Every long-haired, Ray Ban-wearing hipster crawled out from their corner coffee shop to watch the experimental rock band Dirty Projectors play Saturday night at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. The thousand plus capacity venue was filled to the brim with ladies decked out in floral dresses and Dr. Martens and fellows in flannels rocking beards that shrouded their true age. Either way, there was a palpable buzz sweeping through the crowd, and consequently our bloodstreams, as the band took the stage touting their highly praised new album, Swing Lo Magellan. 

The silence lasted only a moment as the lights dimmed, before the crowd exploded as leading man David Longstreth and guitar/vocalist Amber Coffman glided onto the stage. They were quickly joined by bassist Nat Baldwin and drummer Michael Johnson, and in perfect synchronization, the lights flooded the stage as they began their first song, the new album's title track. The melodious guitar riffs and soothing vocals proved misleading as Haley Dekle and Olga Bell joined the group, completing the six-member power team, and transitioned into "Offspring Are Blank," a synth-heavy song off Swing Lo Magellan. Accompanying the intoxicating rhythms were the first of many hypnotic background vocal harmonies, leading straight into a true rock-n-roll style breakdown. 

The high-energy show continued on with three more songs off the new album before throwing in an old favorite, “Cannibal Resource.” As the catchy guitar solo began, a little head of shiny blonde hair popped up in the first row, bobbing perfectly along with the track — an excited 3-year-old perched on his brother's shoulders.

Bedtimes be damned. The music comes first. 

Written by Lili Peper