Posted on 30 June 2010
Following up on last week’s announcement of a studio-recorded iteration of the unlikely collaboration between Dirty Projectors and Björk — initiated by DPs cover of “Hyperballad” for our tribute to Björk’s Post and brought to fruition by Brandon’s facilitating an unforgettable evening at Housing Works bookstore — this morning you can purchase the Dave Longstreth’s seven-song suite, recorded by his band and the Icelandic icon at Rare Book Room Studios in Greenpoint, at mountwittenbergorca.com. The minimum donation is $7, though you can go as high as $100; all proceeds benefit the National Geographic Society Oceans Project, a charitable initiative close to the marine themes at the piece’s heart, and an unfortunately prescient one at that.
The site just launched this morning, so we can listen and log thoughts together. (That’s always fun.) Brandon and I did sit with the band and listen through to the album at Rare Book Room last week — it’s well worth a dollar a song, if you’re wondering. Dave echoed his sentiment from a Q&A we had after the Housing Works performance that Mount Wittenberg Orca is, essentially, Bitte Orca’s “younger, hotter sister”: the “Orca” ties the two pieces, as do the emphasis on vocal harmony — in many ways, Mount Wittenberg expands and elevates the hocketed harmonic devices Bitte brought forth. Guitar and drums are marginalized, creating space for the voices, which is a smart thing to do if you have Björk in the studio. The arrangements and lyrics Longstreth initially created — written in a week, performed a week later at Housing Works — were tweaked minimally. (Only the opening movement was reworked in any detailed way.) The idea was to capture an “instinctive thrust,” and this mini-album’s recording process — ’50s mics and recorded live in first and second takes (inspired by the spacious warmth of Elvis Presley recordings) with overdubs only for lead vocals and solos — reflects that.
Our interview gives a lot more background on the piece and process, as does Dave’s letter describing the project (reprinted below), but if you want a taste before saving the oceans/your eardrums by purchasing this 21-minute beauty, there’s this performance on Fallon, and below there’s a stream of the suite’s denouement, titled “All We Are,” which has a closing phrase that not only brings Dave and Björk together, but puts them in harmony with Kurt Cobain. More on that after you listen.
Read More…
Posted on 23 June 2010
Last Spring I asked Björk and Dirty Projectors to perform a benefit show at Housing Works. They said yes. I knew the Projectors thought highly of Björk’s work (David Longstreth mentioned this when covering “Hyperballad” for our Enjoyed tribute) and, later, Björk told me about this band she really liked, Dirty Projectors. I was hoping to make the night especially singular: Since I knew of this mutual admiration and had thought about ways DPs vocal harmonies nodded to Björk’s and of both camps’ avant compositional sense, I decided to take it one step further and ask them to collaborate. Surprisingly, they said yes.
The show took place April 8, 2009 and was a great, sweaty evening. A little more than a year later, the music Longstreth wrote for the benefit has been studio-recorded, and is being released as a 20-minute seven-song collection called Mount Wittenberg Orca, the title he told us about at the time of the Housing Works show. Pre-ordering starts today. Amrit and I went down to Rare Book Room in Brooklyn on Monday to listen to it.
Read More…
Posted on 29 September 2009
You may remember earlier this year when Brandon put together a little show at a little bookstore in SoHo for which Dirty Projectors performed the little feat of composing a six-song suite for Björk in a week, after recording their best record to date, and then proceeded to blow everyone’s minds with it. There were only 300 or so lucky ones in the room that night, but after last night’s stop at Fallon, a lot more became privy to a piece of Dave Longstreth’s latest. At Housing Works the song was called “Until The Day I Die,” which Dave described to us as “Song of Amber, sighting the Whale, statement of devotion.” (The overarching piece is titled Mount Wittenberg Orca, which Dave said “is about a day three weeks ago that Amber Coffman was in Northern California watching whales from a mountain called Mount Wittenberg. The six songs are imagining the moment Amber saw this whale, and the whale saw her.” He also said Mount Wittenberg Orca was “definitely like Bitte Orca’s younger, hotter sister,” so there’s that.) Last night new DPs superfan Jimmy Fallon informed us its been retitled “When The World Comes To An End.” After it’s done, Fallon immediately says “You gotta come back” before asking of Amber, Haley, and Angel’s harmonies, “How did you do that?” Good question. We have video of that, and some pics and vid of Dirty Projectors making the Roots gush backstage. Get in it:
Continue reading Dirty Projectors Bring Mount Wittenberg Orca To Fallon…
Posted on 20 May 2009
Every few weeks, Amazon.com lets us select one recent release from its MP3 store to go on super sale (up to 75% off normal prices). Hopefully you’ll be able to add these must-own LPs to your library without breaking your budget.
