“My #1 album of 2009 was Bitte Orca, 6th LP by Brooklyn experimentalists Dirty Projectors. Led by Dave Longstreth, they play a highly arranged sort of rock and roll recalling conventions of chamber orchestras. Instead of standard chords and riffs, they use complex structures, one person to a part—the rhythm section doesn’t lock into a groove, for example—yet it isn’t jazz; it uses the architecture of pop (verses, choruses, etc.) in songs whose rhythms and melodies might seem erratic. I also hear aspects of Malian music, like the traditional folk performed by, say, Sidi Touré. (A key exception to all this is the single Stillness Is the Move, sung by Amber Coffman & Angel Deradoorian, which sounds like a chart-riding soul-pop number.) Bitte Orca is a difficult, love-it-or-hate-it sort of album. I didn’t care for the follow-up, 2012’s Swing Lo Magellan, and I’ve not kept up with them. Even if they remain frozen in 2009 amber, Bitte Orca remains a gem.”
My #1 album of 2009 was Bitte Orca, 6th LP by Brooklyn experimentalists Dirty Projectors. Led by Dave Longstreth, they play a highly arranged sort of rock and roll recalling conventions of chamber orchestras. Instead of standard chords and riffs, they use complex structures, one person to a part—the rhythm section doesn’t lock into a groove, for example—yet it isn’t jazz; it uses the architecture of pop (verses, choruses, etc.) in songs whose rhythms and melodies might seem erratic. I also hear aspects of Malian music, like the traditional folk performed by, say, Sidi Touré. (A key exception to all this is the single Stillness Is the Move, sung by Amber Coffman & Angel Deradoorian, which sounds like a chart-riding soul-pop number.) Bitte Orca is a difficult, love-it-or-hate-it sort of album. I didn’t care for the follow-up, 2012’s Swing Lo Magellan, and I’ve not kept up with them. Even if they remain frozen in 2009 amber, Bitte Orca remains a gem.
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