Listen: Deradoorian - "The Eye"

I have a confession to make: I've never put as much stock in the Dirty Projectors as everyone around me ever seemed to. They were largely a band on the periphery of my interests doing cool things with cool people for cool people who were cool enough to be in the know. I first listened to them (and continued to return to listen to them) as more of an assignment in seemingly necessary musical assimilation than out of real desire. I've enjoyed some of their output (Looking at you "Stillness Is A Move" and the undeniably enjoyable Swing Lo Magellan) but never found myself as a diehard fan as I found most of my peers to be.

It was curiosity more than anything that led me to give former Dirty Projector singer Angel Deradoorian's solo project a test drive. What did her music sound like out of the context of a band whose function seemed to require so much focused cacophony? Enter Deradoorian's "The Eye" a track that's absolutely mesmerizing from the moment you hit play. It's music that pulsates with life as Deradoorian's vocals weave hypnotic serpentine patterns amid an increasingly complex psychedelic haze. "The Eye" is a musical optical illusion - Deradoorian going from one woman to many; textures going from simple but scenic to downright kaleidoscopic bursts.  Just when you feel a sensory overload coming on, Deradoorian shifts focus, playing with the notion of clarity as you're fed different subjects, as they enter your field of vision and Deradoorian's vocals act as the track's sole anchor. Even the percussive bassline is unpredictable - pulsing then spiking, a constant then elongated thrum morphing to Deradoorian's needs. And despite all this compositional interplay "The Eye" manages to somehow resemble a pop song for the entirety of its radio-friendly duration. That in itself is the most impressive feat - condensing her experimentalism to maintain your interest while she spins as many plates in the air as she damn well pleases.



Deradoorian's debut full length album The Expanding Flower Planet is out 8/21 on Anticon records

Watch: Nothankyou - "Oyster"

                                                       (photo by Alexander Kell)

Since the release of her debut full length DIAMONITE back in 2011, BELL aka singer/pianist Olga Bell has meandered a bit away from the direct spotlight. Joining forces with Dirty Projectors, she's been lending her talents to the harmonious Brooklyn collective for the better part of the year and been tinkering away on her own material more or less in secret. Until now. Olga Bell's return isn't that of BELL but rather a collaboration she began with London multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek under the name Nothankyou.

The trans-atlantic collaboration birthed two tracks, one of which - "Oyster" has a starkly beautiful video. In it, Olga Bell is the only focus. Taking at least part of its influence from the 90s Calvin Klein ads, the video is black and white and features a bare Bell singing directly to the viewer while also impersonating Tom Vek who directs the sort of chiding answers back to herself. Maintaining the illusion of an commercial set, there's a brief moment where Bell breaks, removes a donned pink wig and sips an oyster before turning that too into a commercial moment with a coy wink to the camera. It's a simple but elegant video that relies mostly on the song itself to provoke an actual response.



You can nab Nothankyou's debut 7" either on limited edition vinyl or download from Moshi Moshi Records.

Nat Baldwin - People Changes (2011)

While checking out a enterprising young band (more on them later), I stumbled upon the fact that Nat Baldwin (of Dirty Projectors fame) had released a solo album and was currently on tour supporting it. My immediate thought was: I have to check this out. And yet I was also highly dubious. Because I honestly had no idea what to expect. This was the first time I had ever heard of a double bassists turned singer/songwriter (well besides Esperanza Spalding and Stanley Clarke but they're jazz bassists). After listening to "Weights" and "Lifted", I was absolutely won over. Considering that the album is only 7 songs long and two of the songs were incredible, buying the album for the rest of the tracks didn't seem like too much of a gamble.

Opening with a cover of avant-garde cellist Arthur Russell's "A Little Lost", I was hooked, ready to just sit and let Nat Baldwin delightful multi-tasking take control until the album ended. Each track on the album ups the already seemingly high ante, bringing each song to it's ultimate extreme - culminating in the free-form 2-minute solo jam that is "What Is There". Before that, there's been a sort of break in Nat Baldwin's pastorals filled with saxophone squeaks and squawks, cymbal crashes and abnormal drum beats ("Real Fakes" "Lifted"). These random bursts of activity is what makes those brilliant musical moments of pastoral bliss (like in Kurt Weisman cover "Let My Spirit Rise") all that more hard-won.

People Changes is an album whose rugged experimentalism makes it one of my favorite type of album: Those that bend and defy any concept of genre. The kind of album that you excitedly share with like-minded people of good taste because you can't properly qualify what it sounds like. Nat Baldwin's fourth album, no doubt influenced by his time in the Dirty Projectors and bass training, is marvelous. I will admit it's a bit abrasive for unprepared ears but if you stick with it, it's well worth the initial shock to the system.

Get a taste of Nat Baldwin with a live video of him performing "Weights":

Dirty Projectors gives a gift in the form of free tracks

Fans of the Brooklyn based experimental rockers Dirty Projectors or just those looking good free music can rejoice as in addition to additional tour dates before the band heads off to plays a bunch of festivals abroad the band has also posted tracks "Ascending Melody" and "Emblem of the World" available for download on their website for free. All you need to do is go to their website and put in your email address and you'll the proud owner of two new shiny tracks yet to be released. For those craving a physical copy, you're in luck and can buy the 7" from the Domino Records store. Help yourself to the free download here:
http://www.dirtyprojectors.net/

For those unfamiliar with the ethereal siren song like vocal harmonies that often form the base for David Longstreth's soaring vocals, hear what they sound like in "Stillness if a Move" from their 2008 release Bitte Orca: