Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009)

PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM
PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM
PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM
PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM
PLEASE DON'T BE A DANCE ALBUM

...

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

OK, maybe I'm overstating my slight tinge of happiness. When I see a modern album on this list I tend to really cringe at having to push "play". It's not that every album I've listened to from the aughts has been a techno-dance album. Maybe it has something to do with hanging out with my friends and they put on shitty modern music that my attitude is so sour. In any case, I've only listened to the first minute of Bitte Orca to conclude that this probably won't be a dance album. No guarantee it will be any good though...

Far from being a dance track, "Cannibal Resource" seems to be a daring attempt to make a song no human being would ever want to groove to. The tempo is quite slow, the rhythm section intermittently stops and starts for no real reason, random guitars appear at random moments for a quick lick, and the vocals... are they trying to be off key on purpose or are they just really shitty singers?

"Temecula Sunrise" is just as much of a mess. (The) Dirty Projectors seriously are making a conscious effort to fuck with my sense of rhythm. I'm pretty sure this song is in 3, and occasionally in 4, but there is plenty of skipping around that prevents any real flow. It doesn't help that most of the guitar work just sounds really noodly. It's like somebody botched the editing of the original cut of the track. The following track "The Bride" has the same problem. I know there's probably some kind of wacky time signature to the whole thing that to certain people makes it sound genius.

"Stillness Is The Move" has a more standard beat, and at least the female vocalist on this song puts in the effort to sing on key. But it doesn't really save this twee little tune. It sounds too much like any old boring pop track by a poppy teen singer. The tacked-on violin at the end might have helped make the song deeper if used throughout.

The violin backing on "Two Doves" feels a bit forced. Typically songs with just an acoustic guitar and a singer are light and gentle, and that's the prevailing feeling of "Two Doves". But the violin track is phased in and out of the background quite harshly. It was probably done to contrast the gentle elements by adding a darker counter-melody. Instead it just creates unsettling tension.

The album's title appears in the middle of "Useful Chamber" during a refrain that phonetically goes "Bi-tuh Or-kuh, Or-kuh Bi-tuh! Bi-tuh Or-kuh, Or-kuh Bi-tuh!" From the Wikipedia page for this album:

The word 'bitte' is a German word for 'please,' and 'orca' is another name for a killer whale. Frontman Dave Longstreth states that he liked the way the words sound together.

Every song on this album is a bit of a mess, and I think the above is a window into why. Bitte Orca is a cluttered collection of ideas that barely holds together. I really wonder if the band threw ideas together and just went with them because they sounded good without considering if they actually make a coherent song. It's technically music because they are people singing and playing instruments together, and for the most part they are on key.

Beyond that, it's just weird, and not in a fun way. 2 stars.