September 29th, 2009
Dirty Projectors debuted a new song on yesterday’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon show, When The World Comes To An End. If you’ve seen them on tour recently, you might have heard it already. The tv clip is already on YouTube, as are performances of the song from Berlin and Amsterdam. There’s even backstage rehearsal footage on Twitvid.
The Temecula Sunrise EP release date has gone back to 19 October, so there’s a bit longer to wait to hear those other two unreleased songs, Ascending Melody and Emblem Of The World. If that news puts you in the mood for a sad song, well, you’re in luck. Fader has a clip of Angel duetting with Phosphorescent, aka Matthew Houck, on his version of It’s Not Supposed To Be That Way. The song is from the 2009 Phosphorescent album, To Willie, a collection of Willie Nelson covers, out now on Dead Oceans.
Transcribed lyrics for these three new DPs songs, but not the Willie Nelson one, are on the Useful Chamber lyrics page.
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September 21st, 2009
So, despite sounding like ‘kangaroo’, it turns out Bonnaroo isn’t in Australia but Tennessee. Who knew? Dirty Projectors’ appearance at the festival there earlier this year ended with a guest appearance from David Byrne, joining the band for Knotty Pine. There’s a nice audience recording of this and the rest of the set by, confusingly, an Aussie guy called Morris, here.
Definitely located in Australia is ABC - the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A few weeks back, Dave did a phone interview with the ABC/Triple J’s Mornings With Zan radio programme. No surprises - who wants to delve too deep at nine in the morning? - but it’s worth a listen.
For more depth, and some surface, try Pitchfork’s Take Cover interview with Rob Carmichael, discussing his design of the Bitte Orca album cover. The piece touches on, but doesn’t explain, Nietzsche’s appearance opposite Dave on the back cover. Maybe unconnected but in the Making Music interview, Dave mentioned being into Wagner whilst at college. Nietzsche was a contemporary of Wagner and, for a time, a big advocate of Wagner’s music, with characteristically strong ideas about art and its role as a palliative against the chaos of the world. If you’re still in need of something to listen to after Bonnaroo and ABC, Philosophy Bites has two excellent podcasts covering Nietzsche’s take on art, truth and morality.
Posted in audio, interviews | 2 Comments »
September 15th, 2009
OK, here’s a real gem for you. You might have seen Dave’s contribution to Pitchfork’s P2K Guest List 2000s Edition wherein various musicians list their favourite albums of the decade. Dave’s is a diverse list, ranging from Radiohead to Usher to Group Doueh. But a pick that won’t come as a surprise to close DPs followers is B’Day by Beyonce.
This 2007 session contains further evidence of B’Day’s place in the Dirty Projectors canon - track one consists of two minutes of the girls warming up their voices and Suga Mama from B’Day is joyfully prominent.
As if that’s not enough, the session was recorded outdoors, in an Ann Arbor parking lot, and was followed by some funny business with a stranger playing piano in the back of a truck. Angel accompanied him on flute (did you think she only sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards?) and, this being the uh-ohs, someone captured it all on video and posted it on myspace.
It looks as if this was the penultimate session that Cloak & Dagger ever did - among the most recent content on the site is a 2007 top ten page in which Rise Above is #1 for three out of four of the staff. Let’s hope they are putting their talents to good use elsewhere.
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September 8th, 2009
Here’s a preview of the cover of the Temecula Sunrise/Cannibal Resource EP - the cd promo, anyway. The two lead tracks are the same as the versions on Bitte Orca. The new songs are Ascending Melody and Emblem Of The World.
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August 27th, 2009
Dirty Projectors are to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday (31 August), according to this site. A pretty big deal I think. We don’t get the Late Show over here in the UK - or Letterman’s jokes for that matter - but we will be getting the Temecula Sunrise EP in September, a UK-only release by the looks of it. Details on the Domino website.
Here’s another Dirty Projectors tv appearance (interview only, though) to whet your appetite.
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August 13th, 2009
Have you ever done that thing where you have to copy an address someone has handwritten, but you can’t make a part of it out, so you just draw the shape of the word and hope the postman will figure it out? What I’m trying to say is, Making out the lyrics to Imagine It by Dirty Projectors is hard. A pair of Grado SR-60 headphones, state of the art (2002) audio software, several different recordings of the song - all these have helped in the production of a set of words undeniably similar to whatever it is Dave and the girls are singing. A marginally easier task was transcribing Dave and Amber’s twin guitar lines, a.k.a. the riff of the decade, into tab and orchestral score.
