|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy a CD or a vinyl record, get a $1 Amazon MP3 Credit. Limit one promotional credit per customer. Here's how (restrictions apply)
- Includes FREE MP3 version of this album Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Editorial Reviews
The follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed and Domino debut "Rise Above". Their fifth release is a big rock album by design. Its idiosyncratic and sincere take on popular music is reminiscent of David Byrne with whom Dirty Projectors collaborated on "Knotty Pine" for the 2009 compilation "Dark Was The Night". In many ways, group leader David Longstreth could be seen as this generation's answer to Byrne, a distinctive torchbearer of labyrinthine song arrangements that go down easy.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If you've been turned off by the Dirty Projectors in the past because they were either too intricate, too nonsensical, or too pretentious, then I think you will love this album. Every song is unique and well arranged and, although much more straightforward than past albums, still keeps some of the jazzy mathiness that old fans will love. The vocals have reached a new high with impressive three-part female harmonies complementing Dave Longstreth's angular, rhythmic singing. Highly recommended; I just keep coming back for more, even after weeks of listens, and that doesn't happen often for me.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By C. Bradley
Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bitte Orca is very likely to appear in the top albums of 2009. I agree.
The album presents many musical concepts that are innovative, creative, and catchy. For instance, guitar riffs are very rarely trite or predictable. Melodies are very rarely structured so that the listener is able to hum them after only a listen or two. Meter is unpredictable and yet extremely interesting with all of its syncopation and surprises. Familiar harmonic structure is sparse and creates a very disconnected feel in almost every track. These components together challenge many ingrained concepts of music, and it makes it extremely interesting to truly listen to. Because of these challenges that it presents I do believe it is making strides to creating new styles, encouraging creativity, etc., and deserves to be recognized as one of the best albums of 2009.
However, because the album presents so many complex ideas and so many changes in meter and structure so rapidly it is not likely to become one of the most coherent albums of all time. Like Radiohead, Dirty Projectors present so many new concepts and challenges to what is expected that often the coherency of the ideas, melodies, and lyrics are difficult to perceive (not impossible, just difficult). I believe that like Radiohead, many bands will benefit from taking examples from Dirty Projectors and will most likely become more successful than their predecessors when the original ideas are watered down for mainstream music.
The album presents many musical concepts that are innovative, creative, and catchy. For instance, guitar riffs are very rarely trite or predictable. Melodies are very rarely structured so that the listener is able to hum them after only a listen or two. Meter is unpredictable and yet extremely interesting with all of its syncopation and surprises. Familiar harmonic structure is sparse and creates a very disconnected feel in almost every track. These components together challenge many ingrained concepts of music, and it makes it extremely interesting to truly listen to. Because of these challenges that it presents I do believe it is making strides to creating new styles, encouraging creativity, etc., and deserves to be recognized as one of the best albums of 2009.
However, because the album presents so many complex ideas and so many changes in meter and structure so rapidly it is not likely to become one of the most coherent albums of all time. Like Radiohead, Dirty Projectors present so many new concepts and challenges to what is expected that often the coherency of the ideas, melodies, and lyrics are difficult to perceive (not impossible, just difficult). I believe that like Radiohead, many bands will benefit from taking examples from Dirty Projectors and will most likely become more successful than their predecessors when the original ideas are watered down for mainstream music.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By BK
Format:Audio CD
Dave Longstreth is his generation's Captain Beefheart. He combines "normal" musical sounds with drastic, sometimes jarring, rhythmic and sonic changes. BITTE ORCA is the first Dirty Projectors album that I've heard and I must say that it is one of the most unique albums I found all year. Recommended if you like Dear Science by TV on the Radio, Actor by St. Vincent, or Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear.
73 of 104 people found the following review helpful
By Christine
Format:Audio CD
After seeing this album get nearly universal acclaim from the critics, I figured it was worth listening to to see what the fuss was about. So I gave it a full listen, expecting to find it at least somewhat enjoyable. Unfortunately, I found it totally unappealing and actually very annoying. It is definitely true that the songs on the album are inventive and experimental, and if you're mostly just looking for something different, you might like this. But for me, the aesthetic doesn't work at all.