Onetime BTW the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart made a big splash this year with their self-titled full-length debut, an easy-to-like collection of jangly, fuzzy late ’80s/early ’90s-style indie pop. As we’ve mentioned, from the album art down to the melodies and layers of pretty noise, it’s clear they like the Pastels, Black Tambourine, etc. That’s a good thing. As anyone who’s hummed The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart 10 tracks after just one listen can attest.
Continue reading Stereogum X Amazon MP3 Friendly Deals #11: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart…
Posted on 19 May 2009
You wouldn’t be penalized for comparing Suckers to Yeasayer, as anyone who’s heard “It Gets Your Body Movin’” will attest. When the Brooklyn quartet stopped by to discuss their day jobs, I mentioned the self-titled EP was co-produced by Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder (with Chris Moore). The overlap goes further than that, but Suckers do venture deeper into some sort of strange Broadway musical/kids tune territory instead of chasing Genesis. Maybe use this underwater, underground Chubbard-directed “Easy Chairs” clip as your comparative measuring stick. Note: There is an actual easy chair in there, but it shows up in the middle of a particularly difficult looking kaleidoscopic cellular vortex.
Continue reading New Suckers Video - “Easy Chairs”…
Posted on 19 May 2009
Wong Kar Wai’s first English feature, which featured the acting debuts of Norah Jones and Cat Power, is this week’s nominee in Videogum’s Hunt For The Worst Movie Of All Time. It’s pretty terrible, save for Chan, who remains the greatest.
Posted on 19 May 2009
Posted on 18 May 2009
Proceeds from the live EP benefit Amnesty International. Listen/buy at everythingthathappens.com and consider it a preview for Bonnaroo, where Byrne will be the first artist to curate his own stage (with Santigold, Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, and himself).
Posted on 18 May 2009
No matter its form, remixed or as Datarock intended, “Give It Up” is at least partially about hooking you up with an enema. It was also our first listen to the scarlet-clad Norwegians’ forthcoming sophomore collection Red, on which they only used equipment made prior to 1983 and tried tapping into Fela Kuti, Afrika Bambaataa and Kraftwerk. The next single “The Pretender” sounds more like their old inspiration Devo swiveling into an anthemic disco and “Song Of Myself” kick (with a little of Duran Duran’s “Rio” at the start), but who’s keeping track(suit)? You can see Red’s album cover in larger form while you take a listen.
Continue reading New Datarock - “The Pretender” (Stereogum Premiere)…
Posted on 18 May 2009
Modest Mouse’s No One’s First And You’re Next single “Satellite Skin” has been around awhile in various forms. Now it’s being pressed onto a proper 7″ you’ll be able to take home in May, which is why it popped up last week in highly listenable and viewable forms. When the single shows, “Satellite Skin” will be backed by another No One’s First track “Guilty Cocker Spaniels.” It’s not your typical B-Side table scraps: The 4-minute mouth-foamer finds Isaac Brock running full-speed with quick-wit lines about Facebook, fashionable clothes, and empty treadmills (and canvasses) as the sounds around him ebb and flow, building to a final MM-style exorcism and return. In other words, it’s worth a listen.
Continue reading New Modest Mouse - “Guilty Cocker Spaniels” (Stereogum Premiere)…
