WVAU Top Music of 2012: #8
December 22, 2012
#8 Album:
Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
Wow. Somehow, it’s already been a full decade since David Longstreth originally planted the graceful-fallen-mango seeds of what would eventually become the Dirty Projectors. Listening to this year’s astonishing Swing Lo Magellan, one gets the impression that Longstreth is acutely aware of his own mortality, as if realizing that throughout his varied career of glitch operas about Don Henley and mental reconstructions of old Black Flag records, he neglected to mention two things: “I don’t know” and “I love you.”
Themes of love and doubt on the edge of the abyss permeate Swing Lo, from the skittering “About To Die” and McCartney-esque melodies of “Dance For You” to the extraterrestrial love song “See What She Seeing” and, of course, the too-lovely-to-have-been-created-by-this-band “Impregnable Question,” all resulting in the most accessible DP LP to date. We already knew Longstreth was a genius. Now, we can feel it too.
By Peter Gill
#8 Song: Titus Andronicus – “In A Big City”
With all the experimental, synth-filled dream pop that came out this year, (looking at you, Grimes) it’s time to get back to basics: pounding drums, distortion-heavy guitar riffs, and sing-along choruses. Who better to deliver all this and a pinch of punk poetry but Titus Andronicus, the thoughtful punk band that could.
“In A Big City” tells the story of frontman Patrick Stickles’ move from his New Jersey hometown to the magnetic “Big City” across the water. (That’s New York City, for you West-Coast readers.) What struck me most about the song were its opening four lines: “I grew up on one side of the river/I was a disturbed dangerous drifter/Moved over to the other side of the river/Now I’m a drop in a deluge of hipsters.Û
Is this or is this not the most brilliant description of the New York experience? Stickles’ lyrical struggle to retain his identity and his roots is an anthem for anyone who’s ever left home. That’s the brilliance of “In A Big CityÛ. A Jersey upbringing is optional.
By Dana Gooley
