Posts Tagged: Dirty Projectors

Listen / MP3 / Music — 6 Comments
16
Nov 09

Tune-Yards

Tune Yards listenPhoto by Filkoe

I saw Tune-Yards (not TuNe-YaRdS, as I’m afraid of my shift key) open for the Dirty Projectors last week while visiting the cold and wet Salt Lake City. I had no idea who they (I later found out it was just a she) were, but the gorgeous, all-over-the-spectrum noises this woman was making, all on her own, mind you, was downright awesome.

As Merrill Garbus (the woman) banged and bellowed and wailed through her set, I excitedly tweeted about the excellence my ears were treated to. I’ll be honest, this folk-inspired for-real DIY lo-fi music does sound about a hundred times better live than it does on your headphones, so I implore you to check her out live with the Dirty Projectors, if you can. They will be playing Boston, November 17th, New York City November 18th (Bowery), 19th 21th (Music Hall of W.), and 22nd (Bowery, again).

These are my favorite tracks off Tune-Yards’ debut album Bird-Brains:

MP3: Tune-Yards – Fiya
MP3: Tune-Yards – Hatari
MP3: Tune-Yards – Jumping Jack

Buy her debut album BiRd-BrAiNs and other releases at InSound. Stream the entire album below: Continue reading →

Covers / Listen / MP3 / Music — 12 Comments
13
Nov 09

Solange – Stillness Is The Move (Dirty Projectors Cover)

Solange Stillness Is The Move (Dirty Projectors Cover) coversThe blipster of the Knowles family and Queen B’s little sister Solange took the time to cover one of my favorite songs of the year, and I’ll love her eternally for it. Her “Stillness Is The Move” cover is built one of the most recognizable Dr. Dre samples out there (yes, that funky, ear-bending “XXplosive” twang).

Major props to Pitchfork for finally dropping this one. I’ve been dying to hear it ever since Solange tweeted about it back in July! Listen and download to the cover after the jump. Continue reading →

Listen / MP3 / Music — 3 Comments
3
Nov 09

Dirty Projectors – Ascending Melody

Dirty Projectors Ascending Melody listen

Dirty Projectors just released an EP for their track “Temecula Sunrise” that will also include another Bitte Orca track “Cannibal Resource”. From the EP, we do receive two exclusive tracks that did not make it on their album release. Unfortunately for those Stateside, the EP is only being released in the UK, but we do have “Ascending Melody” available for you  and we think that it is just amazing.

It’s a jam session where the vocals harmonize sweetly and the guitars are complicated and add a nice flair to a vocally driven track. By the end you’re clapping along as if you were there for the session. Listen to the track below and just enjoy the experience of “Ascending Melody”. Continue reading →

Feature / MP3 / Music / Reviews — 289 Comments
5
Oct 09

The Absolute Best Songs of 2009 (75% of it)

The Absolute Best Songs of 2009 (75% of it) featureArtwork by the talented and generous Adam Sparpalius.
Continue reading →

Feature / Music — 94 Comments
21
Aug 09

Best Songs of the Decade (2000-2009)

I wasn’t going to do this. Working on the Best Albums of the 2000s was going to be enough work. But after reading through some pretty great lists by Pitchfork, I Guess I’m Floating and Gorilla vs Bear, I was reminded of something very important — although the album is the most vital instrument a musician has at his disposal to get an idea or feeling across to listeners, we can’t undermine the importance of a song. A song gives you small doses of relief, comfort, or what have you, minutes at a time.

I gave a fair amount of thought into this list, but for the most part, I knew how it would turn out. This list is mine and mine alone; I am inviting you to my world where I don’t need to explain myself or answer to anyone. But as always, I encourage you all to leave your thoughts and your personal picks in the comment section.

I would like to end with… well, I can’t really say it better than Connor from IGIF. The last 10 years have been the biggest of my life, especially my life as a music lover, so these next 120 songs are the songs that have shaped and molded me into whoever I am today. That’s as personal as it gets.

1. LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
from Sound of Silver (2007)

2. Radiohead – Idioteque
from Kid A (2000)

3. Outkast – B.O.B.
from Stankonia (2000)

4. The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done
from Hot Fuss (2004)

5. The Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
from Funeral (2004)

6. TV On The Radio – Wolf Like Me
from Return To Cookie Mountain (2006)

7. Panda Bear – Comfy In Nautica
from Person Pitch (2007)

8. Roisin Murphy – Ramalama (Bang Bang)
from Ruby Blue (2005)

9. Britney Spears – Toxic
from In The Zone (2003)

10. Arctic Monkeys – Leave Before The Lights Come On
from Leave Before The Lights Come On EP (2006)

11. Spoon – The Way We Get By
from Kill The Moonlight (2002)

12. Sia – Breathe Me
from Colour the Small One (2004)

13. Kanye West – Jesus Walks
from College Dropout (2004)

14. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
from Fever To Tell (2003)

15. Animal Collective – Peacebone
from Strawberry Jam (2007)

16. The Knife – Heartbeats
from Deep Cuts (2003)

17. The Strokes – Barely Legal
from Is This It? (2001)

18. Daft Punk – One More Time
from Discovery (2001)

19. Beyonce – Crazy In Love
from Dangerously In Love (2003)

20. The Arcade Fire – Intervention
from Neon Bible (2007)

21. Animal Collective – My Girls
from Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

22. Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place
from In Rainbows (2007)

23. M.I.A. – Paper Planes
from Kala (2007)

24. Hercules and Love Affair – Blind
from Hercules and Love Affair (2008)

25. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
from Illinoise (2005)

#26 – 50:

Album Reviews / MP3 / Music / Reviews — 53 Comments
9
Jul 09

Discovery – LP, Album Review & Vinyl + CD Giveaway

Discovery LP, Album Review & Vinyl + CD Giveaway album reviews reviews 2 Discovery
LP

XL
out July 7th

86/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:86/100]
With the recent passing of Michael Jackson, every blog I read had some kind of eulogy to the king of pop – by the same writers who, a post earlier, had extolled the music of Dirty Projectors or Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective, or by musicians whose work seems worlds apart from Jackson’s. We might see indie music and pop music as worlds apart, but the trick is not to think of indie music as a reactionary measure, but as a division of pop music that is just less well-known. I feel like sometimes in our day and age people have a genre allegiance that thoroughly blinds them – a weird pretentious image, “too good for pop music.” “Too hip for pop music.” When you think about this, I’m sure you can realize how useless it is. Where would any of us be without pop music? There would be nothing without pop music. None of us is too good for the music we grew up with, and the music that inspired every musician we know.

In short, pop music is not a crime, and what I’ve been getting at this whole time is that Discovery’s LP is not a crime and it is perfect summer pop music. What’s wrong with that?

Continue reading →

Listen / MP3 / Music — 3 Comments
9
Jul 09

Under 50 w/ The Pains…, The Sounds, The Antlers, Dirty Projectors & Fools Gold

Under 50 w/ The Pains..., The Sounds, The Antlers, Dirty Projectors & Fools Gold listen

Just a note, the PMA Rating scale has been updated. Because it now extends to most tracks as well, you will be seeing big, bold, red ratings often and you should probably educate yourself and know what they mean. See the scale here. Thank you.

There is so much music out there and so little time to talk about it! So every time I feel there’s a build up of some songs I genuinely like that aren’t being represented here at PMA, I will do one of these bulk posts, limiting my comments on the song to 50 words. Think of this as an indescript playlist.

This time I’ll be focusing on songs by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Sounds, The Antlers, Dirty Projectors, and Fools Gold Continue reading →

Album Reviews / MP3 / Music / Reviews — 17 Comments
12
Jun 09

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca, Album Review & Giveaway

Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca, Album Review & Giveaway album reviews reviews 2 Dirty Projectors
Bitte Orca

Domino
out June 9th

[91]
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:91/100]

Notes on Dirty Projectors’ sixth full length album, Bitte Orca, spill out as if dumped from a bucket; they fall one after the other, at a near but not constant rate – avoiding predictability is a mission here. And yet, amongst flexible time signatures and unpredictable rhythms, each note seems perfectly placed. If the stories about Dave Longstreth’s obsessive work ethic are even half true, you can bet on the notes being right where he wants them to be.

