One of my favorite records released this year is ‘Swing Lo Magellan’ by Brooklyn based experimental rock group The Dirty Projectors. Though the group is led by Dave Longstreth and consists mainly out of Amber Coffman (guitars, vocals), Haley Dekle (vocals), Nat Baldwin (bass), Michael Johnson (drums), it is known to have a varying group of musicians ranging up to 25. Their 5th album ‘Rise Above’ was a re-imagining of the album Damaged by Black Flag, after not having listened to it for over 15 years. This specific conceptual approach signifies the group’s musical direction. ‘Swing Lo Magellan’ however is an album created without an overarching concept in the attempt to create songs that can stand on their own as well as in random sequence. Along with the album Longstreth directed a short film called ‘Hi Custodian’. They will be playing in Carnegie hall on January 13th 2013.

Check it out.