinking a great deal about Black Flag's epochal 1981 debut album, Damaged. Given the many miles Black Flag racked up criss-crossing America during their bloody heyday, that shouldn't be at all surprising, but rather than picking up a new copy of the album and cranking it up in celebration of his fellow road warriors, Longstreth channeled his thoughts in a different direction -- after coming home from the tour, he took the Dirty Projectors into a studio and covered 11 of Damaged's 15 tracks, all without giving himself or his musicians a refresher course on what they sounded like. The result, Rise Above, reimagines Black Flag's ragged hymns of rage and angst into smart but fractured bursts of wiry guitar (imagine King Sunny Ade after ten cups of coffee) accompanied by breathy, ethereal vocals, occasional interjections of strings and woodwinds, and a precise but flexible rhythm section. While these interpretations stray a considerable distance from Black Flag's originals, what's most surprising is how much of the original frameworks of these songs remain -- the melodies, such as they are, can generally still be recognized, and if the pissed-off howl of Henry Rollins is the polar opposite of Longstreth's vocal style, the contrary message of the songs somehow shines through. On one hand, Rise Above could be used as an example of how Longstreth can take nearly any music and make it his own, but at the same time it doesn't sound like he's forgotten the original intent behind this music for an instant. Damaged was a scream of defiance in the face of a grim and unforgiving world, but on Rise Above the Dirty Projectors use the curious beauty of their music as a protest against the ugliness of a violent and corrupt society. Perhaps even more than Henry Rollins, when David Longstreth sings "we're fighting a war that we can't win" in "Police Story," he wants more than anything to make a world where that isn't the truth, and it's moments like this that make Rise Above a brave and ultimately successful experiment. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'The Getty Address'
Release Date 4/5/2005
Tracks 13
Label Western Vinyl
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Slaves' Graves & Ballads'
Release Date 6/8/2004
Tracks 14
Label Western Vinyl
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The prolific experimental pop collective the Dirty Projectors return with Slaves' Graves & Ballads, their third album in a year. Originally, the album was released as two EPs early in 2004, but despite the high-concept nature of each of the EPs, all of the songs fit together well, making the album cohesive as well as diverse. The first half of Slaves' Graves & Ballads features Dave Longstreth backed by a ten-piece chamber group he founded called the Orchestral Society for the Preservation of the Orchestra. While this could seem pretentious coming from many other artists, the sense of drama the chamber group brings to Longstreth's distinctive crooning and cryptic lyrics ("the way a logo is different from an icon") actually makes it more immediate than some of the Dirty Projectors' other music. The combination of the sweeping strings, woodwinds, and brass with Longstreth's small, keening voice throws each element into even sharper contrast. The mix of majesty and intimacy in songs like the oddly alert, anticipatory "On the Beach" and "Slaves' Graves" may be theatrical, but it's distinctly emotional too; "(Throw On) The Hazard Lights" and "Hazard Lights (Reprise)" recall the primitive grandeur of The Glow, Pt. 2-era Microphones, with even more fraying around the edges. As with all Dirty Projectors music, things feel like they're on the edge of collapse. Acoustic guitars waver between delicate plucking and atonal strumming, woodwinds recorded far into the red take on feedback-like qualities, percussion punctuates the songs at unexpected moments, and Longstreth's often-garbled warbling can tend to grate. Still, the orchestral arrangements on Slaves' Graves feel like a natural resting place for the Dirty Projectors' lyrical and musical voice. The second half of Slaves' Graves & Ballads takes a very different tack, stripping the arrangements down to mostly just Longstreth's voice and guitar, with the odd bit of playful multi-tracking here and there (which works especially well on the lovely pop of "Because Your Light Is Turning Green"). This approach isn't as immediately striking as Longstreth's earlier orchestral experiments, but it does highlight the strangely soulful, timeless feel of his melodies, especially on "A Labor More Restful," "Ladies, You Have Exiled Me," and "Obscure Wisdom" -- a song title that sums up Longstreth's aesthetic well. The Dirty Projectors are still something of an acquired taste, but Slaves' Graves & Ballads is proof enough that Longstreth's twists and turns are worth following. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'Morning Better Last!'
Release Date 1/1/2003
Tracks 23
Label States Rights
See Album Tracklist and Review
