Dirty Projectors @ Antones (10/26)

dirty_projectors

Date 10/26/09
Location Antones
Doors 8pm
Tickets $20 from Frontgate

After a superb set at ACL, Dirty Projectors are returning to Austin on Monday night for a show at Antones.  Up and coming band Givers will be on hand to provide opening support.  If you missed this show during your time at ACL, trust us in saying that you won’t want to miss out on this one.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dirtyprojectors_stillnessisthemove.mp3]

Download: Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the Move [MP3]

FT5: Fictional Supergroups

1016top5coverAfter being underwhelmed (and I’m the only one) by Them Crooked Vultures, I began to look ahead to the Supergroups that I would create.  Sure, this is all conjecture, and some are jaded by my own personal tastes and connections.  It’s an interesting topic.  Who is your favorite musician, and who would you like to see them playing with?  Make your own supergroup, and tell me about it.  While I wait, I’ll throw out mine. And, I apologize for my lack of originality in naming bands.

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Friday Bottom 5: ACL 2009

1009top5coverSo just as I did last year, I’m going to take a minute to be a negative nancy and focus on some of the downer moments of our ACL weekend.  As always, the positives greatly outweigh the negatives and I still enjoyed my festival experience (no matter how much it rained).  You’ll notice that most of my list consists of things that no one can really do anything about so that leaves me hopeful that next year will be near perfection.  I’m willing to bet that you can guess my #1 & #2 slots, but damnit if that weather wasn’t the worst I can ever remember.  Yes it may even top the 107 degree heat and the dust from hell.  So follow the jump for my bottom 5 of ACL 2009.

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ACL Top 10 Acts

ACL_top10_bannerSo we survived the weekend that was the dillo dirt sludge of ACL and we’re ready to provide a bit of reflections from our experience.  We’ll start things off with a quick recap of some of our favorite acts from the festival and who impressed us the most.  This is only our list and we based it on our time and taste so let us know if you saw something great we forgot about.  Follow the jump for our Top 10 acts of ACL.

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ACL Interviews: Phoenix

phoenixLet the ATH ACL festival madness begin! So we’ve started off light with a few spotlights on lesser known ACL artists and now we’re really getting serious with artist interviews. Last year we spoke to some pretty big bands and we hope to reach as many artists as we can this year. To start off our interview series, we have none other than French pop hit makers Phoenix. Guitar player Christian Mazzalai recently sat down with us to chat a bit about his now 10 year old band. Follow the jump for full interview.

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Discovery – LP

discoveryRating: ★½☆☆☆

When news that Rostam from Vampire Weekend and Wes from Ra Ra Riot would unite to create an album under the name of Discovery, the Internet was afire with fans of both bands, all hoping that they could combine the magic of their individual outfits into something that would supersede both.  LP is the title of said album, and while there are definitely moments that seem worthy of accolades, it’s unclear at this juncture just how far the adoration will carry the group.

Opener “Orange Shirt” hits from the opening with musical beats reminiscent of Passion Pit, except it goes beyond that similarity, as Wes actually has a quality vocal to place atop the beats.  However, the beats just don’t seem to hit too hard, nor do they really go anywhere; it’s sort of a stationary song in itself, and doesn’t quite build.

“Can You Discover” is somewhat of a remix, as the lyrics come from Ra Ra Riot‘s “Can You Tell.”  Unfortunately, once you strip away the textures from the original, the song seems really simple, as if it was sort of an afterthought in its production.  Also, using auto-tune on the vocals seems like a huge injustice, ruining the power of Wes Miles’ voice.

The middle of the album seems to be where you find the meat and potatoes of the album, or maybe it’s just the potatoes.  “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” features Angel from Dirty Projectors, which adds a different touch to the monotony of the album, and it probably has one of the stronger beats on the album, but the keyboard meanderings get a little tiring. “Swing Tree” is in this section of the album, and it probably carries the most interesting production, at least up to this point in the album.  The high pitched electronics don’t sound too basic, though the beat looped in seems to be one of the most common element throughout the album itself.  And here, you also find “Carby” which has vocals from Ezra of Vampire Weekend.  It’s probably one of the gems on the album; probably one of the few songs you could throw into a club mix.

