Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

For those who've heard the latest Dan Bejar album, is it just me or is it kind of incredible?

where'd ya hear it? isn't it not out for a long time? I thought I lost the Destroyer love but it was revived by Bay of Pigs.

For those who've heard the latest Dan Bejar album, is it just me or is it kind of incredible?

In complete agreement, but then I'm a Destroyer fanboy, so it was kinda predictable I'd feel this way. Although having said that, I was disappointed with "Trouble In Dreams" right from the off and never really went back to it, and that ambient single he put out a few weeks back didn't really float my boat. But this is awesome. I mentioned in the other thread how all the soft synths and horn swells and sub-disco drums and female backing vox remind me of those great 80s pop-rock bands like Prefab Sprout, but in the notes I was scribbling down yesterday I've actually written down phrases like "Lindstrom space disco" and "dubbed-out free jazz squall".

I thought I lost the Destroyer love but it was revived by Bay of Pigs

The whole album is very much along the same lines, and a truncated version of Bay Of Pigs is the closing track.

Leaked already!?

'Chinatown' makes me feel very optimistic about the record. Loved Rubies and mostly everything before it, didn't feel any connection with everything he has done aftwerwards.

OTM with Prefab Sprout

To be fair he's only put out the two EPs and Trouble In Dreams since Rubies. By the by those EPs have the best cover art

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ksQG3-eM-4U/TNDnpjfNR0I/AAAAAAAAALc/IvRwUCXnhiU/s1600/Destroyer-Archer-On-The-Beach.jpg

Owen, the EP for Bay of Pigs has great cover art, too, no?

And no, not leaked, press copy. And is an 11:18 version of a 13:38 song really "truncated"? More like "mildly squished."

people really need to revisit Trouble in Dreams. i felt the same way until recently and now it's one of my favorites. the first 6 songs are some of his best imo.

yeah I went back to Trouble after someone (j0hn d I think?) was defending it on the other Destroyer thread... strangely, it was actually the second half that got me to come around on it ("Plaza Trinidad", in particular, is beautiful, like an angry drunk jumping onstage during a broadway musical)

Really? I still think Trouble in Dreams is ehhhhh. If you guys really recommend it, I'll revisit it soon.

("Plaza Trinidad", in particular, is beautiful, like an angry drunk jumping onstage during a broadway musical)

― 'The Road'(a hundred less-than signs)'Taken' (bernard snowy), Sunday, December 5, 2010 3:21 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

Plaza Trinidad, in fact, is one of the greatest songs ever written. Thank you! It's my favorite Destroyer song and I never tire of it.

becoming obsessed with "my favorite year" helped open the rest of the album up to me. beware the company you reside in!!

Really? I still think Trouble in Dreams is ehhhhh. If you guys really recommend it, I'll revisit it soon.

― altered boners (rennavate), Sunday, December 5, 2010 4:12 PM (1 hour ago)

i don't think it's one of his best but imo fans of bejar should find plenty to like. "blue flower/blue flame" grabbed me immediately, but i like his stoned, meandering stuff like that

i actually think it is one of his best now. top 3 imo. wouldn't have said that a couple months ago...

I like "My Favorite Year," but nothing else grabbed me about Trouble in Dreams.

Kaputt is fantastic and I was pretty put off by Trouble in Dreams, though I haven't revisited it really since its release (my previous favorite was easily Your Blues). Steely Dan Bejar is a good look for him.

I have only heard Rubies + New Pornos. Where do I go next?

The other direction, as fast as you can!

Or, you could try fan-favourite "Streethawk" or MIDI-heavy "Your Blues".

ty

almost like he got andy mackay on this. loving the late era roxy music avalon vibes of "song for america"

From the Merge press release...

"These are some of the themes alluded to or avoided in the album Kaputt and here are 22 things you might want to know about it. Straight from Dan Bejar himself, in absolutely no linear order.

