#6) Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca [Domino; released 6/9/2009]
“When the child was just a child, it did not know what it was. Like a child, it had no habits, no opinion about anything.”
“Stillness Is The Move”
All those first time Dirty Projectors listeners who picked up Bitte Orca after hearing of it’s “accessibility” from the reviews had to be scratching their heads after one spin of the disc. Make no mistake about it; this is a weird album. However, by DP’s standards, the strangeness is scaled back to an enormous degree, even to the point where some first time listeners would be immediately drawn in. Notice I said some, because Bitte Orca is a definitely a polarizing listen, but those that accept the eccentricities are rewarded with an exhilarating listen and certainly one of the year’s best. Frontman Dave Longstreth loves the human voice as an instrument and for Bitte Orca he gives his girls the chance to shine on these 9 songs, none more prevalent than album centerpieces “Stillness Is The Move” and “Two Doves”, the former being one of the best tracks of 2009 with it’s R&B grooves and Amber Coffman led vocals. Bitte Orca is a refreshing release from the Brooklyn-based art rockers that while more accessible than previous efforts, still contains the complex arrangements and quirkiness to satisfy even the most avant-garde hipsters.
[“Stillness Is The Move” – Bitte Orca]
#5) St. Vincent – Actor [4AD; released 5/5/2009]
“Desperate don’t look good on you, neither does your virtue.”
“The Strangers”
In an interview this past summer Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, was approached with the thought that she could “skate by” with her talent, voice, and looks to write “really easy stuff” and be just as successful. While flattered, Clark didn’t agree and thankfully for all of us, she has chosen to use her talent to become one of the most creative musicians going today and her sophomore album Actor has vaulted her to the top of my list of favorite female artists. A former Sufjan Stevens tour cheerleader and member of Polyphonic Spree, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Texas musician composes smart and abstract pop-rock songs that are sweet but come with a hint of dementia. Clark’s tunes are complex but melodic and with her voice, I dare say even beautiful at times. Possibly no song encapsulates what Actor does so well better than “Marrow”, with its initial woodwinds before evolving in some sort of sinister wordplay and then exploding into a chorus that no one should be able to pull off; but Clark does so as second nature. The song employs the distorted instrumentation that St. Vincent is becoming know for and takes the song to a completely unexpected level. It’s brilliant. There’s a bit of everything on Actor, from the straightforward rock of “Actor Out of Work” to the glorious harmonies that close out “The Party”, but when it all comes together, there’s no doubt that it’s a defining release for the art-pop genre.
[“Marrow” – Actor]
Posted by Hawkins 
A Round of Sound 