January 16th, 2012
Useful Chamber has joined Twitter to bring you more Dirty Projectors news, more quickly than usual. This should allow us to highlight more small stories that become old news by the time I’ve agonized over the wording of the post and what accompanying photo to use. Things like Nat’s upcoming UK tour or Angel’s contribution to Stereogum’s Strokes tribute album. And that’s not to mention the new Dirty Projectors LP due this year.
UsefulChamber on Twitter - twitter.com/UsefulChamber
Non-Twitter users can view the feed on this page and click the is.gd links for the full story. The band has its own Twitter page, so I’ll retweet anything that appears there, although happily they look to be more focused on music than social media - four tweets since September.
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January 7th, 2012
Quick, go to Tinymixtapes to find out how to get the new Bang On A Can All-Stars album, Big, Beautiful, Dark And Scary, which includes three tracks composed by Dave Longstreth. It’s available free of charge for the first 25 days of this year.
Happy 2012 to one and all!
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October 22nd, 2011
Spin.com has spoken at length to Dave about the writing and recording of songs for the new Dirty Projectors album, written during a solitary sojourn in a rural “haunted” house in Delaware County. The new recordings are described as somewhat stripped back, “much less about color and arrangements [than Bitte Orca]“, touching on themes of “horror or fear” and “close to complete”…
Dirty Projectors Embrace ‘Horror,’ Respond to Strokes on New LP (Spin.com)
Pitchfork’s mention of the article adds Dave’s clarification of a Strokes-related quip that rather misleadingly found its way into in the Spin headline.
Don’t miss Hipster Runoff’s unique take on the story.
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September 1st, 2011
Domino Record Co yesterday announced a physical release for Mount Wittenberg Orca on 24/25 October. The 3000-only deluxe vinyl LP comes in a lenticular cover with a 12 page booklet and the first 500 people to order it will receive a signed print. There’s a CD, too.
Details and order links here. There are a lot of Björk fans out there, so if you’re hoping for the signed print, better move fast!
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July 4th, 2011
As you may already have read, Dirty Projectors’ Facebook page reported last month that the band are reconvening to start work on the new record:
“hey all, dave longstreth has been working on new songs since january, and we are all getting really psyched! the band is getting together later this month to hang, listen and prepare. recording this summer. so excited for the next chapter! thanks so much for all your support”
Thanks to Thomas for reminding me to post this exciting news.
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June 6th, 2011
Dave, Amber and Haley will be hosting a show on Domino Radio tomorrow (Tuesday 7 June) at 6pm…
http://dominorad.io/show/dirty_projectors
Listen via the Domino Radio website or on 87.7FM in the London area. Setlists and recordings of shows are to be made available online later this week.
Stay tuned!
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May 24th, 2011
Reviews, photos and audio from Sunday night’s Our Band Could Be Your Concert show, curated by Michael Azerrad and with various Dirty Projectors in starring and supporting roles, are online now. Dave, Nat and Brian played faithful cover versions of five Black Flag songs previously reimagined on Rise Above, and Nat and Brian also backed up other musicians on the bill. As usual, Brooklyn Vegan has the greatest write-up, including YouTube clips and a feast of fabulous photos by Amanda M Hatfield (such as the one of Dave above). NPR has streaming audio of the whole show, as well as clips of individual artists’ slots. Songs played by the DP3 were Police Story, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, Spray Paint, Thirsty and Miserable and Rise Above.
Pitchfork reports that the Dirty Projectors track planned to be on the forthcoming Red Hot + Rio 2 compilation has not been completed in time for the release and is hoped to be made available as a digital bonus.
Dirty Projectors are slated to present a show on record label Domino’s radio station, Domino Radio, which will run for one week only, on 87.7FM in London between 6 and 12 June. Other Domino artists will also be contributing, as will “friends and neighbours from the worldwide independent music community”. Further ideas for programming are invited at the Domino Radio website and there’s a Twitter feed too.
It’s Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday. If you’re a songwriter like Bob, or if you’re just interested to read about how songs come into being, the website Songwriters On Processs could be for you. You can read their recent interview with DPs’ Nat Baldwin here.
STOP PRESS - stalwart music blog I Guess I’m Floating is offering and enthusing over a free mp3 of San Francisco band Painted Palms‘ cover of I Will Truck.
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April 2nd, 2011
Dave/Dirty Projectors is/are writing/recording the follow-up to Bitte/Mount Wittenberg Orca. Meanwhile…
Dirty Projectors have contributed to AIDS charity the Red Hot Organization’s Red Hot + Rio 2, to be released 28 June. As Pitchfork says “It pays tribute to the Brazilian Tropicália movement of the late 1960s, which combined traditional sounds with funk, psychedelic rock, and leftist politics, making cultural and musical waves.” Os Mutantes, Beck, Beirut and other artists also appear on the record.
Dave, Nat and Brian will cover Black Flag at the Bowery Ballroom as part of author Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Concert on 22 May. Tune-Yards, Dan Deacon and St Vincent are on the bill too.
Angel has released a double A-side 7″ single, Marichka, c/w Planetarium by Albert McCloud. Both songs are available from digital outlets and you can catch Angel playing live on her forthcoming US and European dates.
Not to be outdone, Nat has a new solo record out on 24 May, People Changes, co-produced by Matt Walsh from The Forms, and has just begun a substantial North American tour. See Brooklyn Vegan for full details and cover art.
Amber and Haley helped out The Roots at a Neil Young tribute show.
Finally, here are two links to some pro-filmed clips of Dirty Projectors 2010 acoustic radio sessions added to YouTube since our last update. KeepVid is your friend.
CBC’s Qtv - Temecula Sunrise, No Intention and interview
ABC’s Triple J show - Cannibal Resource
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December 24th, 2010
Podcast of Dirty Projectors in session on BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens show, 22 December:
www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/huwintro
The photo above is one of a set of ten from the 7 December Koko show, at Drowned In Sound.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to one and all!
UPDATE - the podcast omits the session track Useful Chamber
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November 28th, 2010
Gold, frankincense and myrrh? No, it’s the cover of the No Intention / As I Went Out One Morning 7″ single, due for release on 6 December. To see higher res artwork from both this and a promo cd featuring No Intention and CD2 of Bitte Orca Expanded, go to the website of artist Christian Oldham. Incidentally, back in September, Dave mentioned that the band had just filmed a video for No Intention. Anyone seen it?
Other recent goings on…
Dirty Projectors opened for Phoenix at Madison Square Garden on 20 October. Daft Punk made an appearance during the encore. Photos and write-up are at Brooklyn Vegan.
You might have come across interviews with Dirty Projectors being asked about working with Björk . Here’s one with Björk talking about how it was for her. Sample quote - “I have the feeling that they’ve only just begun making great records; that they have many to come.”
Ryuichi Sakamoto is a fan, too - “I really like their brave innovations to break down the boundaries.”
The tour is winding down, with just two UK dates remaining. Nat has played a tour of his own and Angel has guested on the debut LP by Eric & Magill, which is available for free download here.
Last month I posted links to a couple of radio sessions. Here’s one I missed, from Canada’s CBC - there’s a streaming version of the show (29 September) on this page (about 50 minutes into the programme), which features a short interview with Dave and Amber and an acoustic No Intention. And there’s a separate recording of Temecula Sunrise here that’s not included in the programme.
So, December next week. Where does the time go, eh? Sheesh… What’s that you say? A Dirty Projectors Christmas song? Now that would be something.
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