Bitte Orca

Offbeat elitist hipster-pop doesn't get much more up its own arse than this.

It's like Captain Beefheart pop

I can usually be objective and I understand that just because I don't like a thing that someone somewhere might love it. Perhaps it's just not for me. This album, however, made me angry. It's so bad. So so bad. I can't even figure out what they're trying to do here. There's no cohesion, no atmosphere, no point. Awful stuff.

I don't really get it. The album manages to be good, interesting, bad, and bland. Unfortunately, none of good parts are very interesting and all of the interesting parts are bad. The very best of the album sounds like it belongs on a better album.

OK, this was probably the strangest album yet. I have no idea how to start describing it. But I definitely really liked it a lot - without being able to describe why either. I have already saved the album to listen to it again another time. But first I'll just go straight ahead and listen to something else by Dirty Projectors. Update: I then spent the rest of the day listening to radio playlists based on Dirty Projectors and loved it all the way. Even though I still don't really know what kind of music this is.

Please, killer whale? That is all this reviewer needed to confirm that this album is lost, befuddling, and an object lesson in being a waste of time. Perhaps this album is for musicians, or math-rockers inclined to scramble the brain for no reason other than they can. The pretentiousness that seems to ooze from this album and its compositions is infuriating to where the ears wanted to vomit. With all respect and seriousness, if a listener has to search for an album's intention or motivation, this qualifies as meaningless drivel. Art, such as the one seeming to be promoted here, is meant to challenge and inspire, hopefully to remain begrudgingly respected. This album is just crap, an inspiration for insult and dismissal. If that is the reaction aimed for, then spot on it is. If a band wants to experiment and play chords at random, then re-arrange all that into something that makes enough sense to get a record label to distribute their drivel, then this was it. Every member seems to do their own thing, and they are bad at it. The band is not without some semblance of talent, the whole thing just feels wasted, as though the mindless mashing of chords as a child was praised by over-supportive parents who then paid for a recording session that then was just trendy enough to be looked at as some sort of priceless abstract determined to be refreshingly different. Yes, it is different. Yes, it is not the usual fare one can expect from the so-called mainstream, but at least there we can hear music that is infuriating for better reasons for sounding too good and formulaic. This album is so bad it makes one want to defend pop and mainstream, and that is a bad thing.

sounds very generic, hard to understand why it made the list. maybe I am missing something.

A great deal of this record is a guy singing in falsetto while two female voices do a weird "vocal hocketing" thing that I learned about today. Dirty Projectors is one of those art pop bands that think switching obscure time signatures in the middle of a song makes them worthy. Technical acumen is nice, but they occassionally forget to make the music listenable at the same time. Best track: Two Doves

thought it was pretty cool

I got slightly into Dirty Projectors around the time this was released. I don't listen to whole lot of indie rock anymore, and didn't even have a FLAC copy of this - so I guess it has been years since I revisited it. Damn, it's still good. I love the abstract songwriting and idiosyncratic delivery. I love the way layered voices are used, and I love how the music is crisp and precise, but carries a big sense of possibility, like they might go off in another direction any moment. Can't think of anything I would change about this, so 5/5.

Reading the reviews I thought this was going to be pretentious rubbish, but it was actually enjoyable.

Pretty tripped out actually and I ended up listening to a handful of the songs more than once

Release the hounds

What an absolutely infuriating listen with pretentiousness and dissonance in overflow. Absolute low-point is the useless hiphop beat in the middle of 'Useful Chamber' with equally useless spoken words(?).

