Rise Above

Performer: The Dirty Projectors
Producer: Chris Taylor; David Longstreth
Distributor: Alternative Dis. Alliance

Notes: The Dirty Projectors: Susanna Waiche (vocals); Amber Coffman, David Longstreth, Charlie Looker (guitar); Nat Baldwin (bass guitar); Brian McOmber (drums). Additional personnel: Sharon Nakhimovsky, Yuki Aizawa (violin); Jessica Pavone (viola); Ezra Seltzer (cello); Sam Hillmer (flute); Christopher Bear (drums); Chris Taylor (tapes). Dave Longstreth could have gone off the rails when re-imagining Black Flag favorites as lo-fi indie-soul oddities. But RISE ABOVE righteously subverts the hardcore legends' original machismo, actually illuminating their songs' intelligence and interpretative potential, while equally illustrating Longstreth's beautifully bent creativity. "Six Pack," in particular, is quite the trip, having morphed from alcohol-crazed testosterone into loose-limbed Talking Heads dysfunction (with female vocal harmonies to boot). As is the case with any covers/tribute album, the greatest superlative it can garner is that it feels essentially independent of its source material. By that criterion, RISE ABOVE has ascended to rarified skies.

Spin (p.118) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]railblazing....Dense with ambition, all of it realized, RISE ABOVE alchemizes angst and self-hatred into triumph and inspiration." Uncut (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[With Longstretch's] adventurous, undulating falsetto backed by honey-sweet female harmonies..." The Wire (p.71) - "[T]he short, sharp shock of Black Flag is transformed into lush, jangling pop songs with strings, piccolos and rich vocal harmonies..." Q (Magazine) (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he music -- Afro-pop knock-offs with orchestrated interludes, heavy drums and swooping vocals -- was imagined from scratch..."

The brainchild of willfully eclectic Brooklyn-based performer David Longstreth, Dirty Projectors is an act that seems to adhere only to the concept of unpredictability. While 2005's vocal-centric THE GETTY ADDRESS is purportedly a concept album about Don Henley, 2007's spare RISE ABOVE works, very loosely, from the template of Black Flag's DAMAGED. Stylistically, Longstreth also wanders here and there, with orchestral, folk, and world music all woven into his quirky sonic tapestries. With the release of their 2009 LP, BITTE ORCHA, and a lengthy feature in the New York Times, Longstreth and his cohorts moved to a new level of exposure and renown.

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