this band is god

ha, saw them 2 times already. better than vampire weekend.

Listening to "no more" just now, I felt about the same as when I'm in the dentist chair getting a filling. That was truely terrible.

I can't believe this buzz about Dirty Projectors. I've seen the dirty projectors live over a dozen times over the years. The first few shows I saw (in 2003 or so), Longstreth was laughed off the stage, he was so obviously a spoiled rich Yale kid being obnoxious to avoid the challenge of making real music. Does anyone else remember that Microphones show at Star Foods where Longstreth started saying obnoxious stuff to the audience like "You shouldn't talk through music you can't understand." Anyway, about a year later, it had somehow turned around and and at the shows the whole crowd would love it and say, "life-changing, and with such great pop hooks!" But the music objectively has no pop hooks-- It's such aggressively ugly music. As much as I hate to feel that my good friends with opinions I respect are frauds, I can't help but feel they are pretending to like this music to appear "far out" or intelligent or something. Are people saying they can hear pop hooks in this obviously non-poppy music to sound like they have sophisticated ears or something? I'm baffled and I feel totally alone about this. I don't know anyone else who feels this way about them.

you need therapy anon, 1:22, so you don't like them. I still think it's brilliant, pop to some isn't pop to others. IT'S OK!!!

and yes, DP used to be a shit live band, now they have really just gotten amazing.

Into the boring pile!

the first song on the record is good.

I wonder if Music Snob will be baking cookies for their Mercury Lounge show???

LOL @ 2:22!!!

maybe some congo bars???

Just listened to that sample-when would you listen to this!? Even while vacuuming, this would still be annoying as fuck. trying to hard to be weird if you ask me. A bunch of out-of-sync, out-of-tune bits, like going to a party where that one DJ tries to mix shit together but doesn't know how.
Bring back the rock somebody, anybody!

ben you sound like a really annoyingly boring person to be around

"bring back the rock"??!?

"...being obnoxious to avoid the challenge of making real music"

"aggressively ugly music"

These are the things I like about the Dirty Projectors.

"and yes, DP used to be a shit live band, now they have really just gotten amazing.

I also wrote them off a while ago after seeing them live, but this album has me interested again.

>>> Even while vacuuming, this would still be annoying as fuck

How can you listen to music while vacuuming?

band needs to be stopped. quit ruining the classics, stick to entertaining dorks in grandpa sweaters.

haters go home. dps are amazing live and the new record is one of the best and most creative of the year. see this band.

it was a great show. lame crowd though. dave seemed disappointed by the audience's lack of reaction/enthusiasm.

If the Ecstatic Sunshine hadn't played it would have been the worst 12 bucks spent on a Friday night. I don't understand how Grizzly Bear recommends this (To Anon 10:38 am: Daniel was part of the lame crowd, ah?). Dave is the singer's name? Good guitarist (and the girl playing guitar and the drummer) but what a pretentious guy.

I went to see them live a few months back with no idea what to expect and thought the clash of styles and energy in the performance made for an excellent show, barring a couple of songs where Longstreth did this kind of deliberately off-key bawling thing which was comical.. The new album is quite good too (and if you think it's melody-free, you must need your melodies marked out with a 50-foot neon signpost). Takes a few listens to grow, but how many things that are really worthwhile don't take a bit of effort?

wow, I'm kind of shocked by how much hate there is! The current configuration of this band KILLS it live. I'm not as craazy about the production on the record(s) but listen to the daytrotter sessions to get a sense of how they arrange and execute live.
http://www.daytrotter.com/article/728/free-songs-dirty-projectors

I didn't mean to be hating on this. I guess I am not visionary with respect to music. I found the perfect word to describe how I felt when seeing them last night for the first time: "suphocating".

well they certainly aren't easy and if Dave isn't feeling the energy of the room, sometimes it can seem like he WANTS to piss people off, maybe that was the case last night I don't know I wasn't there, but I do know I think what they are doing is really fresh and great. Definitely took me a good long time to come around on them, but now that I did, I'm pretty much a fan for life. Eduardo, you may find yourself there in a year or so or never, but it's cool you gave them a shot.

