Cat Power + Dirty Projectors | Tracks

“Dance for You”
Dirty Projectors

I loathed this band. Its jagged, shattered structures; its shrill, sharp girl-sung harmonies that shot from the back of the throat as if dentists were holding down their tongues with tongue depressors; its broken Brooklyn funk; its improvised cover of an entire Black Flag album, akin to a molecular chef deconstructing a hot dog with no recipe; its ability to ruin even Björk. But this I love. I love its sparse soul arrangement, mostly just clean, bittersweet guitar and handclaps; its occasional bursts of pitter-patter snare drums; its touch of strings and flutes; its rubbery McCartneyish bassline. The three backup sirens are absent. Yes, Dave Longstreth still sings with roach clips on his nipples, but fortunately the McCartney similarity runs deeper than that bass. “I ran across cyanide blades,” he admits. “There is an answer, but I still haven’t found it. But I’m going to keep dancing till I do.” Keep an open mind. Listen to all you can. Even your sworn enemies might surprise you.