CD Review: Dirty Projectors

Bitte Orca (Domino)

Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 4:00 am

[
      {

        
        "name": "Ad - NativeInline - Injected",
        "component": "38482495",
        "insertPoint": "3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "5"
      },{


        "name": "Real 1 Player (r2) - Inline",
        "component": "38482494",
        "insertPoint": "2/3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "9"
      }
    ]

David Longstreth has been making records for most of the '00s under various monikers. His most consistent and fully realized project, Dirty Projectors, also happens to be his most accessible. And on their fifth album, the revolving group (Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig was a member at one point) expands both their roster and their scope. Bitte Orca jumps between globe-trotting freak-outs ("Cannibal Resource"), twisty folk ("Temecula Sunrise") and abstract blues ("The Bride"). And those are just the album's first three songs. Throughout, Longstreth leads the Projectors — now a sextet — from one indie-rock avant-noise structure to another, picking up some genuine hooks along the way. Highlight "Stillness Is the Move," sung by guitarist Amber Coffman, even rides a slinky, vaguely hip-hop beat that shows off the Projector's Brooklyn roots. — Gallucci