Rise Above

The Dirty Projectors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 11, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dead Oceans
• ASIN: B000U3DF0O
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,969 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. What I See

2. No More

3. Depression

4. Six Pack

5. Thirsty and Miserable

6. Police Story

7. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie

8. Spray Paint (The Walls)

9. Room 13

10. Rise Above

Editorial Reviews

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above - Dead Oceans - DOC001

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars black flag, white heart, October 31, 2007

By 

David M. DeLeon (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rise Above (Audio CD)

Rise Above is Dirty Projectors front-man (and only permanent member) Dave Longstreth's attempt to, get this, rewrite Black Flag's album Damaged from memory. But this isn't a collection of covers - what he's ended up with here is a pile of ethereal, amazing music with the characteristic complex Projectors harmonies, syncopation, and turn-your-head-around compositions that bears no resemblance to Black Flag, despite the fact that they share the same lyrics. Take "Police Story", the most iconoclastic track. It's a soft, flowing, reed-heavy piece with an opening that feels somewhere out of Debussy, at yet the lyrics go, "This f*cking city, it's run by pigs, they take away the rights from all the kids."

The amount of re-imagining it took to create these tracks makes the album something for the annals of pop music art-history. Interesting museum installation idea: play Rise Above on one side, Damaged on the other, and see if your head explodes.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soundtrack to my Life...., June 19, 2009

By 

Christine Helmerson "Chris" (Wilmington, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rise Above (Audio CD)

I'm a big fan of the dirty projectors. They put on an awesome show & their records are never lacking. I own this album, Slaves Graves & Ballads, and New Attitude. All are fantastic. This CD specifically I could play on repeat forever & it wouldn't get old.

I would agree with the 2 star review, in that yes this band is different. If you can't handle some intentional off beat non-traditional usage of vocals, guitar and drums dirty projectors is not the band for you. I would definitely not compare them to Clash or the Arctic Monkeys though.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant and Successful Experiment, October 6, 2011

By 

C. Thompson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rise Above (Audio CD)

Rise Above, as anyone looking at this page is most likely aware of, is Dave Longstreth's attempt at recreating Black Flag's seminal album Damaged from memory. Or something along those lines. The music is completely different, certain songs are omitted, and even the lyrics are slightly altered from time to time. It's probably the hippest musical concept to take place in the last ten years and the results are nothing short of breathtaking. The songs are full of gorgeous vocal harmonies, brilliant guitar playing, and hair-raising rhythm sections. It's quite often that the most ethereal and pretty melodies are combined with Henry Rollins's angst-ridden lyrics (For example, the bouncy melody that opens "What I See" is mixed with the lines, "I want to live. I wish I was dead") and the effects are, basically, really freaking cool. For a person like myself who gets no musical enjoyment out of Black Flag's hardcore (and not to mention dated) sound, but still appreciates the poetic expression of anger, frustration, and a feeling of hopelessness in the modern world, this album does wonders. Rise Above is, in my opinion, a soon-to-be classic and a nearly perfect album because of both it's clever theme and it's many, MANY moments of brilliance. Try not to bob your head to the title track's chorus or not feel vindicated by the crescendo in "Gimme Gimme Gimme" where Longstreth sings "I know the world's got problems. I've got problems of my own. Not the kind that can't be solved." It can't be done. Put your faith in this guy.