Walker Art Center Presents Brooklyn Art Rock Ensemble Dirty Projectors

“There’s a world of cross-references in Dirty Projectors’ music: stuttering modal riffs from Mali . . . pygmy antiphonal vocals, Captain Beefheart, Zimbabwean and Congolese rock, King Crimson, Talking Heads, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks.” —New York Times

Style-smashing Brooklyn art rock ensemble Dirty Projectors is a well-tuned pop supercollider. Leader Dave Longstreth’s compositional brilliance shines through rapid-fire sonic changes and fastidious pop/punk /soul songs that careen from tense to joyful to irreverent, achieving a soundscape that’s “completely strange and oddly familiar at the same time,” says David Byrne. Hear what lies ahead as Dirty Projectors premieres music from its forthcoming CD on Friday, March 6, at 8 pm in the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater.

Longstreth is a Yale graduate from the class of 2005 and Timothy Dwight residential college. His first album, The Graceful Fallen Mango, was released under his own name and introduced his distinctive arrangements of both lo-fi and hi-fi production. The Glad Fact (Western Vinyl), his first Dirty Projectors album, was released in 2003. Other recordings include The Getty Address (2005), a concept album surrounding musician Don Henley; and Rise Above (2007), an album of Black Flag songs as reimagined from memory. Dirty Projectors signed with Domino Records in 2008 and plans to release two albums this year. They collaborated with David Byrne on the song Knotty Pine for the compilation album Dark Was the Night.

Tickets to Dirty Projectors are $18 ($15 Walker members) and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600.

Related Event

Making Music Series: Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth

Thursday, March 5, 7 pm Free
McGuire Theater
Free tickets available at the Hennepin Lobby desk from 6 pm
The leader of Dirty Projectors takes the McGuire stage for a special evening with the University of Minnesota’s Whole Music Club. Local musician James Everest (Vicious Vicious, Roma di Luna) interviews David Longstreth about his career in a program that includes live demonstrations, video, and questions from the audience. Afterward, join them and DJ Paul Harding from Radio K International at a reception in the Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab. An evening not to miss!

Copresented with the Whole Music Club at the University of Minnesota. Cosponsored by mnartists.org.