David Longstreth takes a kitchen sink approach to production, throwing in what sounds like every possible thing he can think of. He seems to be trying very hard to make the songs interesting to listen to, incorporating multiple vocalists who sing in different styles all at once, unusual rhythmic variations against a standard melodic line, and all sorts of other things floating around all over the place. While, in theory, that could sound pretty cool, what this results in here is sort of the sonic equivalent of taking tofu fried in soybean oil, covering that with marinara sauce, slicing in some kiwi, drizzling some truffle oil over all that, and then adding a few dashes of fish sauce and a cup of cold chocolate milk.
Even "Stillness is the Move," the song on the album that most resembles a single, suffers from an overall sense of clutter and sloppiness. While the female singers give a strong performance, there is just too much going on, and the mix of all that is too raw and unfocused for the song to ever truly gel.
My musical tastes in general tend to veer towards the alternative and odd, but this album just doesn't work for me at all.... Read more ›
David Longstreth takes a kitchen sink approach to production, throwing in what sounds like every possible thing he can think of. He seems to be trying very hard to make the songs interesting to listen to, incorporating multiple vocalists who sing in different styles all at once, unusual rhythmic variations against a standard melodic line, and all sorts of other things floating around all over the place. While, in theory, that could sound pretty cool, what this results in here is sort of the sonic equivalent of taking tofu fried in soybean oil, covering that with marinara sauce, slicing in some kiwi, drizzling some truffle oil over all that, and then adding a few dashes of fish sauce and a cup of cold chocolate milk.
Even "Stillness is the Move," the song on the album that most resembles a single, suffers from an overall sense of clutter and sloppiness. While the female singers give a strong performance, there is just too much going on, and the mix of all that is too raw and unfocused for the song to ever truly gel.
My musical tastes in general tend to veer towards the alternative and odd, but this album just doesn't work for me at all.... Read more ›
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Well, these people do know how to create an excellently sticky hook. Bits from the album stick in my mind for days after I have listened to it. The guitarist is quite technically accomplished. He has lifted various riffs with great exactness from various types of African music, but he plays them rather like one of the dudes you find down at Guitar Center - all the speed and flash with none of the feeling. They revel in the "Alterna-crap" silliness, by this I mean they risk no emotion themselves, but merely make an endless ironic commentary on those brave enough to admit to suffering from this unfortunate disease. Protestations of love would not be believed by anyone with a heart, for example "Flourescent Halfdome." This may be their appeal. The male vocalist utterly murders something halfway to a ballad on that song, which may be his intent, it would suit the alterna aversion to risking any sort of emotion or attachment.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
cd
great cd!!! couldn't be more thrilled with this cd and got it at a great deal! thanks again! great find!
Published 8 days ago by Krystal
5.0 out of 5 stars
More like this, bitte
I became a fan of the dirty Projectors only a couple of years ago, and this was the first of their albums I bought. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jacques Talbot
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely worth listening to
Dave Longstreth may be a musical genius. This is unique music, and may be an acquired taste. Beautiful harmonies mixed with often disjointed rhythms. Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. Moore
4.0 out of 5 stars
worth your $2.99
There is some justice that this album is now selling for bargain-basement prices: Pitchfork will never give another DL production >7.5, I wager. Live by the fickle muse, etc. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Buddy Iodine
1.0 out of 5 stars
The defining album of our generation, sgt pepper of our time
This is like the weirdest and most genius band in the world. David Longstreth is a misunderstood avant-garde intellectual and will be etched into the annals of history with Bach,... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ariel Garza
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bitte Orca,Orca Bitte
I'll be Honest. I avoided this album for a long time because I despise hipsters. There I said it. I hate them! Read more
Published on July 26, 2010 by Smoking Ace
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't quit your day job either
Hoop to goo! I was terrified of the arbitrary albatross, so I (TRANSITION DELETED) invested in habitual nuns and went on narwhal hunts, by which I mean I think I was seeing... Read more
Published on July 23, 2010 by Automated Message
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, artsy pop
This is my first Dirty Projectors album. It is unique but very listenable. The rhythms and harmonies are complex. Read more
Published on March 31, 2010 by Amy Darrah
2.0 out of 5 stars
i love it, but i'm also pretty sure that i hate it.
having heard some flap about this band (dirty projectors) for a while now, i decided this CD was a safe yard sale purchase at 50 cents. Read more
Published on March 22, 2010 by N. Huston
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hipster Crap - Tight pants must be blocking off bloodflow to the brain
This is about as pretentious as any musical adventure I have heard. It is entirely self conscious, insipidly pandering, and musical nonsense. Read more
Published on March 18, 2010 by L. Netter