If you’re not familiar with Imagine It, or have only heard the Prince-plays-rubber-band version of it on the New Attitude EP, then I suggest you view the greatest YouTube clip there is or ever will be, then grab the Daytrotter session version of the song. Then email telling me all the notes and words I got wrong.
Lyrics to Imagine It by Dirty Projectors (on Useful Chamber lyrics page)
Imagine It by Dirty Projectors - guitar tab and score (pdf)
Postscript - if you’re a drummer, you might want to check out Billy’s YouTube channel, where he has posted clips of himself playing along with Useful Chamber, Temecula Sunrise and various other bands’ songs.
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July 28th, 2009
Be sure to stop by at WXPN’s World Cafe and listen to Dirty Projectors in session and in conversation with a slightly awed-sounding host. The Daytrotter sessions set a very high standard but the four Bitte Orca songs here maintain the hit rate, beautifully played and recorded. The acoustic version of No Intention is a particular highlight.
Meanwhile over on YouTube there’s a ton more clips from the tour including some good ones from Williamsburg Waterfront and the full set from San Diego Casbah, a show notable for a guest appearance by Susanna Waiche, who sang on Rise Above before Angel joined the band. The cameraman maybe needs reminding that stillness is also the move when it comes to recording gig footage but he gets a good spot down the front and we are grateful. Nat fanciers may want to skip to the later songs for some bare chest bass playing action.
Lastly, Pitchfork has a Director’s Cut interview with Matthew Lessner, talking about the Stillness Is The Move music video and Amber appears on the cover of Bygones‘ debut album, By-. Yes, that’s the title and that’s the cover at the top of this post.
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July 6th, 2009
A roundup of recent goings-on…
Dirty Projectors (and others involved) were unhurt in a pretty serious accident - see photo of DPs tourbus above.
The tour continues in North America this month, then into Europe in September. Some 10,000 people turned up to see a free outdoor show in Chicago.
The live version of Stillness Is The Move now comes with dance moves and there’s an official video for the song featuring llamas, costumes, a mountain and D-Lo on a turntable.
UK music paper The Stool Pigeon has a short interview with Dave (I’ll post a scan soon) and Pitchfork has a longer one.
Some college guys have posted their accapella performance of Cannibal Resource on YouTube.
Finally, here’s an apocryphal anecdote about Dave singing in the shower. An excuse, if any were needed, for linking to Hair Care with Robert Forster.
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June 15th, 2009
Here’s a must-see, whether you’re just starting out with Dirty Projectors or have been super-into them since before that Vampire Weekend guy was in the band. On 5 March 2009, as part of its ‘Making Music’ series, James Everest of the Whole Music Club from the University of Minnesota interviewed Dave Longstreth in front of an audience at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Over 90 minutes, Dave speaks eloquently and unaffectedly about every stage in his musical journey, from his upbringing in Connecticut, right up to the present DPs lineup and Bitte Orca. Along the way we hear about influences such as Nirvana, Pet Sounds, Wagner and K Records, alleged similarities between The Beatles and Black Flag, musical clips from Dave’s school bands and, courtesy of Amber and Angel, the best demonstration of hocket-style singing this side of Rabbit by Chas & Dave. There are YouTube and audio clips, too.
Follow the link on this Walker Art Center page to watch the interview or download this lo-res (96kbps) mp3.
See also, from the Walker Art show the next day, 6 March 2009:
Review and excellent photos from Culture Bully
YouTube clips of Temecula Sunrise (acoustic), Depression (acoustic) and Cannibal Resource
Posted in interviews, live shows, video | 1 Comment »
June 5th, 2009
Dirty Projectors’ new album ‘Bitte Orca’ is released this week. Here are some reviews…
Pitchfork - 9.2/10
Culture Bully “The best record of 2009 (so far)”
The Onion (AV Club) - rating: A
No ripcord - 9/10
Sputnik Music - 4.5/5
The Quietus
Aural States “This is clearly one for the best-of lists”
Drowned In Sound “Bitte Orca might be one of the greatest albums ever made by man or beast, or it would be if its sheer brilliance wasn’t in some ways slightly alienating.”
Boston Phoenix
Stereogum ‘premature evaluation’, April 09 “A stunning album”
Blackplastic.co.uk “One of the most beautiful records in a long time”
I guess I’m floating real-time review “They take their sound to new heights and aren’t afraid to leap off the cliff while other acts simply stand at the edge, afraid of what lies below.”
Cokemachine glow - a grudging 78%
Washington Times
Consequence Of Sound “I’d be shocked if there were a better album to come out this year”
Audioholic Media “Check out this album now, before it tops all the “best-of” lists”
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