I saw them once over a year ago with the old lineup and I did not particularly enjoy it. Have seen them twice with the new lineup, including last night, and enjoyed it very much. The crowd was fine last night and the band joked with us very quite often. There is dissonance and melody everywhere in their music. The harmonies and guitar playing are some of the best around. In my own humble opinion: I absolutely did not like listening to Ecstatic Sunshine. They were boring and formulaic. Not to mention the treble was way too intense. Also, they had a "member" just "playing" their guitar pedals. It seemed silly and useless.

I liked the show last night. Sounded great. Easy on the eyes, too.

they sounded great on friday! the only complaint i had was the crowd--someone actually yelled "he went to yale!" and "play freebird!" were we at the same show? and why were so many people talking through the DP set? why pay $12 to talk through a set?

The Dirty Projectors are ahead of their time in the same way Prince was, and in the same way any group of great artists has ever been. Dave L. is a genius and a statue should be built in his honor and set rotating the Earth for all time.

"Rise Above" is easily the best album of the year, light-years beyond anything else. People like the D.P.s need to exist to keep pushing music forward and proving it's not a dead language. Longstreth's arrangement and compositional skills are on such a higher level than most of what gets accepted as good music that you should be on your knees thanking your lucky stars he is alive in your life time. This is brilliant, deep, funny, incredible music. Hearing it makes me feel like the ground is splitting open.

Also, what the hell is wrong with going to Yale? Does having an education and having the means to pay for it automatically discredit you? How many of YOU GUYS went to college, and how many of you got rejected from Yale?

re: Anon 11:11 Am "and why were so many people talking through the DP set? why pay $12 to talk through a set?"

people were talking because the lower east side and the mercury lounge are pure shite now. people go there to be seen and partake in NYC's glamour scene and don't care about music. Good bands like DP should just stop gigging in Manhattan altogether.

I saw DP perform in Brooklyn just a few hours prior to their MercLounge set, and the audience was silent and in awe of the raw talent.

well, how about it, then?

how did the soundfix show compare to the merc. show?

i didn't attend soundfix because the space is small and uncomfortable and have had less than enjoyable experiences in the past.

i was disappointed with the short set fri. night, personally.

They played at cornell saturday night (september 29th). Dave got on stage with the two girl crooners and informed us, 'our drummer threw out his lower back this morning, so we're going to do an "intimate set"'. Fuck man, fuck.
They played for maybe half an hour with just him on guitar; it was pretty sounding and people were pretty attentive but shit, they needed drums badly! We tried to encore them for about 5 minutes and everyone just gave up, i think we'd had enough. It was like the projectors with no dirt.

They played at cornell saturday night (september 29th). Dave got on stage with the two girl crooners and informed us, 'our drummer threw out his lower back this morning, so we're going to do an "intimate set"'. Fuck man, fuck.
They played for maybe half an hour with just him on guitar; it was pretty sounding and people were pretty attentive but shit, they needed drums badly! We tried to encore them for about 5 minutes and everyone just gave up, i think we'd had enough. It was like the projectors with no dirt.

They played at cornell saturday night (september 29th). Dave got on stage with the two girl crooners and informed us, 'our drummer threw out his lower back this morning, so we're going to do an "intimate set"'. Fuck man, fuck.
They played for maybe half an hour with just him on guitar; it was pretty sounding and people were pretty attentive but shit, they needed drums badly! We tried to encore them for about 5 minutes and everyone just gave up, i think we'd had enough. It was like the projectors with no dirt.

there is no room in my life for anyone who doesn't revere this band. i would literally sponsor a "cleansing" of all those who oppose them. i'm practically not even joking. they are my religion.

i also love this band, but it seems like the lyrics on Rise Above are identical to those of Damaged. Wouldn't that make this a cover album? I mean, is the point to applaud Dave because he recalled the lyrics to a record he hadn't listened to since middle school?