In it’s entirety, the one thing that this album doesn’t have is the catchiness factor, which both members exude in their own right with their main gigs.  Almost every beat seems mundane, as if they just took the samples from the radio, and reran them through some sort of mixer.  It takes the heart out of the music itself, and all the moments of joy that we usually associate with these two artists are rendered useless for the most part.  Overall, the album comes off as a generic stab at taking indie bands to the dance floors of the world, but ultimately, it seems like this might fail.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/07-carby-ft-ezra-koenig.mp3]

Download: Discovery – Carby [MP3]

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

bitteRating: ★★★★½

Dirty Projectors last effort, Rise Above, saw the band reconstructing Black Flag’s Damaged;  then they worked with David Byrne on the Dark Was the Night Compilation. How would their new album, Bitte Orca, transpire?  Let’s just say that the band uses elements of all their past work in the last few years and creates one of the most interesting records that has been released this year, if not THE most interesting.

As the album opens, you can tell that there will be more than enough going on in this album.  “Cannibal Resource” has a song that relies less upon the musical instruments and more upon the diverse collaboration of vocal harmonies of Longstreth, Coffman, and Deradoorian.  Still, a lot goes into this song; it’s the texturizing that makes the listening process so intoxicating. For some, you might find that the meandering seems pointless, as guitars twist and turn, often being dropped momentarily, then picked right back up.  At times it seems as if the songs aren’t going anywhere at all, yet as the move on, you can discern the band’s direction.

“Stillness is the Move” uses a predominantly female vocal, which at times resembles some of the work of The Knife.  Still, the guitar sounds as if it were sampled, and the percussion seems more electronic as well.  All in all, the vocal harmonies give the song a bit of urgency that moves the song along; then it completely changes in the middle of the song, as one of the ladies sings in a more traditional approach.  Once again, the band exhibits their willingness to deconstruct modern songwriting techniques, creating fresh sounds.

“Two Doves” is probably the group’s most straightforward song. Gentle guitar plucking, backed by crafty string arrangements created the perfect mood for which the female vocal has no choice but to soar.  It’s one of the most beautiful songs on the album, which owes more to the care taken to craft the perfect song, as the vocals never seem too forced, and the accompaniment of the music is extremely fitting to the overall tone of the song.

Then you come across the montage that is “Useful Chamber,” which is constructed like a modern symphonic piece.   There are some many different pieces to this song, it’s as if the band compiled several pieces in to one ornate song.  The pacing is irregular at first, and sort of fragmented, which is to be expected from such a song, but it peaks with Longstreth shouting out the album title, before the girls chime in with their high-pitched “oohs” and “aahhs.”  You won’t find a better crafted song this year.

And so the album goes, carefully constructed from the beginning until the end. The infectious melodies drive the album, but beneath it lies the clever craftwork of a band who is at the top of their game.  It seems like Dirty Projectors have climbed atop the world yet again.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/05-two-doves.mp3]

Download: Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca [MP3]

New Tunes from David Byrne and Dirty Projectors

David ByrneThey first teamed up together to create a brilliant track for the Dark Was the Night project, and now they’ve gone at it again; Dirty Projectors have collaborated with Talking Head David Byrne. This new tune is not of the same vein as the formerly released track, “Knotty Pine,” but it showcases the skills of both groups.  Don’t forget, you’re supposed to be anticipating the upcoming album from the Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca.  More on that later; here’s “Ambulance Man.”

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dirty-projectors-and-david-byrne-ambulance-man.mp3]

Download: Dirty Projectors and David Byrne – Ambulance Man [MP3]

New Dirty Projectors

dirty_projectorsEveryone spent all day Thursday, and a better part of the early week trying to find the new single , Stillness is the Move, which is coming out on the new Dirty Projectors album, Bitte Orca, which comes out later on Domino Records. Either you love them or hate them, but everyone out there is really looking forward to this release, us included.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dirtyprojectors_stillnessisthemove.mp3]

Download: Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the Move [MP3]

FT5: Anticipated SXSW Artists Releases

0313top5cover1While we were roaming around town last week, we started thinking about some of the upcoming releases that have got us peeing our pants in anticipation this year. Then we saw some of these artists during SXSW and got even more excited for what’s to come. For today’s Top 5, we wanted to take a look at some of theses new releases and rank them in order of just how excited we are about them. Some big names who were in town (Decemberists, Dan Auerbach, etc.) have already put out some solid releases this year, so we’re hoping that these won’t let us down. Follow the jump for our full Top 5 of anticipated releases from SXSW artists.
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