Kaputt by Malaparte, which Bejar has never read… Kara Walker, specifically the lyrics she contributed to the song “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker”… Chinatown, the neighborhood bordering on Bejar’s… Baby blue eyes… 80s Miles Davis… 90s Gil Evans… Last Tango in Paris … Nic Bragg, who played lead guitar on every song, again… Fretless bass… The hopelessness of the future of music…The pointlessness of writing songs for today… V-Drums… The superiority of poetry and plays… And what’s to become of film? The Cocaine Addict… American Communism… Downtown, the neighborhood bordering on Bejar’s… The LinnDrum – Avalon and, more specifically, Boys and Girls… The devastated mind of JC/DC, who recorded, produced and mixed this record from fall of 2008 to spring of 2010… The back-up vocals of certain Roy Ayers and Long John Baldry tours… Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence…"

wtf does 90s Gil Evans mean

here is the cover art
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music2/destroyerkaputt.jpg

I don't know if everyone has already done this, or doesn't care to, but but I just made a playlist of all the Bejar songs from New Pornographers (incl those written with Carl) and it is really amazing...I am thinking put together they are better than any single Destroyer album. Is that kooky talk or possible?

sorry for the double but

they are very good songs yes. probably not "better than any single destroyer album" but pretty great. the ones on Electric Version especially -- Testament to Youth in Verse, so great

on the later NPs records they are about the only songs I liked tbh

this album is in-sane

I honestly can't stop listening to it. I'm going to overplay it before Christmas at this rate. I think I'm already half there!

really liking this so far

I like it in a "Dan Bejar can do no wrong" kinda way but it's a pretty weird album. I'm not going nuts over it so far. But like I said on the other thread I'm more of a Streethawk/This Night/Rubies kinda guy with Your Blues ranking toward the bottom. People who think Your Blues is his best album will love this.

Track 3 is my favorite so far, the one that has that rubbery New Order / Bunnymen bass line and is a little more propulsive.

has anyone used 'yacht' as an adjective w/r/t this record yet

too morose to be yacht rock imo

it's ~smooth~ but in sort of a diff. way

i guess what i like is that its kinda yacht-y and balearic but still very much destroyer. like i just listened to some twin shadow track and it sounds slavish in comparison

I didn't love this on first listen, but it's growing on me. I guess I miss the more dense/feverish/epic songs (Your Blues being my fav album), not that the smoother/easier ones aren't nice, mind you. Bay of Pigs feels like the meeting point of the two, and I love it. Seems that this may be his last record for a while, judging from this: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/12/catching-up-with-destroyer.html

Also, I came across this, which is interesting: http://www.danielbejar.com/

What's the source of the distorted guitar figure just after halfway through 'Savage Night at the Opera'?

yo i heard a rumor p4k is gonna give this joint a 10.

What's the source of the distorted guitar figure just after halfway through 'Savage Night at the Opera'?

It sounds a lot like the main riff from "Enola Gay" by OMD.

yo i heard a rumor p4k is gonna give this joint a 10.

I just finished my review for Onethirtybpm and gave it 92%.

i expect this to get pretty favorable reviews all around, tbh.

Also, I came across this, which is interesting: http://www.danielbejar.com/

that's pretty funny

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/googleganger1.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/googleganger2.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/googleganger3.jpg

don't think i've ever written this on ilx before but o_O

It sounds a lot like the main riff from "Enola Gay" by OMD.

haha otm. knew i recognized that from somewhere

savage night at the opera is the best track by far imo

yo i heard a rumor p4k is gonna give this joint a 10.

― Mordy, Friday, December 17, 2010 7:21 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

LOLZ don't start this again. There was the same rumor floating around about Rubies. But this is possibly better than Rubies...

Unless of course, it's an actual rumor.

lol, obv I was making a poorly formed Rubies joek

That's what I thought lolz.

'too morose to be yacht' otm

man i love this guy

this is the first album in a really really long time that i've had on permanent repeat

doesn't mean it's perfect obv (even to me) but damn it's ear wormy

i won't and i never will

I WRITE POETRY FOR MYSELF I WRITE POETRY FOR MYSELF

I heard a rumour that NME is going to give this 7 out of 10 or they're not going to review it at all.

