Dirty Projectors/tUnE-YaRdS @ Bowery Ballroom

November 22, 2009 - New York, NY

by Amanda Hatfield

Dirty Projectors @ Bowery Ballroom - November 18, 2009 - New York, NY - Photos by Amanda Hatfield

Dirty Projectors, riding high on acclaim for their album Bitte Orca, made a triumphant return to the NYC area with a string of sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg this week. I caught the first night at Bowery Ballroom on November 18th, and was once again delighted by the combined vocal stylings of Angel Deradoorian, Amber Coffman, and Haley Dekle. Obviously Dave Longstreth has a huge role in the band's sound and a lot going on himself, but let's face it: the truly mesmerizing thing about listening to these songs is the masterful way the aforementioned ladies blend their voices into intricate harmonies, sometimes with words and others just stacatto bits of sound. It's a testament to the band's musical chops as a whole just how good they sound live, considering the often challenging and unusual arrangements they tend towards.



As great as Dirty Projectors are, though, the real surprise highlight of the evening was opener tUnE-YaRdS: one Merrill Garbus, a ukulele, two drums, and a looping machine. (Live, she's also backed by a bassist.) Let me be the first to admit, I took one look at her band name, complete with its alternating capital letters, inwardly rolled my eyes, and prepared to be bored at best. As it turns out, bored? Anything but! Merrill's vocal manipulations have a similar texture and slight R&B influence to those of the ladies of Dirty Projectors. Using looping pedals she harmonizes with herself, creates elaborate drum beats, and finally sings and plays ukulele over the whole thing. The effect is awesome, and even better, the whole thing isn't just an exercise in technical geekery: it's powerful, and it sounds really, really good. Overhearing conversations after she left the stage with a bow to enthusiastic applause, it was clear I wasn't the only convert - I heard exclamations of "best opener ever!" more than once. ~ Amanda Hatfield

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tUnE-YaRdS














Dirty Projectors