Longstreth, the heart and soul of the Dirty Projectors, has the pedigree of an art rocker. He dropped out of Yale Composition school and started releasing music under the Dirty Projectors moniker. It’s oddball music – a glitch opera based on Eagles’ Don Henley here, a reinterpretation of Black Flag’s Damaged there – but it’s brilliant. It’s the kind of complex music that reveals as much on the tenth listen as the first. The kind that you play for your friends with the pretentious disclaimer, “you’re probably not going to like this”.

But not this time. Because here, in this topsy-turvy world of 2009, indie has apparently taken a few hits of pop and is ready to make a run at mainstream. Bitte Orca is poppy, the Dirty Projectors at their most accessible, and downright spectacular.

Continue reading →

Listen / MP3 / Music — 4 Comments
2
Jun 09

Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move, Stream Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors Stillness Is The Move, Stream Bitte Orca listen
The Dirty Projectors’ new album, Bitte Orca is fantastic! Stream it in its entirety on NPR here!

Download the album’s first single, “Stillness Is The Move” below, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite new songs of the year. I have also included a couple of other MP3s for you. Continue reading →

MP3 / Music / New Releases — 2 Comments
2
Apr 08

Inbox Goodness: Free Fire and Reason EP, Dirty Projectors Doing Bjork

Inbox Goodness: Free Fire and Reason EP, Dirty Projectors Doing Bjork mp3

The Fire and Reason return with their BRAND NEW EP “Shut Up, Dance!”

5 Blistering NEW Tracks, plus THE TOXIC AVENGER REMIX of their song NME. Produced by Jimmy MOD, from the band Elefant during winter of ‘08. The new single “SUGAR KOMA” is sure to get everyone dancing and singing along “Ooh your candy’s right for my appetite tonight”, a lusty track about eyeing that special someone at the club and whispering in their ear “it’s dangerous what we can do yeah…”

The Fire and Reason (TFaR) are offering their NEW EP for FREE on their official website,
http://www.thefireandreason.com all you have to do is click on the banner to be sent to a link where to download it! (Or you can go directly there http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TF5R2MN9)

The Fire and Reason – Sugar Koma: Download

The Fire and Reason will be celebrating the release of their new EP with alot of HIGH Profile shows in NYC:

THURS. 4/3 at R-BAR 218 Bowery (btw Prince and Spring St.) with Action Action
SAT. 4/12 at FONTANA’S 105 Eldridge St (btw Broome and Grand) for the NACOTEQUE PARTY (featured in URB’S HOT 100 issue)
SAT. 4/26 at THE SULLIVAN ROOM 218 Sullivan St(btw Bleecker and W3rd) With SWITCH (M.I.A. & SANTOGOLD Producer)
FRI. May 16th at CRASH MANSION 199 Bowery at SPRING St.

=====================================================================

Bjork Stereogum

Brooklyn’s Dirty Projectors and Vancouver’s No Kids will criss cross the continent several times over the next month as they team up for a brief tour together. The two coed bands each have a few dates on their own as well. In other news, Dirty Projectors turned in a fantastic cover of “Hyperballad” for Stereogum’s Björk tribute which you can download for free here. The band was recently added to both the ATP Vs. Pitchfork fest in the UK and the Pitchfork Music Festival which takes place in Chicago this July.

Dirty Projectors – Hyperballad (Bjork cover): Download

DIRTY PROJECTORS & NO KIDS

03-31 Montreal, Quebec – La Sala Rossa
04-01 Toronto, Ontario – Sneaky Dee’s
04-03 Chicago, IL – Subterranean
04-05 Princeton, NJ – Terrace F. Club
04-07 Washington, DC – Black Cat
04-09 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
04-11 San Francisco, CA – Independent
04-12 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
04-16 Portland, OR – Holocene
04-17 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey

DIRTY PROJECTORS ONLY:

04-04 Cincinnati, OH – Museum of Fine Arts (Music NOW Fest)
04-08 Philadelphia, PA – Starlight Ballroom w/ Man Man
04-15 Portland, OR – Backspace
07-20 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival

NO KIDS ONLY:

04-04 Cleveland, OH – The Grog Shop (w/ Blitzen Trapper & Fleet Foxes)
04-08 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
04-13 San Luis Obispo, CA – Steynberg Gallery