Dirty Projectors Summer Mixtape: John Mayer > Radiohead
Everyone's got go-to tracks for the summertime. Even pretty much brilliant Everyones like Dave Longstreth. This week's NY Mag asks artists what songs would make their summer muxtape, and then NY Mag puts those songs together on a summer muxtape. They've already posted listen links to the RZA's, Albert Hammond Jr.'s, and Free Kitten's (buy the mag for the accompanying blurbs, looks like), but I was most intrigued by today's Dirty Projectors playlist web-only bonus (guess he's not fit to print?). This is because the Projectors' catalog suggests that Dave's a voracious, equal opportunity listener with a soft spot for the unexpected, and also that he's a pretty witty guy. The glad fact of this exercise is that I'm right up and down: the playlist spans from Black Dice and Lucky Dragons to Jackie Wilson and Stevie Ray Vaughn, the supplementary quotage is clever and occasionally head-turning. Like when he says John Mayer's lyrics are better than Radiohead's. (SUSPENSE...)
This comes in Dave's joint discussion of "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" and J. May's "Waiting On The World To Change":
"I noticed how similar these albums [Radiohead's In Rainbows and John Mayer's Continuum] were during a bout of insomnia in Portugal. It's something about the late Bush years -- these songs are for the last Bush summer. The titles of the albums make me think of an axis or spectrum. Maybe they're about possibility. And the lyrics! Radiohead's lexicon is all about bureaucrats telling you you can't succeed. And really, Mayer says the same thing, but with more ambiguity -- and it's better."
Enjoy that, John Mayer's Ego. Here's the full list, quick and Dirty style:
- Jackie Wilson - "Lonely Teardrops"
- Lucky Dragons - "Morning Ritual"
- Van Halen - "Eruption"
- Stevie Ray Vaughn - "Crossfire"
- Radiohead - "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"
- John Mayer - "Waiting On The World To Change"
- Black Dice - "Endless Happiness"
- David Byrne - "Glass, Concrete, Stone"
Ahh, Lucky Dragons, which Brandon spotlighted in a recent Outsiders. Ahh, David Byrne, who has recently become a Dirty Projectors fan himself. Longstreth's "Glass, Concrete, Stone" blurb hits on it a bit:
A great artist for any season, really, but we recorded some tracks together recently and I've been digging deep into his catalog. A really impressive musician. Makes me want to change my name to David.
I also like his allusions to what qualifies these songs as summer jams. Like for "Eruption," he says:
Eddie's guitar on 'Eruption' expanded the lexicon -- a summery thing to do, I think.
Agreed, although that means good old Squid Brains had the summeriest blog post of the summer. Also check out the Black Dice bit, which wonders why the Black Dice/Excepter/Gang Gang Dance/Animal Collective NYC generation "didn't get the Seattle '91 treatment." Anyway! You can hear the playlist at Muxtape, and you can (should) read the rest at Vulture.
Dirty Projectors have two records out this year -- one more on Dead Oceans, and their first for their new home, Domino. Keep you posted.
Posted at 6:22 PM by amrit
Tags: Dirty Projectors
I want to apologize to everyone for JUST listening to Rise Above this morning. I'll be in the doghouse...
Score = 1
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Score = -5
"the glad fact..." nice pun 'gum.
two new albums from DPs aint bad either.
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I find it funny that when one says "expanding the lexicon" in reation to music it actually doesn't say much of anything. Oh yea, and thereby by expanding the lexicon it's a seemingly summery thing to do?
Piss up a rope
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i like everything except for eruption. seriously? if you have to pick a van halen song, pick an actual song, not just eddie jerking off on his guitar. what about dance the night away or beautiful girls. songs that really epitomize summer and just make you want to throw in the towel and go stare at some hot babes at the beach like you know diamond dave was doing when he somehow had enough blood diverting from his dick to his brain when he managed to come up with those lyyics. i don't mean to hate on you, and i wouldn't tell you to piss up a rope cause thats kind of dumb, but i do think that eruption is a poor choice.
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What? John Mayer lyrics more vague and ambiguous than Radiohead? Did he even listen to either song? 'Waiting' is about as ambiguous as a punch to the jaw. Maybe Dave needed some sleep.
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This post should be filled under "who gives a shit".
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Wow.. I love people that take music seriously. You guys are great, especially yall that make funny metaphors. I laugh. ha. ha ha?
But seriously, John Mayer over Radiohead? I would expect more from a band that sounds as good as Dirty Projectors. I guess he needed some sleep, or energy drink, or an eight ball of columbian's finest export.
Score = -11
Dirty Projectors = overrated. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this.
Score = -11
I kind of felt the same way until I saw them live. It's pretty amazing stuff.
Score = 7
has anyone actually LISTENED to dirty projectors?? this dude's voice sounds like the human version of a cat having his tail stepped on every 15 seconds.
"I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!"
evidence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCD9LDE_LX8
Score = -5
i saw them live, mainly because i wanted to see yacht (who was, as usual, amazing). they weren't that sweet. i've never gotten the hype.
the radiohead comment is laughable.
the overuse of the word 'lexicon' is just funny.
thanks for not being a cool dude, so i don't mind not liking your music.
Score = -12
You shot yourself in the foot with that last statement.
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you know yacht's a joke, right?
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YACHT? HA.
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When you've been sitting on your back porch all night, drinking light beer and listening to the crickets chirp, that's when you think that maybe John Mayer's lyrics are poignant--or in Longstreth's case, when you're suffering from insomnia in Portugal. Isn't that part of the idea of summer mixes? The fleeting moments of idealism, of letting go of pretensions and just enjoying yourself? That cheesy xylophone bit from "Waiting for the World to Change" would probably make me smile after a six-pack of Red Stripe and a backyard game of wiffle ball.
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Yeah! We showed this guy for sharing his opinion! Hopefully this is the last time a professional musician attempts to come across as a human being with interests that may differ from the perceptions of smug indie critics! Bloggers unite !!!1!!
Score = 11
why didnt that whole brooklyn group of bands get the Nirvana '91 treatment? Well, first off, none of them are very good. Second, i honestly think blogs had a hand in it. Instead of print journalists losing their shit, it was bloggers, and NOBODY cares about them. Just ask CYHSY and Tapes N Tapes.
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Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat
vs.
I follow to the edge of the earth
And fall off
Everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this is my chance
In a contest of "ambiguity"? Give me an effing break. When people say obvious "please put this on your blog" bullshit like this it makes me go a big rubbery one.
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So, an American blues-rip-off-artist who has won *three* Pop Grammys (always a mark of excellence) is better in *any* way than the most creatively ambitious, anti-commercial band of the last decade or two (at least their Grammys were in the alt category)? This guy's on crack.
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do people really think of radiohead as "anti-commercial"?
that's adorable.
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rise above, meh
but the getty address is pretty great
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It appears to me (a fan of the man's songwriting), David gets off on being different. You wouldn't create music like the Dirty Projectors' music unless you deliberately wanted to be different. How better to remain consistent with that than to award Mayer a better lyricist than Yorke?
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1st off: it's Stevie Ray Vaughan, not Vaughn.
2nd: Thom Yorke is not a god. Therefore, his lyrics aren't always going to be mind-blowing. Stop treating them like they are. Why does everyone have to blow up when someone says John Mayer wrote a better lyric than Thom Yorke? John Mayer has been writing some really good lyrics lately. Don't just bag on him because he's being compared to your idol.
Score = 3