Album Review: Rise Above by Dirty Projectors

Review Summary: Effeminate hipsters cover legendary testosterone-fueled hardcore album and it actually works.The Dirty Projectors - Rise AboveSo apparently I was wrong to hate. When I first heard that some indie band was covering Black Flag's legendary album, Rise Above, I dismissed it as a truly unfortunate, laughable combination. I never really liked Black Flag, and to have some pitchfork darlings give their take of a stripped down, aggressive hardcore album couldn't have helped the cause too much.

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Greg Ginn may get songwriting credit for this suite of Flag tunes, already well-known as a Pierre Menard-style version of Damaged culled purely from memory, but anyone familiar with Dave Longstreth will recognize this is a purely formal conceit. Damaged isn't exactly reworked here; it's more accurate to say that Damaged’s fragmented idealism and potent death drive (which seem deeply naive now, but in its own context, a matter of basic survival) are miraculously resuscitated here by the magical force of Longstreth & Co.'s melismatic breath. The result is one of the most formally radical indie records in recent memory.

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