Dirty Projectors

looks like he has some shows coming up in jan/feb that i will have to try to find the time for.

Surprising how little I've read about this albums considering how many people I know who love it.

ILX is eerily quiet about DP. The new album of Black Flag covers was fun live but I suspect it'll get old quite quickly. The Getty Address is really great though, and I'd probably buy anything with Longstreth singing on it.

I was just about to post on this again, just for the hell of it. I don't know why I do this to myself.

??

this is weird

suxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

really? i've only heard one song

really twisted afro pop

please don't bring black people into this whiter-than-white music.

i heard this. http://thankscity.com/jams/fraid/07_Gimme_Gimme_Gimme.mp3 (link might be down in next day or so)

i guess the guitar could be interpreted as either south african jive filtered through animal collective and that dogg (?) or maybe like a really poppy version of Storm & Stress.

why don't you like it?

you honestly wrote that second sentence in your post and then followed it up with the question "why don't you like it?" and can't figure out the incongruity between the two?

i mean seriously, even discounting the black flag "connection," that description sounds like music i'd never want to hear.

that song is great. i don't know anything about afropop or any of that but i dig this song. nice clean gtr tone and the playing has a nice buttery feel. i jumped a little bit when the drum splatters came in for the first time
xp

the black flag "connection" is the last reason i'd listen to this. the that dogg thing is probably the worst part of the description and i've only ever heard like 2 animal collective songs (and the latest panda bear album which is kinda neat). i used to really like storm and stress. i think we might have different tastes.

also, i have to ask: joel, did you even listen to that song or are you basing your descriptions on some other factors?

i've heard this whole album already, jaxon, as well as previous albums by them. i don't like what i've heard.

i liked s&s's two records but a "poppy version" of them sounds weak.

and animal collective = they might be giants. fuck that.

http://www.daytrotter.com/download/311/id=383

woe, he's playing his guitar upside down

ALL THE NEIGHBORHOOD IS ERUPTING IN BACHATA AND REGGAETON !

in four thousand years rise above #1 will just be a footnote in the backstories for rise above #2 and Johnny Mnemonic

i don't actually think i like this :-/

given the album one listen so far. entirely baffled, i must say. what the hell is it?

I haven't heard this but the Getty Address was fantastic. Especially Jolly Jolly Jolly Ego. It sounds like him and a choir of dodgy tape players.

Not sure about Dirty Projectors. I enjoyed watching the aztec-intensive dvd of the Getty Address but all their stuff seems to wear thin once you get the hang of it.

I just got Getty Address. I like it so far, although it feels a bit too conscious of what it's doing at times. Better than Animal Collective, for sure.

i really like this band, but lately the lyrics really bug me. not even his weird singing voice, just the lyrics themselves. the rest of it is so meticulous and then that part is just kind of phoned in...

It has a bit of that same Dr. Spock baby "look what an eclectic, self-expressive genius I am" thing that annoys me about Animal Collective

you could call it just *being* an eclectic, self-expressive genius.

sorry i am not an easy-to-categorize average artist

wait, are you Dave Longstreth?

s0rr7 1 m38n D8v3 104657r37h

no, i have never even heard this band, i just get tired of the criticism of people being too aware or consious of how they sound. are some people making a record by accident?

yeah

how is being conscious of your sound a bad thing?

talk about cockism

yeah, i'd take overly composed music over another sloppy jam band anyday.

I don't necessarily mean it's over-composed

I know.

Really though, I think the "look at me!" with acts like this is more in the listener who's threatened by like the flamboyant content or something.

I mean wouldn't saying a rapper gave off the vibe "lok at me, I'm an eclectic self-expressive genius" usually be a compliment?

i listened to some of this. i didn't even get the black flag thing at all. sometimes stuff like this seems like it was written with a press release first, just to bait rock writers, then do the album after it.

there's also the possibility that people WANT to make music that sounds different

not that this is the differentest band ever... but compared to a good deal of indie rock they are

i really like this band, but lately the lyrics really bug me. not even his weird singing voice, just the lyrics themselves. the rest of it is so meticulous and then that part is just kind of phoned in...

wait the black flag part of the lyrics ?

uhh what? not all of their songs are black flag covers...i haven't even listened to the one that is

err the one album that is. i was mostly talking about getty address and the glad fact.

