Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

I'm in love with this album

ya these melodies are so so good. spent all day yesterday quietly humming "See What She Seeing" to myself as I bussed tables. thank u basedlongstreth

Yeah that song just hit me really hard on the subway this morning, the ecstatic part where he sings "She's lookin at me and/I can see what she's seein!"

And the last song slays me -- it's like an existential cowboy ballad recorded at Sun Studios.

He does so many neat things compositionally - his melodies always have a way of tricking the ear, like the first track, where it has this almost romanian modal feel, but the line resolves down to this unexpected B minor chord, and then the second time an unexpected E major chord.

http://stereogum.com/1085721/dirty-projectors-david-longstreth-on-wonderful-rainbows-being-vulnerable-and-the-cowardice-in-modern-music/top-stories/lead-story/

Pretty good interview, although Longstreth comes off as a bit stoned/burnt at times and the interviewer is a bit too sycophantish.

maybe just the title, but "Irresponsible Tune" made me of think Cole Porter the other day for some reason

wait I meant George Gershwin, owell close enough

Maybe it’s this contrarian streak in me or whatever, but I like to look at what I’ve been doing and then turn around and do the exact opposite thing. For the last few records, to look at what I’ve been doing, I’ve been withdrawing to an even further and further vantage to get a stronger sense of what is the exact opposite thing. Like, is the opposite of North Brooklyn “South Brooklyn,” or is the opposite of North Brooklyn “South San Francisco," you know, that kind of thing.

lolol

yeah that line, oh man

just came here to say that he did a great job with his hair

i guess i'm the only person annoyed by the weak/boring drumming

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, July 12, 2012 11:08 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like the album a lot as a whole, that's just the one aspect that bothers me. it sounds like he wanted to use loops and ended up using live drums instead.

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, July 12, 2012 11:08 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes! I always hated how stiff and bland the drumming is on their records. I agree about the loop theory. They need someone jazzier, but still restrained since there is enough busyness created by the rest of the band; could get messy.

He's expressed a lot of admiration for Bjork, and I think sometimes he goes for a Bjork feel with the drums. I mean some of this does sound like drum programming though - is it really all live drums?

the new black haired singer is hot hot hot

oh man great stuff coming out in the late night headphone session. Irresponsible Tune has this crazy stereo vocal effect that I think may be just two separated, slightly off vocal tracks both with that sun-style short slapback echo, so it's like echo squared.

Longstreth's hair these days is a thing of wonder.

"I boogie down gargoyle streets"

I keep lolling at the image of Longstreth doing this

i guess i'm the only person annoyed by the weak/boring drumming

i thought this would bother me more, but i like how everything's even more centered round vocals+guitars compared to the last record. really liking this.

boss single, terrible album

His decision to relegate the women to supporting parts so that he can sing badly.

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, April 14, 2012 8:22 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is still my main beef with this band. I hoped the new album would change up the formula a bit and focus more on the female vocals, but that hasn't really happened. Lots of nice music, lots of potential, but there's only so much of his singing that I can take.

IDK the track that features the female vocals the most is my least favorite on the record (The Socialites). I get that the signing on it is sacharine in quotes, but I still don't like it.

he is not egregiously worse than the women he is singing with

so weird to me when people say stuff like that, it's been longstreth's band for like five albums now, why would he suddenly change the sound completely by putting himself in the background? also his vocals are like the no. 1 most distinctive thing about dirty projectors, they would be way more boring with just the female singers.

n/a otm

not targeting moodles specifically, i always think it's weird when people say they would like a band if they would just eliminate the thing that's most interesting about them. like maybe you just don't like that band?

i liked the female vox-only songs on bitte orca but yeah the socialites is easily the worst song on swing lo magellan

n/a otm again

it's also weird to say that a band that's very much directed by a single person should feature other members of the band more

I sometimes feel like ppl are startled by the female singers' ability to count tricky rhythms and therefore think the actual singing they're doing is mindblowingamazing when you could replace most (if not all) of them with members of a halfway decent college choir and get the exact same result

obv this is a wholly uncharitable feeling and heavily informed by the experiences I had in college

There are some clips up of them doing the new material at Music Hall of Williamsburg and elsewhere, and they're kind of underwhelming, like the band isn't comfortable enough with the songs to get loose (which can happen with heavily composed songs). I hope I'll get to see them at some point during this cycle though

socialites is terrible but not because of the singing. most other songs would be better w/someone else singing, except gun has no trigger which is actually a v.compelling vocal

Dave is a little pitchy I guess, but I like the sort of wiry, almost off the rails quality his voice has. But yeah sometimes his singing isn't quite of the caliber to do his melodies full justice.

Tough crowd

finally giving this some time today, i was worried after the first song but it really settles in after a couple tracks.

re: the drums, i think on a lot of songs even the live drums are heavily cut-up/sequenced.

i think maybe my issues isn't really the drums but that i want the songs to have more of a spine to them (which would be helped with better/more interesting drumming, and also mixing the bass a little louder). but it can't be bothering me that much because i've been listening to this a lot.

btw someone describing singing as "a little pitchy" is a dead giveaway that they've been watching american idol

haha actually I lifted it from the commercial for that other show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXJNUK2xwUw

"Bow Has No Bowstring"

would be a lot better if it re-translated the whole thing

"about to die" reminds me of imperial bedroom, real baroque era elvis costello

spent some more time w/ this and it's great

the title track is straight up kinks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlvKLNghq6Y

I'm not the biggest fan of theirs, but I have enjoyed a few of their songs in the past, and I think I really like more than half of Bitte Orca.

I finally had a chance to listen to the entire new one. I don't get it. It sounds disjointed and blasé. It never swings.

it grows on you

the new one is more about melodies and chords than about hot beats imo.

for some reason this band reminds me of monk & canatella

Jesus Christ this is a horrible record. His singing, though dire, isn't even the worst thing about it.

anyone hear the new EP, any songs worth checking out?

I like the About to Die EP -- all new songs other than the title cut, all solid.

listened to this album last week for the first time since it came out and I still really dig it

i've listened to this a bunch of times since it came out but it is just now, as i am writing, "clicking" for me. i love when things "click." Gun Has No Trigger has a really amazing memory. i am thinking of noir movies for some reason.