Dirty Projectors, Sleeping People, Rafter…

Used well, the human voice is the most evocative of instruments, but most contemporary pop groups don’t really explore it. When we do hear people singing together these days, it tends to be in clichés—barbershop quartets and Christmas choirs—or just bad—American Idol contests and people singing along to the classic rock station on long car rides, even after I turn the radio off!

This is all the more lamentable because, as the Dirty Projectors demonstrated last Sunday at the Casbah, human voices singing together well are enthralling.

The guitarist and lead singer and, I’m told, the brains behind the Brooklyn-based project is Dave. He stands at least a foot taller than the two women who flanked him. His vocals were constantly modulating, sort of like Antony & the Johnsons, but the effect, if somewhat artificial, is pleasant even throughout the hour-long set.

Amber plays guitar and sings with the bass player, whose name I don’t know. All are very capable musicians and you’ll have a sense of this already if you’ve seen Amber play with the Sleeping People. The bass and drums sounded tight, as well as interesting.

The women’s voices together and in opposition are one of the strongest points of the band, if not the strongest point. They weave back and forth and conjoin and part again, and overall the effect is so soothing and blemish-free, it’s almost angelic. They reminded of the work of Merrideth Monk some of the time and The Fleetwoods in other moments, or both combined.

The instrumentation is more easily described. I was very much reminded of Fela Kuti or West African guitars picked rhythmically and quickly. The two guitars play complimentary lines and embellished each the others rhythm. They are clean, warm guitar tones.

Overall, the music is very tonal, though once in a while though there was a little freak-out punctuation, almost like a Tourette’s outburst. This seems an extension of Dave’s vocal affectation: He also will shout out dissonantly as if from nowhere. It’s cool. Like, imagine if a Kuti jam suddenly broke into Lightening Bolt thunder.

I thought the song they ended with, “Rise Above,” was their weakest, which is interesting because it’s also the title track from their new album and it’s a Black Flag song and I love Black Flag (Greg Ginn!).

They must like something about it. To me, after the rest of their set, it seemed lazy. The drumbeat was simple and unchanging, and the guitars simply strummed along. I hate to say it, but had Jack Johnson walked in as this song was playing, he’d be a Dirty Projectors fan.

There were many Black Flag covers that night. Their cover of Gimme Gimme Gimme, on the other hand, really impressed me because of the amount of twisting they gave the song. It was their own and something new, almost an allusion to Black Flag rather than a cover. It’s still in my head, which is kind of getting annoying these four days after the show.

I found myself wondering, as I sipped my beer, how the two women in the band were able to keep their little dresses so clean and wrinkle-free on tour. Hats off to them for it. Oh yeah, and I think Dirty Projectors is a really good name.

The Sleeping People played a blistering set as always. These guys are good, so, San Diego, appreciate them. I’m glad Rob Crow, the Pope of SD indy rock, has given his blessing. The track he sung on was the second best of the night. But without the beard I didn’t recognize the Holly See and was afraid some Toto fan was about to interrupt things and make the night really interesting.

(I’ve actually seen something like this happen before twice. At a Flying Luttenbachers show a few years ago up in LA, this dude in super-tight white denim, head to toe, and long hair and a little entourage starts singing death metal-style and calling the Luttenbachers “his band.” It was awesome. Especially because the guys in the Luttenbachers looked so unsure as to how to react. Clearly they knew the guy but didn’t want to tell him to shove off—not yet. OK, now.)

But, yeah, Crow was entertaining in a different way. His singing was spot on and sort of reminded me of Robert Wyatt’s singing with Soft Machine in the way that it bounced along with the melody. I guess that’s what you have to do when you’re singing with a technical prog band.

The Sleeping People’s last song was long and moody and noisy and their best effort of the night, I thought. It broke from the rest and really stuck in my head. Sometimes their stuff sounds like it breaks tempos just to break tempos, but this song made sense throughout. Brandon kicks the drums asses like Bruce f-ing Lee!

The opening act, Rafter Band, I think, was good too. Not really my style, but nonetheless, really good for what it was. I bet the lyrics were witty if I’d paid more attention instead of prattling on as I do.

Overall, everyone, thanks for a great show—and for only $8! I’ve got money left over for burritos. Oh, no, actually, I spent that money on beer. But it was worth it.