New Album from Three Weeks Ago: Bitte Orca by the Dirty Projectors

I am sorry, I kinda dropped the ball this week. This week has been super busy and I just now have time to sit down and write out this week’s entry (I haven’t even had time to buy the new album for three weeks from now). Unfortunately I regret to inform you that I will likely drop the ball next week as well due to my finals being on Tuesday and Wednesday. So in case you have been on the edge of your seat wondering why my posts aren’t on time, relax. So without any further delay, I give you the new album from three weeks (and two days) ago, Bitte Orca by the Dirty Projectors.

Now before you get all indignant about the fact that Bitte Orca has been around forever (which it hasn’t you lover of hyperbole, it came out in 2009), I must remind you that the “new” album is new to me, not new to the universe. I write for Frog on a Log not to try judge music as good or bad, but to explore my love affair/obsession with music and hopefully introduce people to some truly fantastic albums. And Bitte Orca is just that; do yourself a favor and give it a listen.

As many people have said in their own reviews of this album, Bitte Orca is impossible to describe. It is simultaneously soft and loud, contemplative and non-sensible, organized and chaotic. It is like pop swallowed rock, hooked itself up to some electronics and snorted a bit of whatever punk is on. Instead of continuing this vain attempt to make an appropriate analogy, I will let the music do the talking.

My personal favorite track, Useful Chamber, sums up the general sound of the album better than words can. It starts a bit like an electro-pop song before shifting more in the pop direction. Then it suddenly turns into a pseudo-acoustic sound punctuated by beautiful power chords. Next comes a breakdown consisting of spoken word and percussion that serves as a warning about what is coming next. Suddenly the song roars into pure chaos; it feels like every instrument is playing its own incredible solo on top of each other and slightly off rhythm while Dave Longsteth belts out “Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte” over and over. The chaos collapses in on itself and we are whisked back to the pop sound. The chaos starts to fight with the pop as the song switches back and forward till the chaos erupts in the climax of the song right at the end.

Useful Chamber is like a condensed Bitte Orca, some songs rock out more like Cannibal Resource, some have a more pop sound like Stillness Is the Move, while others are very somber like Two Doves. But no song completely falls into one category or another; they all have moments where the other sounds burst through. Yet despite the complete diversity of sound in the album, it meshes together extremely well into a really cohesive and unique sound. Bitte Orca sounds like nothing else. The only other musician that the Dirty Projector’s mix of rock and pop sounds like is St. Vincent on Strange Mercy or Actor; though I guess she sounds like them seeing as both those albums came out after Bitte Orca. Sorry, figuring out who influenced who is a serious issue when you discover bands in reverse order.