Longstreth's voice sounds a bit strained on the first few cuts, but the compositions are intricate and the backing harmonies are delightful in stereo. Temecula Sunrise underlines the suburban angst with interjected "yeah"s. There's a prog-folk feel to first three songs, and they start in roughly the same way: minimal instrumentation and male vocals opening into movements and soundscapes. Stillness Is The Move is the proof that this is not the formula. It establishes that fact with its vamp. The sequencing continues to flow thanks to the string section linkage, until No Intention breaks the flow with a hint of a different kind of project altogether. The album ends with Longstreth in a halfway point between his early, more forced vocals and the more comfortable timbre of the couple preceding tracks. This time, he enters after an organ, and the song and album come to a close as the ideas on it come to fruition. I didn't expect something this accessible when I saw Trout Mask Replica comparisons, but this project earns it when its title is realized in lyrics.

I wish I’d discovered this album outside of this project, as one day is not enough to really rate and digest it. However, I think this is still a pretty clear 5 here; I love this creative and experimental indie.

Bitte Orca? More like Bitte More-ca! I need more colorful, playful, quirky albums like this and much less stale, bland britpop. 8/10

Life too short for this shit

Pretty art pop/rock. A bit meandering and it often feels like random harmonies and notes for the sake of it.

What on earth was this?

Reeeally nice. It reminds me of tune yards a lot

Loved it when I was 14, still love it now.

This is a great experimental indie album, reminds me of Discovery. A big fan of some of the strange cadences and the colorful sound.

Noticed one of the songs form 2k13 lol but really enjoyed the album!

Mellow melodies, soft voices, a good indie album

Great band. Saw this album played in person in Dallas. Still love it.

I really liked this album. I discovered this band relatively recently and liked their album with Bjork. I think the way the use the male and female voices is interesting

A lovely album. I can't put my finger on what is so unique about them, but they just seem to have a way of composing and writing that is unexpected, unusual, and appealing to me.

Don’t tell the indie kids, but I think David Longstreth is a massive Steve Howe (Yes) fan. He laces Howe-isms in his guitar playing through out the record. If you don’t believe me, listen to the title track or “Temecula Sunrise”, if you’ve heard a few Steve Howe solos or enjoy Yes, it’ll hit you hard. Honestly, it’s pretty amazing, like if you dropped Steve Howe into Stereolab and it somehow worked. Ok, enough trying manipulate the generator into giving me a Yes record to review. (Serious about the Steve Howe thing, though). Bitte Orca separates itself from a lot of 2000/10’s indie rock with its complex, layered arrangements. It’s a daunting listen at first, but when it clicks, it’ll likely leave you wanting more. RIYL: “Point” by Cornelius, Steve Howe’s work in Yes.

This is quite an attention grabbing bizarre album. This is almost a live 'jamming' session album, I couldn't really describe the genre, wiki calls it 'experimental rock' - experimental is right, rock - not so much, it's more modern classical folk singer-songwriter jazz? Anyway - there's lots of surprisingly elements, off key measures, tempo changes or skips - it could ALMOST be background easy listening music except for the injected surprise elements draw your attention back constantly. Unfortunately, not a fan of the singers - who sounds like a less controlled 'Mika' - high pitched, shaky, something I guess you need to get to like. I can understand the ideas behind the album, though it's not really to my personal taste.

Le nom du groupe annonçait la couleur toutefois je ne m'attendais pas du tout à cette horrible expérience visuelle. L'album est en effet projeté sur une toile blanche à l'aide de deux appareils qu'on devine à peine sortis de la cave. Les images sont de cet fait d'une qualité des plus médiocres la faute à une large couche de poussière et de toiles d'araignées recouvrant les deux objectifs. À fuir.

I had an impression that on they recorded songs and then on the stage of mixing&mastering someone removed some instruments from some songs, distorted tempo randomly and mixed together random songs oO But i guess it's "music for musicians" , so never mind :)

Indie with a capital I. Not my thing.

This sounds like the kind of horrible jangly trash that dicks who work in record stores like to recommend just because it's obscure. Some music deserves obscurity.

The first album to cause me physical pain. After the first 2 songs I had to take a break, I felt like I was having knives shoved into my ears, I made it half way through the album and I regret not stopping sooner. Was not worth the migraines. 5/112

Awful. Not even music.

