Tuesday 21 July 2009
Genre Experimental Rock
Label Domino
Producer Nicolas Vernhes
Release date(s) Out Now
Untamed, erratic genius is a funny thing. Sometimes you see a great movie that's clearly genius, but just so fucking weird, like Darren Aronofsky's early works, sometimes you see it in music, like the old albums from Animal Collective before they decided to make more commercial sounding music.
Dave Longstreth, frontman of Dirty Projectors, is one of these people. The constantly rotating lineup of musicians that constitute his band have amassed a cult following from their early, fairly inaccessible work. However, with their new album Bitte Orca, they are aiming for something a little more enjoyable, whilst retaining plenty of the crazy offbeat eccentricities that filled their previous albums.
As one would expect, it works better in some parts than others. Unfortunately with most of the album the result is a bad case of 'close but not quite'. Cannibal Resource opens the album with some of the most lush guitar chords you'll ever here, before devolving into something thats undeniably interesting, but a bit of a mess of discordant falsettos and sound effects to be really quite right, still a half decent effort though.
Elsewhere, Stillness is the Move achieves greater success with a catchy number, despite not being my cup of tea, and a little bit repetitive if we're being honest.
Instead, the strongest point on the album comes from Useful Chamber, and this is a really fantastic song. At over 6 minutes long, this epic number builds with subtle and silky smooth vocals and backing strings before hitting its chaotic climax. Genius, more like this next time please.
Must Listen:
Useful Chamber
