Dave Longstreth’s Brooklyn art-rock collective, Dirty Projectors, set the blogosphere ablaze in 2007 with the release of Rise Above (Dead Oceans), which reimagined Black Flag’s 1981 hardcore debut, Damaged. Before that, the Projectors released 2005’s Don Henley-themed rock opera, The Getty Address, on Austin indie Western Vinyl. Notice a pattern?
With Longstreth’s alto birdcall at the mic, Brian McOmber’s locomotive drums, and the patina of vocalists Amber Coffman (guitar) and Angel Deradoorian (bass), the Projectors are a psychotic musical on tape and onstage, and they’re gearing up for the June release of their fifth LP and Domino debut, Bitte Orca.
“I tend to think in terms of an album as a whole, and I think of songs as different rooms in a house that you’re building,” Longstreth explains. “For this album, I wanted the unit of attention to be on each song itself so that it stacks into an album in a different way, and whether it amounts to something wonderfully variegated or comes off as weirdly prefab – shoddy construction out of whatever materials were laying around – I guess we’ll have to see.”
If “Knotty Pine,” Dirty Projectors’ punchy and prolific offering with David Byrne on this year’s Red Hot benefit compilation, Dark Was the Night, hints at Longstreth’s talent for writing independent songs, brace yourself. Adding yet another arm to the Projectors’ arachnid, Longstreth is composing a piece for New York minimalist composers collective Bang on a Can to be performed this April.
“I just want to make something beautiful that adds to the world in a positive way or to make a puzzle for people to project meaning onto,” Longstreth relates, laughing about the task at hand. “To communicate as well as to invent.”
This article appears in March 20 • 2009.