It's just a horrible mess of crap songs, badly played, badly sung. it was basically unlistenable. To call this hipster pop is an insult to hipster pop.

Why is there a cat screaming in the first song? He was horribly out of tune in the bride. Why is this on the list?

What a disaster. No songs, just a guy pretending to have talent.

This was bad. Felt like a punishment. Would vote this off the list.

Like a bad open mic night - a new song starts every 15 seconds with no connection to the previous 15 seconds

Pretty much unlistenable the worst album I've ever heard.

I hate millennials

Bitte, no more.

Some of the worst, self indulgent crap I've ever heard. The worst part, is that sonically this album sounds FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. There are a smattering of good ideas in there too, they just forgot to put them together in any kind of meaningful way. Plus it's a stupid album name, with an arguably as stupid band name. Would give zero if I could.

Very Yoko Ono-ish background vocals on the opening track, which at first were off-putting to me. But I decided to give it a shot and go deeper with an open mind. But no, I ended up absolutely, viscerally hating it. This is honestly one of the worst albums I have ever heard in my life. It can be characterized in one word: noise. Self-indulgent noise. I just don't get it at all. This album is the equivalent of an Ohio transplant who moved to Brooklyn to "discover" Crown Heights and now refuses to shop anywhere but Buffalo Exchange for his clothes. If you know, you know. Oddly mixed as everything is LOUD. All the sounds are competing with one another. It's an inharmonious, cacophonous disaster that should not be listened to with headphones lest you want to blow your hearing. The singer sounds like he's doing a half-rate Tiny Tim impression, the background singers shout over him, there are random claps interspersed everywhere, the music often changes key and time signature, and almost every song starts out slower and then has a "drop the beat" moment. It's just a mess. I bet when they were making this album, they were like "Fuck yeah! This sounds cool!" and nobody wanted to say otherwise. Because it truly doesn't. Offbeat hipster nonsense that is way too far up its own ass. Awful album. Right in the trash.

never even heard of this one beforehand, ended up scratching itches i forgot i had...harmonic and melodic construction that is theoretically extremely spicy but delivered in a swirling sweet way. thought a lot about like, oil paints, mixing and unmixing in impossible ways to make impossible colors. fun to navigate, even more fun to fail to navigate. there are parts of my ears that can only rly be filled by songwriting like this...perhaps there is hope for me yet that i have not undergone full normieification after finding myself drifting towards more conventional and digestable music for a couple years. wish i had the proper words to capture this record's aesthetic experience, but rly thats just motivation to eventually return to it until i do!

crazy good alternative album just a 10/10 for creativity alone actually amazing

People may describe this as pretentious, hipster trash, and I can understand why, and maybe it's true. It's definitely a bit wanky and a younger me would have probably hated it. But I think sometimes the question is very very simple. "Did I enjoy listening to this album?" The answer is yes! I really like the abstract songwriting and peculiar delivery. I like the colourful sound. I like the way the layered voices are used and the vocals themselves are very fun and pleasant to listen to. I like that the music is crisp and precise. The music can feel a bit meandering at times, with random harmonies and notes for the sake of it, but I actually like the randomness, like they might go off in another direction at any moment. Have I become a hipster now? Maybe, but I don't care, I loved this.

Really cool. Very strange. This is the first modern one to show up for me here that was never on my radar. Never heard of this group. Loved it.

One of the easiest 5s I could give. I already love this album. It took me many listens back in the day to get into this one, but I've loved it ever since. Actually, every Dirty Projectors album from this one onward has taken me a few listens to get into, but they grow on me every time. I highly recommend the follow-up to this one: Swing Lo Magellan

Maybe the 5 stars is for nostalgia, but I don’t care. Seeing Dirty Projectors in Berlin was beautiful.

So chill

A wonderful work that expands artistic pop exploring the ordinary in an extraordinary way. The music is complex but still infectous. Love it.

