Dave Longstreth’s art-rock band takes a lot of risks — not least of which is being insufferably quirky. Still, every studied gesture of weirdness or abrupt volte-face in these songs ends up taking them someplace thrilling, as when the sailor’s-knot melody of “About to Die” splits the difference between Arnold Schoenberg and Burt Bacharach, or when the band’s creamy harmonies on “Gun Has No Trigger” cling to a rhythm that’s riddled with deliberately preserved human error.
Albums
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4. Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan
Full List
Top 10 Albums
- 10. Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music
- 9. Azealia Banks, 1991 EP
- 8. The Mountain Goats, Transcendental Youth
- 7. Various Artists, Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1967–74
- 6. Swans, The Seer
- 5. Getatchew Mekuria & the Ex & Friends, Y’Anbessaw Tezeta
- 4. Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan
- 3. Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
- 2. Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d city
- 1. Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do