Archive for August, 2006

The Dirty Projectors “Fucked For Life” – The new Dirty Projectors EP lacks the warped high concept of The Getty Address, but refines the sound of that record, resulting in a set of bizarre, off-center stunners that do not fit comfortably in any pre-existing genres. Dave Longstreth’s voice recalls Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside’s timbre and specific type of soul affectations, but there’s something a little off about his phrasing and melodies, which extends to the rest of the arrangement. “Fucked For Life” is essentially all about the bass, which bumps along throughout the track, serving as the focal point which all the other elements orbit. The track grooves, but it’s not exactly a groover; it’s catchy, but is only pop by the loosest definition; it’s jazzy, but it is only informed by jazz. If rock implies something solid, this music is a vapor. (Click here for the Marriage Records’ Dirty Projectors site.)

Guther “Many Frames Per Moment” – Video treatment: Julia Guther is walking around ar large airport terminal looking zoned out and moving passively through a place filled with people moving briskly and appearing busy and rushed. For most of the clip, she should appear to be passively moving along with the tide, at other times washing out to quieter hallways and corridors where she appears even more directionless. We see her pace around inside of shops, barely even looking at things, and getting some food that she barely eats. At the instrumental break, she picks up her pace and appears more deliberate in her movements. As the song reaches it climax, she walks out of the structure into the morning sun, and onto a bus that disappears into the glare of light. (Click here to pre-order it from Boomkat.)

Elsewhere: My review of Scoop is up on The Movie Binge.

Jeffrey & Jack Lewis “Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror” – If you’ve ever been on the L train, or walked around Williamsburg and its vicinity, you can see a lot of people who clearly have some variation of this song’s lyrics running through their mind. It starts out as self-deprecation and a mixture of pride and revulsion for the lifestyle that they’ve attained. The next step is getting sucked into an undertow of fear and doubt about the inherent lack of pragmatism in pursuing the arts as a career, and then the art itself is torn apart after the ego has been fully eviscerated. Then, at the lowest low in this moment between subway stops, there’s a crazy nightmare scenerio played out in the imagination. In the case of this song, it involves Will Oldham mercilessly attacking the singer of this song on an abandoned subway platform. There’s a moment of realization at the conclusion, and that’s about the time when the person gets off the train, goes about their day, and maybe cycles through another permutation of this set of thoughts five more times before getting to bed at night with their cute boyfriend or girlfriend, who is covered in bad tattoos, has a questionable haircut, and has also thought the same thing through a half dozen times over in the previous 24 hours. (Click here for the Jeffrey Lewis site.)