Não conheço, terei que ouvir.

Awesome album! Very unique, vocals are different but fit the feel very well. Loved it.

I couldn’t get into the earlier Dirty Projectors releases, but Bitte Orca was one of my favorite releases of 2009. The songs were more conventional in structure than past works but maintained the eclectic playfulness that Dirty Projectors was known for. While there is a lot going on throughout the release, it somehow is all grounded. Well done.

Isn't life under the sun just a crazy, crazy dream? Surprised this has such a low average because I think it's brilliant! A very nice blend of experimental and catchy. I particularly like the wonky sounding guitar riffs and vocal melodies. Standout tracks: Cannibal Resource, Temecula Sunrise, Stillness is this Move, Useful Chamber, Fluorescent Half Dome

I listed to it many times in a row.

Bright and lush art pop with math rock instrumentation, chaotic punk energy, and a fun operatic vocalist (and angelic back vocals), that all reminds me of Animal Collective, tUnE-yArDs, Bjork, and to an extent Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes. This record has the edge over its competitors for its accessibility. Despite how chaotic and messy it is, it doesn't come off as too pretentious or inconsistent, with easily recognizable pop hooks, and some simple tracks (like "Two Doves") that people can relate to. With a dense album like this, it benefits from only being 41 minutes. Each track is distinguishable with their own tricks that never get old. The track order is also optimized for your listening. - "Cannibal Resource" eases you into the record like a sunrise. - "Temecula Sunrise" follows that up with mild melodies that occasionally step out of the comfort zone, to help you understand what you're getting into. - "The Bride" and "Two Doves" are 2 of the simplest tracks, which help keep you listening without a sensory overload. - "Stillness is the Move" is the mega hit that comfortably utilizes what the record has taught us to create a triumphant pop hit. - "Useful Chamber" is the most technologically advanced track, and suitably placed so far in the record. It's a lot to take in but very impressive, and I appreciate the slow and quiet pace to help digest the 6.5 minute length. - "No Intention" and "Remade Horizon" are some fun art pop tracks. More chaotic than earlier tracks, and not as memorable, but they're still fantastic and deserving to be on the record. I just felt the impact has slowed down or become exhausting by the time of "No Intention". - "Fluorescent Half Dome" is a satisfying appropriate closer. Fitting with the themes, it's atmosphere and ethereal while soft and slow. Nothing crazy, but it was an appropriate finish. 5 of the 9 tracks are beyond incredible. The other 4 are fantastic too but just not as strong. Nevertheless, it's a highly innovative and influential record that knows what it's doing, able to pull in all kinds of audiences. For those recognitions, it is a landmark of the 2000s indie scene.

Boy oh boy did I love this album. I had no idea anything like this existed. The time signatures are wild, the tempo changes are wild. Having access to multiple lead singers really helps break up the album. The only song I favorited my first time through was Stillness is the move, but the second time I added Cannibal Resource, Temecula Sunrise, Remade Horizon and Two Doves.

This was nice. Has some ups and downs but overall enjoyed a lot

Love this album, I listened to this album so much back in the day. Stillness in the Move is still one of my all time favorite songs.

This one caught me off guard, great album all the way. I really like the funky rhythms with the starts and stops and how they fill the space but it still seems sparse, if that makes sense. Every instrument from vocals, guitar, to percussion seems to have a unique spin on it that makes you listen a little more closely.

Such a good album. Experimental yet very listenable and catchy with BANGERS!!!

I am a sucker for interesting vocal harmonies, and this manages to be cool and pretty and diverse and fun and fascinating and just all around awesome.

Lush, complicated, fresh

Stillness is the Move is one of my favourite songs, but I’ve never listened to the other songs on this album. I really like the unique sound of the whole album, I’ll definitely be revisiting this album. 5/5

One of my favorite indie rock albums of all time. 2009 the GOAT year. The guitar and vocal harmonies on this one are chef’s kiss.

