Supposedly David Longstreth was on tour with the Dirty Projectors, the indie rock band he's been fronting since 2002, when he found himself thinking a great deal about Black Flag's epochal 1981 debut album, Damaged. Given the many miles Black Flag racked up criss-crossing America during their bloody heyday, that shouldn't be at all surprising, but rather than picking up a new copy of the album and cranking it up in celebration of his fellow road warriors, Longstreth channeled his thoughts in a different direction -- after coming home from the tour, he took the Dirty Projectors into a studio and covered 11 of Damaged's 15 tracks, all without giving himself or his musicians a refresher course on what they sounded like. The result, Rise Above, reimagines Black Flag's ragged hymns of rage and angst into smart but fractured bursts of wiry guitar (imagine King Sunny Ade after ten cups of coffee) accompanied by breathy, ethereal vocals, occasional interjections of strings and woodwinds, and a precise but flexible rhythm section. While these interpretations stray a considerable distance from Black Flag's originals, what's most surprising is how much of the original frameworks of these songs remain -- the melodies, such as they are, can generally still be recognized, and if the pissed-off howl of Henry Rollins is the polar opposite of Longstreth's vocal style, the contrary message of the songs somehow shines through. On one hand, Rise Above could be used as an example of how Longstreth can take nearly any music and make it his own, but at the same time it doesn't sound like he's forgotten the original intent behind this music for an instant. Damaged was a scream of defiance in the face of a grim and unforgiving world, but on Rise Above the Dirty Projectors use the curious beauty of their music as a protest against the ugliness of a violent and corrupt society. Perhaps even more than Henry Rollins, when David Longstreth sings "we're fighting a war that we can't win" in "Police Story," he wants more than anything to make a world where that isn't the truth, and it's moments like this that make Rise Above a brave and ultimately successful experiment.
Angel Deradoorian (strangest name ever) is the bassist and part vocalist for Dirty Projectors and lucky for us, she's got a solo release due out. Dirty Projectors last album, Rise Above was released back in 2007 and so in the down time, Deradoorian (not going to get used to writing that one) has recorded an EP that is now due for release this year.
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So the Dirty Projectors headlined our After the Jump Fest fundraiser on New Years Eve. I showed up for Neimo, and stayed for these guys at midnight. Critically acclaimed! Not having been bowled over by the previous sets I had seen (opening for Jarvis Cocker and Dirty Pretty Things respectively) I gave them one last chance.....
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Dirty Projectors - Rise Above(Dead Oceans, 2007)9 stars out of 10So many ways to begin talking about such a great work - likely to be the year's best album - that it's unfortunate that I've got to pin it down to one, but I'll choose Jorge Luis Borges. In 1939, Borges published a short work of fiction called "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" (read it here) in which a writer takes on a major...
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I took a stroll outside of Mog today and checked out other blogs. Found some cool stuff and thought I would share. It's funny for Anna's "MOG Witch Project":http://mog.com/Anna/blog_post/101567 post she had Patrick Wolf's "Magic Position" video posted (which I hadn't heard/seen and thought was awesome) and today I come across this school choir singing the song. Boy am I behind when the song ...
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Today's "Song of the Day" on NPR is one that seems hauntingly familiar to old-skool punk fans. But those who would get that sense of recognition would probably brush it off, thinking "Bah, this is a catchy pop song. I don't listen to pop..." Well, this is true, it is a pop song, but it once was a raging punk song, blasted out of crunchy guitar cabs and screeched over by Henry Rollins in the ...
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Dirty Projectors - Rise Above(Dead Oceans, 2007)9 stars out of 10So many ways to begin talking about such a great work - likely to be the year's best album - that it's unfortunate that I've got to pin it down to one, but I'll choose Jorge Luis Borges. In 1939, Borges published a short work of fiction called "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" (read it here) in which a writer takes on a major...
More >
"This":http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2007/12/black_flag_reimagined_from_mem_1.html has to be the greatest cover of the year. The version recorded at NPR's Bryant Park location is even more stripped down, without the drums or bass-line heard on the studio version. 10.0!The "Police Story" cover from the album ist also rad.
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So the Dirty Projectors headlined our After the Jump Fest fundraiser on New Years Eve. I showed up for Neimo, and stayed for these guys at midnight. Critically acclaimed! Not having been bowled over by the previous sets I had seen (opening for Jarvis Cocker and Dirty Pretty Things respectively) I gave them one last chance.....
More >
Angel Deradoorian (strangest name ever) is the bassist and part vocalist for Dirty Projectors and lucky for us, she's got a solo release due out. Dirty Projectors last album, Rise Above was released back in 2007 and so in the down time, Deradoorian (not going to get used to writing that one) has recorded an EP that is now due for release this year.
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 What I See |
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| 2 No More |
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| 3 Depression |
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| 4 Six Pack |
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| 5 Thirsty and Miserable |
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| 6 Police Story |
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| 7 Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie |
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| 8 Spray Paint (The Walls) |
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| 9 Room 13 |
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| 10 Rise Above |
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| 11 [Untitled] |
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 "Rise Above")
