Dirty Projectors

When Björk is one of your biggest fans, you've got to be doing something right. And by that, we mean the many ways Dirty Projectors have rewritten the rules of indie rock, from the speaker-blowing tape experiments of frontman Dave Longstreth ("Like Once-Heated Milk," "Grandfather's Jacket") to the carefully woven crossover cuts of Bitte Orca — a dizzying, dovetailing trip through the outer realms of art-damaged R&B ("Stillness Is the Move"), string-dusted folk ("Two Doves"), and sun-stroked pop ("No Intention").

And then there are our Next Steps, a bizarre but beautiful blend of fan favorites, rarities, and B-sides that'll leave you wondering what planet these kids are from.

Covering Black Flag's classic album Damaged after not hearing it for 15 years is one thing, but Dirty Projectors went one step further on Rise Above — they reinvented bitter, elbow-throwing bursts of hardcore punk as prickly chamber-pop pieces (hear: the clanging chords and delirious harmonies of "Depression"). Here's the thing, though: controlled chaos has always been the band's calling card, whether we're talking about the creeping orchestral flourishes of "We Are Swaddled," the echo chamber calls of "Cannibal Resource," or the distorted, dagger-like drums of "The Glad Fact."

Now that they've played Lincoln Center and collaborated with David Byrne (the punchy percussion and mad-for-it melodies of "Knotty Pine"), it's hard to believe that Dirty Projectors spent years building a cult following on Brooklyn's barely legal circuit. It's true though: a Yale dropout (singer/multi-instrumentalist Dave Longstreth) really did find his way across the bridge from the Big Apple — atop loft-party bills that actually encouraged feral guitar riffs, ragged West African rhythms, and wildly expressive backup singers. And with that, Dirty Projectors have become leaders of the underground, a group that can get away with a richly textured Don Henley tribute one second (the hollow cowbells and haunting graveyard shift chorus of "I Sit On the Ridge At Dusk") and a free-associative spin on Henry Rollins ("Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie") the next.