I listened to this a lot when it came out. It didn't sound like anything i was listening to at the time. I loved it then and i love it now.

LOVED!

So original, great fun, catchy and edgy. Brilliant

The mix is crisp and creates nice separation while bringing elements forward as punctuation or focal points. Strings, electronics, and acoustic guitar all work together. The harmonized backup vocals are inventive and unique. Lots of flavor of world music African guitar and beats. Vampire Weekend influence for obvious reasons (roots in Ali Farka Touré?). Vocals have similarities to Jeff Buckley, or is that just me?

Try it, you'll like it!

Very into this. Cool indie vibe with catchy melodies and pretty vocals.

Wonderfully quirky and inventive. I think The Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear were two of the best indie acts of the early 2000s. Like any offbeat and complex works it’ll take a few lessons to grow on me but then it’s gonna stick for a long time, unlike the formulaic pop on mainstream radio

Un disco con popurrí de canciones, parecen inconexas. Pero las canciones están bien. Folk, africano, inde, Rufus... popurrí.

I've heard of the Dirty Projectors, but I wasn't sure if I've heard any of their music. I've probably heard at least one of their Tiny Desk Concerts. I wasn't sure if "Stillness Is the Move" was a track I've heard before, or if some of the sounds used on the record just remind me of other music. Most of the album felt that way - new music to me but with hints of sounds I've heard before. This isn't bad. The album was put together in a way that I think that it qualifies as a potential re-listen of the whole album.

4.6/5 Such a great album - the vocal stylings of the three leads are incredibly original and match arrangements that are fun and hard to predict. My favorite DP album, for sure

Interesting, spacey, pretty and nice

this album is indie af and fits the time. good timing and guitar solos. maybe too clean at times, maybe too sweet at times. its good tho. its real good. love me some acappella vocals that lead to wild guitar solos and symphonic and anthemic head banger moments. kicks. hard.

What an absolutely uncompromising album. By no way a clean and easy listen but it’s overflowing with complexity, ideas on the verge of collapsing under their own pretentiousness (a few exceptions actually falls flat) and creativity. Dirty Projectors are fighting to keep their avant-garde thoughts inside the framework of ordinary pop structures - and somehow they manage to get away with it. One of the few exceptions is the middle break of “Useful Chamber”, which consists of a weird beat and misplaced spoken words. The rest of the song is just explosive. This really had a hold on me from start till finish even though I never fully knew where I was about to be taken to next.

Experimental music can be very very good or can miss the mark completely. This is the former. Reminiscent in places of a Zaireeka-era Flaming Lips and a more polished Deerhoof, which is very much my jam. I'd never heard of Dirty Projectors before, but enjoyed this enough to want to check out more of their back catalogue. If it is as good as this, I will be in for a treat, but suspect 'hit and miss' may go with the genre... 4/5.

"I think you're more than a terrified witness Behind the arbitrary line" (Cannibal resource) "On top of every mountain There was a great longing For another even higher mountain In each city longing for a bigger city" (Stillness is the move) Pues bastante bien, me gustan mucho las letras y el arte es muy bonito.

Chaotic eclectic sporadic fun. Build ups followed by sudden drops. Smooth guitar work interrupted perfectly by the crash of a cymbal then followed by intentional offbeat drum solos and it all works. Wonderfully unintelligible cannons and echos and dynamic duets between two strong vocalists. Bold new sound seems right here and I will definitely seek them out for more like this. Very unique sound. Cannibal resource, Temecula sunrise, remade horizons, stillness is the move

HL: Useful Chamber, Stillness is the Move There were moments where the album’s frequently-changing nature almost lost me. Overall though this was a great listen. September 2, 2022

Good album, weird riffs that were fun to listen to

I was worried that this would be too cutesy-fartsy for my taste. While it did occasionally veer into cutesy-fartsy territory, it had enough substance that kept it really interesting and not annoying at all to me. I plan to listen to this again and explore more of their music. 4 stars.