When I saw them live I kept thinking "Jesus, shut that guy up and let the girls sing." Then I got a promo of the album (whatever one was before the Black Flag thing) and kept thinking, "Oh, you precious fuck, shut the hell up and let the girls sing."

Oh, and to answer the years-old question: No, the reason that no one wrote about this is not because it was too complicated. It was because if you like complicated music, this is disappointing and if you like poppy music, this is annoying. It hits the same dilettante weirdness level as Animal Collective.

i'm kind of afraid to listen to the black flag covers.

<i>i'm kind of afraid to listen to the black flag covers.</i>

You should be...it's awful stuff.

I mean wouldn't saying a rapper gave off the vibe "lok at me, I'm an eclectic self-expressive genius" usually be a compliment?

-- vadx, Friday, October 5, 2007 4:06 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

http://a50.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/57/l_0b1d00fb0cbac50784cbdde0b6718d59.jpg

NO

C'mon, ILM! No love for Rise Above? This is a kick-ass record.

Oh yeah, I played Six Pack on my radio show about a month ago.
Really cool.

i'm revisiting this now (it's getting a whole lot of love around montreal, randomly) and i've decided it's great. more the beginning than the end, though, i think.

"Rise Above" is the best thing on it.

i know i know...

Shouldn’t be surprised at lack of press/enthusiasm/hype for a new DP album but I am. Boy that s/t really did a number on their brand for lack of a better word

And I know he got a lot of bad press for it but damn Longstreth should be thanking his lucky stars every day that it didn’t come out after October 2017

this is really great. enjoying the absence of uncomfortable lyrics.

I think this might be his best album, it feels so summery and pop, and I love the brass arrangements. I really was not expecting this at all, it's such a turnaround from the last one

even ignoring the ugly lyrics, the last album was a fairly tuneless mess - I'd only really keep Little Bubble and Cool Your Heart from it

Up in Hudson was great, too. Keep Your Name also gets stuck in my head a lot still.

Keep forgetting to bump this thread and say that I think Lamp Lit Prose is fucking great and easily the best thing they've ever done besides Bitte Orca. The perfect move to make after the 2017 s/t.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBpL1t8IK0E

I Feel Energy is the standout for me but I really love the whole thing, kinda surprised by the negative reception it's been getting elsewhere

kinda surprised by the negative reception it's been getting elsewhere

While I have read one or two extremely negative reviews for it, it seems like it's generally getting 4/5 off most people: http://www.metacritic.com/music/lamp-lit-prose/dirty-projectors

Maybe some negativity (or rather, indifference) toward it has to do with either a latent reaction to the s/t record or the general peak-2009-ness of DPs

Been listening to it a lot myself and finding it surprising how home-made it sounds, by which I mean that it's largely acoustic guitar/drums right at the centre of the songs and it feels like a lineage (in a recording/production sense) back to the really early DPs records is evident. Was surprised to see in the track credits that Dave is basically playing absolutely everything on the tracks.

Love this album to death; too many standout tracks to list. My only complaint is that "Zombie Conqueror" --> "Blue Bird" can feel like a bit of a slog if I'm not in the right mood... I don't know whether those two actually repeat their hooks any more often than e.g. "I Feel Energy" or "I Found It In U" or "Right Now", but they *feel* more repetitive.

Oh yeah, and some of the lyrics on "Break-Thru" are a bit cringey (but I like Dave even when he's cringey, he seems to come by it honestly).

While there are moments here that remind me of Prince (esp. the squeaky-clean funk guitar, falsetto wailing, & vocal harmonies of "I Feel Energy"), I played the album for my father & he made the much more apt comparison to Squeeze

I got super into Ava Luna thanks to a tiny mention on this thread. They're playing the UK next week but seem to have almost zero profile here (Manchester date just been cancelled and changed to Cardiff - £6.50 a ticket!). Wish there was a thread for them but I don't really have the ILM juice or a ton of insights to offer. Except to say that, if I had created Ice Level (the music + the video), I'd expect the world to be fundamentally altered within 24hrs of uploading it to YouTube, not just 83k views in six years.

ava luna rules

Ava Luna are one of the best bands imo

They've never got any play or promotion in Europe whatsoever.

been really into "lamp lit prose" recently, such a tight, breezy return to form

break-thru is cool

whole album is cool, i agree with k3vin k

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

New video from new album with new band (i.e. Lamp Lit Prose touring group). Maia Friedman as lead vocalist and co-lyricist.

