Dirty Projectors

Has the singer guy from Dirty Projectors ever said himself that he is ripping off black people, or is it just a music journalist overlay? I always thought their sound was just math rock. (Or is it that math rock is ripping off black people??)

All I know of Dirty Projectors is whatever the ~hour long animated thing on pitchfork.tv is (which is pretty consistently great, actually) and a live show I caught in Ithaca a few months back. Neither one of those sounded remotely like what you're describing.

Seeing them live just solidified how fucking great they are for me.. They did mostly 'Rise Above' stuff and it all sounded stunning...the amazing harmonies, the gobsmacking guitar work...it just sounded effortless and brilliant.

I get the feeling they've yet to do their best stuff though. And folks who lump 'em in with Vampire Weekend are just wrong, if anyone actually does who has heard them both.

There's some sproingy guitar that suggests they've listened to a few afropop records, but to lump them in with a movement like that is selling them way short--they are playing with the full musical deck and have been for a few albums now.

How is Dirty Projectors anything like Vampire Weekend? I mean, they're both indie Ivy League bands in New York City, but Dirty Projectors is somewhere in the "weirdy beardy" brand whereas Vampire Weekend's more like MTV pop.

I've had Rise Above for a few months. "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" is very good and the title track is nice, but the rest doesn't do much to tickle my giblets. Is any of their other stuff worth getting?

I love the way this guy wails. im not too keen on how some of 'The Getty Address' sounds. I find the plonker percussion really grating, but the arrangements are mostly great. 'New Attitude' is my pick. The track 'Fucked For Life' is incredible. You get a sense that with such a strong voice, and the ability to find those snatches of awesome melodic counterparts that there is an ability to just not be so damn difficult with the songs, but i adore how it just is.

Slaves' Graves and Ballads!

new album has leaked and is pretty amazing

That Phoenix compilation with the Rise Above cover (while I was in the middle of rediscovering Damaged) made me curious enough to want to hear this. The Getty Address was pretty great imo.

I've had "Stillness is the Move" on repeat since yesterday

new one is pretty pretty good. very schizophrenic.

new album has leaked and is pretty amazing

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, April 10, 2009 6:23 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark

love this. "no intention" and "two doves" are each magnificent

it's like if matthew friedberger wrote vampire weekend an album

i just realized that it reminds me most menomena, but much better

i really can't tell if those descriptions should make me excited or not

i hate all the bands j0rdan mentioned but i like this album

not saying those aren't appropriate sonic comparisons, just saying that not liking those dudes isn't a guarantee you won't be into this

this music is insane

it's like if matthew friedberger wrote vampire weekend an album

― the sultan of ban (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:33 AM (9 hours ago)

i've never really gotten the parallels people draw between VW and dirty projectors, even after learning that koenig was a dirty projector for a few years. some of the vocal inflections he and longstreth do are similar, maybe

i can hear it in the guitars a little bit

did not know that is v. surprising

funny, i've just been getting around to rise above. does the new stuff have all kinds of crazy-ass tempo changes?

here and there, i guess, but that's not really what i took from it

yes it does

sweet

http://stereogum.com/archives/premature-evaluation/premature-evaluation-dirty-projectors-bitte-orca_063902.html?utm_source=ss&utm_medium=tw

I wish the album were longer. It was great, then Flourescent Half-Dome made my head explode, then it was over.

glad this is getting a lot of hype

i don't know about longer. it's a lot to digest as it is.

yeah, I always think these guys albums are just too long, too much sprawl, which is part of their charm, but come on.

i love great, short albums

^^^^

always leave 'em wanting more

usually, but with DP its like the excess of it, the messy swerve of the songs and drunken runtimes

would i like these guys

i think so, louis

there's a live video of 'stillness is the move' too but it doesn't sound as good without the doubled vocals

these dudes are such good musicians that it pisses me off

groovy, will check 'em (was probably going to anyway, as volcano! who are pretty much my favourite new(ish) American band have received DP comparisons)

p.s. great short albums are awesome but so are sprawling 50-minute thrillrides ^_^

cheers n/a!

srsly mention volcano one more fucking time

these dudes are such good musicians that it pisses me off

seriously, as a dude who cannot really play and sing at the same time i got mad jealous when i saw them.

uh 50 minutes is still a pretty short album

there's a live video of 'stillness is the move' too but it doesn't sound as good without the doubled vocals

That's interesting. When I heard studio "Stillness", I said, "Why the doubled vocals? Amber's a better singer than Janet Jackson, you don't need this."

I thought you were talking about 35-minute specials, by "50-minute" I kinda meant "between 50 and 60" although 60-80 is also fine by me if you've got the material and ability to sustain narrative

anyway, these guys. will listen to "Rise Above" on Spotify right now and then hunt down the new one

I disagree with this blogotheque shit in theory, but this video is it in wondrous actuality.

t-track on rise above = gr8

The newie is awesome, also kind of detached and odd whilst being warm and normal at the same time. They were utterly amazing the other week as well, watching them do their interwoven vocal parts ('Remade Horizon') is proper gobsmacking. Genius I say, genius stuff. And that Blogotheque vid with the three Rise Above songs on is WOWOWOWOW.

Ahem. Hyperbole over.

yeah i agree w/ cutty wrt how much there is to digest-- i've listened to this like 5 or 6 times through over the past two days and still feel like i haven't grasped any of it. it's also the only thing i actively want to listen to right now.