REALLY COOL MAN

Really interesting sound and not at all what I expected to see on here. Don't know if I would go back to this but their sound is definitely unique. Cool instrumentals. I wonder how these songs are performed live. Fave track(s): Stillness Is The Move, Useful Chamber, Remade Horizon

Surprisingly fun and delightfully eclectic. Good for another listen someday

Flaps around more than an erotic bat, yet somehow appealing. Most songs went places unexpectedly, which I like. One song in particular had off-key singing, was not a fan

Excellent album by Dirty Projectors. Some people say the vocals are like soap, but I love this dude, and the abstract sounds they're putting out.

I was way into this kinda stuff in college. The name of the band and the album cover are very familiar to me. Listening to it, I don't believe I have heard it before. It takes me back to '09 for sure. It feels sort of dated in a "very much a product of time/place" sort of way, but I still really enjoy it. Unique vocal stylings. You know what? Bitte Orca IS fun to say!

Klinkt als wat ik al luister. Leuke rock :)

didn’t really need to be on this list but cool. liked it more when listened twice.

Was very very decent. May need to relisten again very soon.

7/16/2022 - ALBUM #170 https://open.spotify.com/album/2Geg4mwE8z9DO5BSSUoMKz?si=36887e03a2324980 Today's Album: "Bitte Orca" by Dirty Projectors - This is an album very unlike most albums I have heard before, and it is for the very best reasons. The opening song, Cannibal Resource, introudces the listener to everything that makes this album great, from the thoughtful lyrics, to the jangly and echoey guitar effects, to the tight drums and bass, and of course the fantastic female vocal harmonies. This album somehow captures a very youthful spirit to it while maintaining a pretty rocking core to it’s overall indie sound. The production of this album is pretty great, if not maybe a tad sterilized and clean, but that is pretty easily forgiven given when it came out. I really appreciate some of the odd rhythms this band uses in the verse structure and melodies of these songs. It reminds me to some of Bob Dylan’s experimental songwriting techniques if they were revamped for a modern, slightly more hipster, audience. The song Temecula Sunrise is a beautiful example of this with some incredibly jarring and unsteadying rhythmic changes that somehow sound beautiful in their janky, offcenteredness. I think part of this warmth and cheeriness to their sound comes from a fairly melodic bass guitar and what sounds like an incredibly skilled drummer when it comes to timing. There are of course other factors to this like the bright guitar sounds and beautiful harmonies, but the rhythm section of thi band really strikes me as what is keeping the core of the sound together. I also think this album flows together pretty nicely and it feels like one of those projects where the songwriters are very tuned into how the record should flow as a musical journey, which is something that I appreciate. I do think there are moments where the scattered and syncopated rhythms become a bit samey throughout the tracklist, but I also think there are a ton of interesting risks being taken to change up that sound, like on the track Stillness Is The Move. This song also shifts the background female vocalists to the foreground and drops the usual main male vocalist and I think this really helps to diversify the vocal feel of the record. Overall, this is an incredibly creative and colorful rock album that no-doubt inspired countless indie musicians for years to come (let alone most modern female vocalists!). Give this one a listen if you like indie music with a fair dose of quirkiness to it and enjoy a lot of interesting auxiliary instrumentation. Super fun! Highlights: Cannibal Resource, Temecula Sunrise, The Bride, Useful Chamber, Remade Horizon, Fluorescent Half Dome Score: 8/10 One of the most sonically adventurous indie albums I have heard

Very chill and soothing. Not an every day listen.

If there's a such thing as progressive indie, it's this. I was pleasantly surprised! Every song interested me because they were constantly surprising me by changing in ways I didn't expect. It was very impressive and felt very creative and fresh. This one could definitely grow on me more, I will return