All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Slant Magazine

They've done it here, and Bitte Orca is close to a masterpiece.

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100

The Phoenix

The only thing Dirty Projectors' fifth album leaves me wishing for is a fifth rating star to wedge in.

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100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Over nine indispensable tracks, Bitte Orca forges a more perfect union between eccentricity and accessibility.

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Pitchfork

Here, it stands behind so many other newly apparent strengths--a testament to the leaps and bounds Longstreth has made as a songsmith and Dirty Projectors have made as a band.

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Entertainment Weekly

Somehow the band makes it work, though, pulling all those disparate sounds together in a unified style that's all the more glorious for its strangeness.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

While still retaining that exacting focus that has made Dirty Projectors the unplaceable enterprise that it is, Bitte Orca is merely the sound of an extremely talented group of musicians tweaking and, to an extent, reinventing their approach, stepping a little further away from left field.

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Hot Press

Weird but exhilerating outing from Williamsburg Hipsters.

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Under The Radar

In an era of scripted and calculated music, the fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants Dirty Projectors thrill at every blind turn they barrel through. [Summer 2009, p.65]

Paste Magazine

The result is the most thoroughly engaging entry in the Dirty Projectors catalog and one of the most singularly engrossing albums likely to be released this year, a triumph in sustained creative restlessness.

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Filter

Despite its wandering parts and spacious production, Bitte Orca is a precise groove, almost medical in the way it delivers its complexity with such simple terms. [Spring 2009, p.100]

Lost At Sea

Bitte Orca signifies something exciting and all too infrequent in popular music: striving for a sound that doesn't have a definite audience.

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Prefix Magazine

Bitte Orca is the kind of album that is best taken from start to finish, where the songs and musical themes are allowed to grow, endear and impress.

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Sputnikmusic

Bitte Orca is an unorthodox listen; racking your brain and melting your heart all in the same instant, and that is something to appreciate.

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Mojo

This is fresh music, making exciting shapes with primitive resources, and though some will find Longstreth's keening bleat and bravura deconstructions show-offy there are constant flowerings of devastating prettiness, and when all the singers blare in unison the beauty they summon is almost overwhelming. [Jul 2009, p.100]

Drowned In Sound

Bitte Orca isn’t a record that’ll reduce many to tears, except perhaps of awe. But when something’s so astonishing in every other respect, we can allow for that.

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New Musical Express (NME)

The 2009 Projectors have adopted a more enjoyable model, thanks in part to Longstreth holding back that horn.

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The Guardian

Via the fluttering sketches of David Longstreth's early solo releases and 2007's remarkable Black Flag quasi-tribute album, Rise Above, they arrive at this confounding, beautiful record.

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Spin

Longstreth's prickly surface belies a bright pop center: tart, sweet, and gushing all at once.

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musicOMH.com

Clever, original, complicated, sometimes frustrating but more often revelatory, it will, given time, uncover its manifold delights.

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Uncut

Still, as a whole, Bitte Orca feels nothing less than a modern equivalent to Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music or Scritti’s Cupid & Psyche 85 –art-rock with intellectual rigour, borderless curiosity, and no fear of the mainstream. Pop, by any other name.

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All Music Guide

David Longstreth isn't quite trying to make things easy for his listeners on Bitte Orca, but there's far too much pleasure in this music for its eccentricities to put off anyone who is open to its gleeful, eclectic, internationalist heart.

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PopMatters

Bitte Orca is made of nine distinct and powerful songs, and perhaps that is what makes it more inviting than earlier albums.

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Q Magazine

Many may not have the patience to follow its somersaults. Those who do will be richly rewarded. [Jul 2009, p.121]

cokemachineglow

As relatively good as most of Bitte Orca is, 'Stillness Is The Move' alone gives us reason enough to be optimistic: should Longstreth pursue his newfound fascination with mainstream music further, it’s proof that the Dirty Projectors are capable of evolving into a far better pop band than their experimental selves ever let on.

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Delusions of Adequacy

Ultimately Bitte Orca is definitely a pleasing follow-up; it just isn’t necessarily the supreme breakthrough many had hoped for.

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Observer Music Monthly

Their seventh album remembers to add tunes, and is thus less baffling than before.

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Rolling Stone

It's at once attention-deficient and micromanaged, exhilarating and aggravating.

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Dusted Magazine

The thing that really sucks about Bitte Orca is that the guy is probably onto something pretty good, but his allegiance to cleverness rather than consistency fucks it up.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 66 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

norm f gave it a10:
People who have criticized this album as unfocused or wandering have completely missed the boat (not to mention revealed their own listening limits; I'm certain that Sgt Peppers would be "unfocused" by this standard). This album is simply brilliant in its unwillingness to compromise complexity for pop sensibility.

Stu gave it an8:
They've finally found a balance between the experimental and accessible, and this is such an ambitious record, that accomplishes all it sets out to. that said, I just can't get into longstreth's voice.. it makes me cringe.. and he really is a pretentious SOB, but if you separate the artists from the art it's an undeniably excellent album.

Griff T gave it a6:
I don't really understand why people are calling it a masterpiece. David Longstreth wants it to be avant garde, but it just comes off as aimless.

M Simpson gave it a6:
I recognise that this is a really good album with some strong tracks. I can't help feeling that its a little too 'arty' however. The album sometimes reminds me of a bunch of undergraduate art students being earnest around a laptop in crumby digs whilst experimenting with dope to escape from their middle-class anxieties.

Eric L gave it an8:
I've got to agree with Matthew S. that it's tough to get past this current wave of intelligent-rich-Brooklyn-ivy-league-core smugness... so it took a few listens for me to get this. But the fucked-up-ness of it all really has won me over, like an Animal Collective in that respect. If you separate the artist from the art (like I had to do for Vampire Weekend and their "African Prep" rock) you've really got something here.

Corey P gave it a10:
Simply Incredible and accessible. This is the most refreshing album of the summer by far. Way to go David Longstreth, keep it up because you are now a household name in my book!

e e gave it a10:
Album of the year. Absolutely gorgeous. It's like being transported to a strange and wonderful planet. I haven't heard anything so splendid in years. If you're not into music that's a little "out there", you're excused. Otherwise, dive right in and enjoy!

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