P chill and it is growing on me.

That's a nice song. I really loved Bitte Orca and Swing Lo Magellan, but didn't like it when he started changing it up and acting like a creep. Should I revisit?

Lamp Lit Prose was a lot less creepy and very good

yeah the s/t was not very good but lamp lit prose is maybe my favourite dp album

i would characterise the s/t as more jerk than creep

lamp lit prose was recorded all by dave with guest vocalists added. the new record i think is recorded with the band put together to tour lamp lit prose

hadnt realised that overlord was from an EP that came out in March. it's good! there's also a related playlist on Spotify full of jams that they put up w Arthur Russell, 70s Dylan, judee sill etc

there's another EP on its way, this is the single from it:

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

with three other EPs also set for release this year. the gimmick is a different band member sings lead on each, except the last which will have everyone

The Windows Open playlist is a real treat.

I had a big hunch they were gonna do EPs with each of the singers taking the lead a month ago, especially after Windows Open was all Maya and it came from a such as it was derived from that Portland indie-folk root of the DPs catalogue

I hope they do a bananas orchestral EP amongst the later releases too

3rd EP out today. really into these

I love this song so much
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyU5dHmmFmE

With the latest releases it feels like the new band has come into its own and stopped trying to sound like the band with Amber and Angel. I did love a few tracks on Lamp Lit Prose but it still felt a little like Dave was trying to keep something going that wasn't there anymore.

Holy Mackerel is such a jam. I like stripped-down bossa nova DPs, but also the full-on electronic production too. He's gotten so good at it and Lamp Lit Prose is a high point.

agree his dancey/R&B-style production is ace

I was recently with my aging millennial friends who stopped listening to much new music by 2012, and trying to convince them that Dirty Projectors, Vampire Weekend, and Grizzly Bear had all released their best albums within the last three years.

With the latest releases it feels like the new band has come into its own and stopped trying to sound like the band with Amber and Angel. I did love a few tracks on Lamp Lit Prose but it still felt a little like Dave was trying to keep something going that wasn't there anymore.

The new band was put together after Lamp Lit Prose, which was almost all Dave and guest vocalists doing a song each with him.

I think the new stuff feels quite related to The Glad Fact era, except each of the elements is way more developed just by being a more experienced writer. Super excited to see what the next two EPs hold.

I am very into the new EPs, mostly because Felicia is amazing. "Super Joao" is somewhat disappointing to me because, well, 'the bossanova mood is not created'

I'm very curious about the songwriting process, since it feels very obvious what is a Dave melody and what isn't, no matter who's singing it (like, even when Rihanna is the one singing it).

the press release said that dave wrote everything for these EPs, except for the lyrics which were a collaboration between him and whichever band member is singing lead for each EP

felicia's other band gemma i really good, i've been really into their album feeling's not a tempo lately

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

I read that DL collaborated with Kyle from Little Wings on the lyrics for Super João

I hope they do a bananas orchestral EP amongst the later releases too

― in twelve parts (lamonti), Thursday, May 7, 2020 8:24 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

✓

Ha I was just thinking of that prediction. Will the last one be a big groovy Bitte Orca vibe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzhCV1nla7g

last EP out soon

love this one

the tiny desk concert was lovely.

great track

the full 5EPs works quite nicely as a whole, it's all pleasantly relaxed while covering quite a few different sounds yet remains cohesive

I got my box set during the week. It's a beautiful package, worth the investment made in March!

Does anyone else find the album (particularly the Earth Crisis segment) profoundly depressing/anxiety-provoking, or do I need to have a talk with my psychiatrist

super joao and earth crisis playlists now up on spotify

Both playlists are great.

Earth Crisis one is a big compendium of a lot of the stuff DL has mentioned over the years as influential on his composing for chamber ensembles, lots of Mahler lieder.

The Super Joao won has lots of great Brazilian stuff on it (unsurprisingly)

The Brazilian one is great, ty

Does anyone else find the album (particularly the Earth Crisis segment) profoundly depressing/anxiety-provoking, or do I need to have a talk with my psychiatrist

― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 12:29 (one week ago) link

fwiw, not with this specifically, but I have definitely had that experience where at particular times, I'll be hyper-sensitive to particular records.