Photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg

Dirty Projectors and Noah Baumbach are shooting a video in Greenpoint and you can be a part of it. The shoot is tomorrow March 5th around 3pm. They ask that you email march5cast@ gmail.com if you are interested.

- @joshmorrissey

Brooklyn’s Dirty Projectors went on the Australian Radio show Triple J and did Usher proud with their cover of his R&B jam Climax. Dirty Projectors’ next scheduled NYC area show is in June at The Governor’s Ball.

Preview

Dirty Projectors

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: In 2002, an Ivy League student recorded a quirky, yet promising album on a four-track in his bedroom.  He dropped out of school and moved to Brooklyn to pursue a music career, fueled by the modest buzz surrounding the release.

It’s an archetypal story, but it’s important to remember that all archetypes begin as something original and exciting; a testament to just how influential Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth has been over the past decade.

Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors’ seventh album, finds the band at a crossroads.  Key contributor Angel Deradoorian split, leaving Longstreth with the pressure of releasing the pivotal follow up to an album that has cruise ship-sized shoes to fill, his 2009 breakthrough, Bitte Orca, without his most senior collaborator.  The “on the cusp” success of Bitte Orca has primed the tenured Dirty Projectors to “make the leap” to Grammy Award-nominee mainstream acceptance (or recognition, to be more accurate), another increasingly archetypal plot line for indie bands in this day in age. Longstreth’s been at this project for a decade, now.  It’s make or break time.

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The release of Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors followup to the smash Bitte Orca. And now Dirty Projectors are giving us a new track, “Dance For You.” It’s light, upbeat and feels so effortless, while still maintains the classic something-sorta-off that Dirty Projectors have built their catalog on.

The Forms never really came off as a band who would release an record of remixes. Their two albums are guitar-heavy, oddly-timed and rocked out (in a good way). But with the transformation into a two-piece of Alex Tween and Matt Walsh, the subtraction of guitars, and the addition of synthesizers and electronic drums, we get much different results.

Supposedly a result of putting the needle down on the record at the wrong speed, Derealization is an upcoming EP of remixes and reimaginings from the band’s previous releases Icarus and The Forms, featuring many big name guest stars. Members of St. Vincent, Pattern is Movement, The National and Dirty Projectors all dropped by to contribute to this EP. The first single features Andrew Thiboldeaux from Pattern is Movement. It’s called “Steady Hand,” but the original was called “Bones.” The remix is sped up and has some twinkling electronic elements added to the background and ghostly ethereal vocals. What I mean is: It’s good. Listen to it over at Stereogum.

Here’s a video of the band playing a version of their song “Stravinsky” this summer at the Knitting Factory. Not sure if this version will appear on Derealization or not. But I am sure that it is great and a good indication of what’s to come. Plus, they’re each wearing a headset microphone, so it’s worth watching just for that.

Photo via jp2mets

If there’s one thing The Dirty Projectors and Owen Pallett have in common it is precision. Whether it is Pallett building up his crazy wall of sound loop constructions or the Projectors belting out some insane vocal harmony, both acts are going at their live show with a deliberate sense of what they are doing. So a pairing of the two together at Terminal 5 Saturday night felt like it, too, was well thought out and premeditated. The house was sold out, and the huge crowd seemed to be appreciative of the type of rad show we were seeing together. ”It’s like the Cake Shop but with a couple balconies,” Dave Longstreth said early on his band’s set. It may have elicited a chuckle (you know, since it is nothing like The Cake Shop at all) but it was a nice gesture to make. (more…)