Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

[GirlsAloudFan]

New album out July 10.

Watch Dirty Projectors on "Fallon" | News | Pitchfork

Amber Coffman. Holy shit.

 

[u2popmofo]

Gun Has No Trigger is awesome.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Oh, indeed.

And, in case anyone hasn't seen it, here's the offbeat album cover featuring Longstreth, trees, a man with a large belly, and THE COFF!

 

[corianderstem]

Bring it on. I'm very excited for this.

ooh, just saw this on Le Twitter:

.@dirtyprojectors will debut NEW songs from 'Swing Lo Magellan' LIVE on @kexp tomorrow at 9AM PST / Noon EST - TUNE IN http://kexp.org/

KEXP =

 

[LemonMelon]

Longstreth is either asking that man for directions or showing him how to play an E chord.

 

[Danny Boy]

showing him how to play an E chord.

That was my thought.

 

[lazarus]

I guess Angel wasn't good enough to make the cover this time around. Guess she's pouting about it and sat out the Fallon performance.

TEAM COFF!

 

[bollox]

Angel's on hiatus from the band. Sorry fellas.

Source.

 

[LemonMelon]

This is a much less attractive band now.

I hope the man with the large belly isn't replacing her.

 

[iron yuppie]

This is a much less attractive band now.

I hope the man with the large belly isn't replacing her.

The most logical explanation is that the guy with the belly is indeed replacing her, and that the cover commemorates Longstreth teaching said belly-man her old parts.

 

[lazarus]

Fatte Orca

 

[Lancemc]

Fucking pumped for this.

 

[bono_212]

10:15 on a Saturday Night

 

[LemonMelon]

Spoiler

Everything I enjoyed about Bitte Orca is downplayed this album, namely the girls and Longstreth's electric guitar noodling. The one song Amber gets sounds like a demo they had lying around.

Enjoy, guys. If I have some revelation on this album as I listen further, I'll be back.

 

[lazarus]

That's fucking disheartening.

 

[LemonMelon]

Spoiler

It's really the lack of Amber that hurts. She just backs Longstreth all album until her one lead vocal, which is over before you know it.

One correction to my previous statement: Longstreth does rock the fuck out pretty hard on Offspring Are Blank. I liked that a lot. It's almost some Sabbath type shit he's pulling. Maybe That Was It is also classic Dirty Projectors, every bit as fucked in the head as Useful Chamber.

 

[bono_212]

Spoiler

Hell, I liked 3 songs on it. This is a vast improvement over the last one.

But seriously, "Impregnable Question", "See What She's Seeing" and "Offspring Are Blank"

 

[Lancemc]

Spoiler

Can't wait to listen for myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if I fall into LM's camp. Bitte Orca seemed like an almost impossible act to follow to begin with.

 

[LemonMelon]

Spoiler

You really need to just take one look at the press release to note the changes from Bitte Orca:

Where prior DPz albums investigated 20th-century orchestration (The Getty Address), aerated the aesthetics of 80s hardcore and west African guitar music (Rise Above), and explored complex contrapuntal techniques in human voices (Bitte Orca and Mt Wittenberg Orca), Swing Lo Magellan is a leap forward again.

“It’s an album of songs, an album of songwriting,” says Longstreth.

 

[Lancemc]

Haha.

 

[Lancemc]

Listened to it once in my car, though with company so we were talking over most of it. What I could glean from an imperfect listen though was pretty enjoyable.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

I think it's their best. Maybe it is more focused on songwriting as Longstreth said....seems each song was a lot more developed whereas half the stuff on Bitte Orca just sounded like it was going for a certain mood and was kind of aimless.

Granted, the highlights from the previous album where better, but this one will actually stay in my collection. Definitely could use more of The Coff though, but then we'd have to listen to half the album with a boner. :/

 

[Lancemc]

Still feel as though Bitte Orca's damn near flawless, whatever that word means. One of my favorites of the last 5 years or so. Looking forward to giving this one a proper listen.

 

[u2popmofo]

This one snuck up on me, I was thinking it was still a month or more away. Hadn't preordered it yet because of that, hopefully I'll be able to find it tomorrow.

 

[lazarus]

What Lance said: focus on "songs" and directness does not automatically equal "better".

 

[u2popmofo]

It might for some, it all comes down to personal tastes and such. Personally, I've liked Gun Has No Trigger more than anything they've done since Rise Above. I have no idea if it has to do with focus or not, I just like the song.

 

[LemonMelon]

That song spelled doom for me. It's so fucking drab and hook-free, there's really nothing about it that grabs me in the slightest. Terrible lead single, especially compared to something like Stillness is the Move.

Thankfully, the rest of the album is more interesting.

 

[Lancemc]

Really really digging Magellan the more I listen though. Less than Orca, but not vastly less.

 

[iron yuppie]

I've been a little suspicious of this band, but I must say I really enjoyed Magellan on first listen. There's a delicacy to it that could be dull in the hands of other bands, but the eccentricity of just about everything related to the Projectors keeps it engaging rather than boring. The pianos function especially well in setting the mood, I think. My only criticism right now would be in line with what several others have said: more vocals from Amber would have been a nice accompaniment to several of these tunes.

 

[u2popmofo]

CD was $9.99 at Best Buy (regular price).