Solange gets Dirty

Hey, has anyone heard of this cool new band from Brooklyn called Dirty Projectors? They make weird fluttery art-rock then genetically splice it with dreamy R&B melodies, to create a mutant musical hybrid that will MAKE YOUR BRAIN MELT LIKE AN ICE CREAM ON A CAR BONNET IN KAZAKHSTAN (but why would you leave your ice cream there? Why?!)

But wait... What's that you say? They've released five albums already? And their latest, Bitte Orca, is at the top of most critics lists for 2009? Oh, poo. I am rubbish at being trendy and ahead of the times.

Someone who is ahead of the curve, however, is Solange "don't call me Beyoncé's sister" Knowles. Despite parting ways with Interscope (ie being dropped) earlier this year, she's gone into the studio to record her own version of Dirty Projectors' supernaturally good single Stillness Is The Move.

Neither version should work. The melody is slippery, drifting in and out of focus next to a flickering guitar line. Conventional harmonies are completely discarded - but the exotic siren song that replaces them is dreamily beguiling. Slowly, the disparate elements crystallise into a delicate, shimmering snowflake of a song. It's beautiful, but you if you get too close, you're likely to destroy it.

Solange's version keeps the mystery of the original, but beefs up the Princely R&B elements, sampling Bumpy's Lament by Soul Mann & the Brothers, which was sampled by Dr. Dre on XXplosive and Erykah Badu on Bag Lady (it says here).

I still can't decide which I like best. What do you reckon?

Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move




:: Solange - Stillness Is The Move

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