New Music: Dirty Projectors: "Fucked for Life" / "Imagine It" / "New New Attitude" / "A Labor More Restful" (Daytrotter Session) [MP3]
Dirty Projectors are a new band each album. The only constant is main DP Dave Longstreth and his elastic pipes, which go from warbling croon to jackhammer shout in a couple seconds. Longstreth's backing band for Getty Address included vocalists and some multi-instrumentalists, while the New Attitude EP had a lithe little trio of standard guitar, bass, and drums.
Live, the best part is watching how in-tune Longstreth is with his band members. According to his quotes for this Daytrotter session, he just plays the song and lets his band anticipate the changes. The skipping riff makes "Fucked for Life" one of the grooviest things Longstreth's ever done.
MP3: > Dirty Projectors: "Fucked For Life"
Longstreth and company play "Imagine It" next. It's as precise as "Fucked for Life", from its guitar line to the aligned male/female vocals. Writes Longstreth: "This is a song I made for the New Attitude album. The guitar pattern is based on traditional krar plucking style, with the finger pattern broken up across the two guitars."
MP3: > Dirty Projectors: "Imagine It"
The final two songs, "New New Attitude" and "A Labor More Restful", are new reworkings of old material. "New New Attitude" is unexpectedly disheveled, considering not only the tightrope precision of the above two songs, but DP's work as a whole. Dirty Projectors finish off with "A Labor More Restful", which Longstreth performs solo.