Mixing Eclectic pop elements can often lead to something amazing, but not here. It’s aimless and pretentious, that said, your local hipster will love it.

I think the first couple of tracks are influenced by Zeppelin... pretty awesome music overall. Could benefit from a little more focus and less experimentation. They jam so many styles and ideas into each song. The guy has incredible talent, everyone should at least check this out.

Probably the worst lead singer in any band going in indie-land. His throat needs to be smacked into its old shape and put through a car wash. Do we really need pretentious white-boy hipster yodeling at this point in Pop History? I don't understand the hype by the critics. Although, I do have respect for the even-handedness and selective nature of Pitchfork, I just don't see why it deserves a 9.2 by any regard. The musical arrangements, as well as track 4 and 5, actually are quite good. But the singer has to go.… Expand

With only nine songs, the Dirty Projectors have created one of the best albums of the year! Genre-bending, experimental indie rock music that is still accessible and highly addictive!

Best album of the year and I'm confident it is gonna stay that way.

Album of the year!!!

It might as well have made my ears bleed. Worst music I've heard this other other than Wavves. I'm starting to think that Metacritic 's weighting leans heavily on Pitchfork. That is too bad because Pitchfork just tries to be edgy and provocative and doesn't consider what people want to listen to.

"your cologne is sweetly fragrant" or "you quenched me like gatorade".......Yuck!

Truly something special. The negative reviews are childish and lazy. Don't give them any credence. Just listen and enjoy. I can't think of another record as catchy and listenable, while being as challenging and technically impressive.

Totally brilliant all the way through.

So weirdly gorgeous.

Consistently imaginative, delightfully weird and wildly catchy. Best album I have heard in 2009.

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.… Expand

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.

Bitte Orca contains a little bit of everything. Longstreth doesn't wear his influences on his sleeve. He uses them to playoff one another and create something unique. Bitte Orca is a refreshing change for Summer and many years to come. I can't stop listening to this album.

Absolutely stunning. jaw dropping, and despite what drowned in sound says: huge emotional impact. beautiful record.

Album of the day!

Refreshing music for sure! Also, Fred R's comment is sorely misguided. But hey, we can't all understand what good music is.

Mediocrity deconstructed. Big whoop.

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.

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.

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.

I basically hated most of this band's early records, but Longstreth's really on to something special these days and I'm glad to see he's still erring towards his pop side on this one. That said, I liked "Rise Above" more on the whole. That album was brilliant the whole damn way through, and though I definitely dig the first half of "Bitte Orca", I usually can't make it through the second half for some reason.… Expand

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!

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!

Definitely a strange album at first. A little hard to get into at first also but once you're engrossed in this album, the more you really love it. I loved it. Thought every track sounded great. All In All, Dirty Projectors craft an accessible, quirky album that really works. B+