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Dirty Projectors

Bitte Orca 8½ ( 2009 )
Cannibal Resource / Temecula Sunrise / The Bride / Stillness Is The Move / Two Doves / Useful Chamber / No Intention / Remade Horizon / Fluorescent Half Dome

Bitte Orca is Dirty Projectors' first album for Domino Records. Dirty Projectors are often described as an experimental indie-duo and such a description matches 'Bitte Orca' perfectly. I'm not familiar with Dirty Projectors previous releases - their debut LP was released back in 2002 - but i'd find it hard to believe they are as good as this particular blend of superb dynamics, percussion, melody and harmony. It's kind of a cross between Flaming Lips, Brian Wilson and Velvet Underground of 'White Light/White Heat' but trying to describe this frequently varied and surprising LP is a bit like trying to describe anything good that George Bush ever did for the world. Ooh, little bit of politics there. Sorry, won't do it again. I mean, some of the tracks are prog-punk, a new genre if ever there was one. Oh, I know we have prog-metal but prog-punk is a new one on me. A sound of disparate, badly played instruments combined with sections of noise and sequences pushing the boundaries of what a song can be. What a song can be, isn't that was prog was all about? The amateurishness reminds of punk but then again, it really isn't that simple. You suspect this isn't a bunch of badly played instruments, but much like the career of Captain Beefheart - another musical totem-pole seemingly hinted at during 'Bitte Orca' - is a selection of instruments absolutely designed and planned to sound this way, as if to sound any other way would be sheer folly.

'Two Doves' is the entire solo career of Velvet Underground's 'Nico' in four minutes. The opening two numbers are a blaze of sound and ideas, more than many bands present in entire careers. 'Useful Chamber' is six minutes of distant vocals, electronics and much atmosphere. 'Remade Horizon' is now one of my top ten tunes of 2009. I know 2009 hasn't exactly been a vintage year for music, but Dirty Projectors have just made it interesting, at the very least.

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