Bitte Orca

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Bitte Orca
Studio album by Dirty Projectors
Released	June 9, 2009
Genre	Experimental rock, indie rock
Length	41:08
Label	Domino
Professional reviews
Allmusic link The A.V. Club (A) link Clash (9/10) link Drowned in Sound (8/10) link Entertainment Weekly (A-) link The Guardian link NME (8/10) link Pitchfork Media (9.2/10) link PopMatters (8/10) link Rolling Stone link
Dirty Projectors chronology
Rise Above (2007) Bitte Orca (2009) Temecula Sunrise EP (2009)

Bitte Orca is a studio album by American experimental rock band Dirty Projectors, released on June 9, 2009 on Domino Records. The word "bitte" is a German word for "please," and "orca" is another name for a killer whale. Frontman Dave Longstreth states that he liked the way the words sound together.^[1] Longstreth notes that the music contained within the album "felt very [much] about colors, and their interaction,"^[2] and that the music was written with the notion of the band, as a whole, in mind.^[3]

Two of the album's tracks, "Temecula Sunrise" and "Cannibal Resource", appeared on the subsequent EP release, Temecula Sunrise, alongside two new songs.^[4]

Contents 1 Artwork 2 Release 3 Reception 3.1 Press 3.2 Musicians 4 Videos 5 Track listing 6 Personnel 6.1 Band 6.2 Additional musicians 6.3 Recording personnel 6.4 Artwork 7 References

[edit] Artwork

The album's artwork resembles their 2004 release, Slaves' Graves and Ballads, but features band members Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian. Regarding their role on this album, Longstreth states:

“

one of my ideas for the album was to start, sort of, as a gift or homage to each one, to try to explode their temperaments into individual numbers. I was trying to widen the temperament of the band a little bit, to be Dirty Projectors but also have these new, different sort of flowers within the bouquet of the sound.[5]

”

[edit] Release

Bitte Orca is Dirty Projectors' first album for Domino Records. The album was released on five different formats: digital download; compact disc; limited edition two-CD, which contains the original album plus the five-track "Stillness is the Move" single; vinyl LP; and a limited edition cassette.^[6][7] All hard copy releases included a free digital download of the album.

The album leaked to the internet two months before its official release.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Press

Reviewing the version of Bitte Orca which leaked onto the internet two months before its official release date, Stereogum called the album "stunning" and "pay-off for joining Dave Longstreth on his years of recorded self-discovery."^[8] Prefix called the album "a breakthrough, which filters their left-field avant aesthetics through more conventional song structures."^[9] The popular 20 Watts blog has followed Dirty Projectors and the album extensively since its leak.^[10]

Pitchfork Media awarded the album a 9.2 upon initial release, calling it "a testament to the leaps and bounds Longstreth has made as a songsmith and Dirty Projectors have made as a band." ^[11] Pitchfork eventually ranked Bitte Orca at 56 on its list of The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. ^[12]

[edit] Musicians

Commenting on the notion of "genre", Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear discussed Bitte Orca:^[13]

“

Someone was asking me about what I was listening to and I was saying "Oh, Dirty Projectors, I love the new album," and they were like, "Well what kind of music is it?" and I just stopped dead in my tracks and literally didn't know how to describe it. At first I was embarrassed because I didn't know how to describe it, but then I was like, this is what's so amazing about a lot of music now. There are so many different things and there's so much going on and Bitte Orca is so distinctly Dirty Projectors that I didn't even know how to begin to describe what genre it is, you know? What would one categorize it as? So I find it hard lately to label things as indie or pop or folk or give it some sort of categorization.

”

[edit] Videos

The music video from the first single from the album "Stillness is the Move" was directed by Matthew Lessner.^[14]

[edit] Track listing

1. "Cannibal Resource" - 3:55
2. "Temecula Sunrise" - 5:05
3. "The Bride" - 2:49
4. "Stillness Is the Move" - 5:14
5. "Two Doves" - 3:42
6. "Useful Chamber" - 6:28
7. "No Intention" - 4:17
8. "Remade Horizon" - 3:55
9. "Fluorescent Half Dome" - 5:45

[edit] Personnel

The following people contributed to Bitte Orca:^[15]

[edit] Band

• David Longstreth
• Amber Coffman
• Angel Deradoorian
• Brian McOmber

[edit] Additional musicians

• Nat Baldwin - bass ("Temecula Sunrise", "Useful Chamber")
• Haley Dekle - additional harmonies ("Cannibal Resourse", "Temecula Sunrise", "The Bride", "Remade Horizon", "Fluorescent Half Dome")
• Jordan Dykstra - string quartet director, viola ("Stillness is the Move", "Two Doves", "Remade Horizon", "Fluorescent Half Dome")
• Caleb Russell - violin ("Stillness is the Move", "Two Doves", "Remade Horizon", "Fluorescent Half Dome")
• Andrew Todd - violin ("Stillness is the Move", "Two Doves", "Remade Horizon", "Fluorescent Half Dome")
• Anna Fritz - cello ("Stillness is the Move", "Two Doves", "Remade Horizon", "Fluorescent Half Dome")

[edit] Recording personnel

• David Longstreth - producer, mixing, drum recording,
• Robby Moncrieff - recording
• Nicolas Vernhes - additional production, mixing
• Brian McOmber - drum recording
• Joe Lambert - mastering

[edit] Artwork

• Jason Frank Rothenberg - original cover photograph
• Rob Carmichael - album layout

[edit] References