Indeed, throughout the record, the female vocals are consistently off-putting, most notably during the parts in "Useful Chamber" that are so abrasive they simply must be that way on purpose. For example, "Stillness is the Move" seems like the worst Janet Jackson/Mariah Carey song ever recorded, with absolutely trite lyrics and positively poor production. And, at the album's worst moments, it seems like they were trying to be terrible on purpose. Other times, the vocals seem like the first time a singer is trying out the guitarist's lyrics without a clear idea of how the song is eventually going to sound like. When the pop hooks that every other critic seems to laud show up, they are often cramped or contradicted by poor production choices, with a chronic problem of always needing to change the time signature or style just because throughout the record. Far more often, however, I find myself saying things like "Why on Earth would they do that?" So often, the recording seems like they randomly paired the singing with background music, rather than constructing the song as an integrated whole. I can count the moments on this album where I find myself saying, "ooh, that thing they just did was really smart" on exactly zero hands. I don't want to starting firing ad hominem missiles here, but it seems like somewhere along the way band leader Dave Longstreth confused brilliance with laziness. Why isn't it? Well, that's a more difficult, and potentially landmine-filled, question to answer. Unfortunately, I was disappointed right away, too, and the last 5-6 weeks have seen me putting it away and taking it back out over and over again, trying to find the X factor I must be missing for why I not only don't love this album, I actively dislike it.Įventually, I had listened to the album so many times I knew I'd given it a more-than-reasonable chance and have made my decision: it just isn't very good. Still, the pre-release hype was so strong for Bitte Orca, I snatched it up pretty quick, and started listening to it right away. Unless it is something I'm super geeked about, I don't usually pick up brand new releases the day they come out, and rarely get right into them once they've joined my collection.
The usually eminently reasonable I Guess I'm Floating said the album was quickly becoming his favorite of the year, and Pitchfork even gave the record a 9.2! (I tried to search the Brooklyn Vegan site to familiarize myself with their review, but couldn't actually find one amidst all the indie tabloid gossip and "news"- oh well.)Īnyway, consider all this prelude to my purchase of the album. For example, Stereogum posed the question of whether this is the album of 2009 (in the second week of June), while New York Magazine wondered if the band would be the next big Brooklyn act to make "the leap" (an accomplishment they were as vague in defining as they were in predicting the band's likelihood to achieve it). Still, I knew that lots of smart people loved Rise Above and that Bitte Orca was getting the kinds of reviews that English professors could use as journalistic examples of hyperbole. In other words, there will be no nose-in-the-air Graceful Fallen Mango drops here - I needed wikipedia just to make that comment! I came a little late to The Dirty Projector party - I'm barely conversant about Rise Above, the band's previous release before Bitte Orca, and not at all knowledgeable of anything before that. Even the most jaded, critically belligerent writers are absolutely shitting themselves over it. In my humble, amateur music critic opinion, I feel that the release and subsequent critical fawning over The Dirty Projectors new album, Bitte Orca, is just such an event. Sometimes, though, there are events that are high-profile enough that commentary seems merited, even if it isn't always upbeat or celebratory. Most of the time, I like to write about the cool stuff I like - and think you readers might like, too - and ignore the dross. This album uploaded in like 30 seconds.Before you read the rest of this review, please allow me to preface with the following statement: I don't ever set out to slag anyone. Nirvana may be attained in you happen to be a goat on a mountain under a tree during the sunset. Perhaps triple if you happen to be a goat on a mountain under a tree. That goes double if you happen to be a goat on a mountain. If you happen to be a goat you will enjoy this one. STATE OF EMERGENCYĪnimal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilian The only good solo female pop artist of all time.
This week is late because every single new album i listened to was badĬlassic album. legit 10/10 deep album and all in japanese. Panda bear - panda bear meets the grim reaper
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