I can't walk away, you can't walk away

I heard your record, it's alright

sound smash hits melody maker nme
all sounds like a dream to me

fool child, you're never gonna make it
new york city just wants to see you naked
and they will

can't wait 'til us norms can hear dis

in the meantime, guess ill just go listen to "Chinatown" for the hundred and thirty-first time...

although i got very little help finding this(!) from my ilm colleagues when i expressed this same plaint, bernard, if you type in the artist name and album title into google and look at what the search engine fills in, in terms of frequent searches, you can indeed download it with "fiery" alacrity. En-yoy!

oh huh, for some reason I thought it hadn't leaked yet

damn, title track is
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7476/amazingn.png

poor in love is v v pretty

for me, typical destroyer album, great music but the voice and lyrics bug me to death

"Plaza Trinidad", in particular, is beautiful, like an angry drunk jumping onstage during a broadway musical

actually a pretty good description of Bejar's role in a New Pornographers concert

you're welcome, Bernard!

I won't and I never will
I won't and I never will
I won't and I never will
I won't and I never will
Blue eyes

for me, typical destroyer album, great music but the voice and lyrics bug me to death

― the distance between me and a sackful is gonna be like 0 inches (rip van wanko), Thursday, December 23, 2010 11:31 AM (5 hours ago)

it may help to realize that you don't actually like destroyer

lol

FOUR MORE YEARS
FOUR MORE YEARS
FOUR HUNDRED MORE YEARS OF THIS SHIT
FUCK IT!

he kinda repeats stuff a lot on this

also seeing those lyrics in caps and with an exclamation point makes it seem like they're from a completely different song.

Yeah he repeats a lot of stuff, but it works beautifully. That's like a running theme through the disc, tied into the the horns and trumpets always repeatedly showing up in tracks.

And yeah it should be more like: four more years, four more years, fourhundredmoreyearsofthisshitfuckit

lots of drug references!

This is pretty much an Al Stewart album. Not bad.

^^^^^^^^^^^^ this makes me want the disc asap (tho i'd be happy if bejar kept making homages to mid-70s david bowie, too).

"This is pretty much an Al Stewart album. Not bad."

Someone here is "in the know", even though what they've said is both an overstatement and an under simplification.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEqUe8hbDTM

dammit I thought i was over dan bejar! this took me a couple listens but: on board.

not going to listen to any of this until the records released, but i hope its awesome!

if you (1) like destroyer and (2) liked "bay of pigs" you will like this album

I like but don't love. Listened on a long car trip last night. "Song for America" and in particular that "winter spring summer and fall / animals crawl towards death's embrace" repeated section had me rollin my eyes. Not so into Bay of Pigs either so the album kind of ends on a low note for me. Several of the tracks in the first two-thirds are pretty great though.

I can get with a lot of slick "unhip" music like this but .... there is some serious adult contempo cheese on here. Done totally professionally of course. Just not sure why exactly you'd want to do it.

he kinda repeats stuff a lot on this

seems like he kinda needs to since there's little structure and no choruses? wouldn't be much to latch onto otherwise

there's little structure and no choruses?

this seems largely like destroyer's m.o., at least since rubies.

I like the repetition. seems very loose/spontaneous/natural. but I could see how it would be a turnoff for some people

on one of the songs (forgot which one — maybe the very beginning of "kara walker"?) I sorta imagined that he was rapping, which was lolsy

Not so into Bay of Pigs either so the album kind of ends on a low note for me. Several of the tracks in the first two-thirds are pretty great though.

agree. i also agree w/ the 'not-enough-guitar' comment somewhere up thread.

nah

Also like but don't love, but this is after one listen (also in the car) and no lyric sheet

destroyer ft. tim hecker - 'archer on the beach'

this is kinda awesome

http://vimeo.com/18442047

if that is truly the video for the song, BEST. EVUH!!!

I finally got around to unzipping my copy today and was listening while surfing. Somehow ended up on a fancy, flashy website (with a "Music On/Off" button) for a fancy wedding photographer, and started hearing this sort of meandering, smooth jazz type of stuff...thinking it was drowning out "Kaputt," I went to shut down the photog's site, but the music continued...

Anyway, album is solid. The 2011 list begins...

smelly, tasty cheese on this one.

some wonderfully stinky cheese, camembert perhaps

dunno if it was just me but one of the models i thought mila kunis and the old dude hemingway

officially love this album. it feels like a more laid-back/organic "Your Blues". It also works so well as an album, it just flows along. I can't wait to listen to it in spring.

hey y'all

Holy Shit that video!!!!

That video is maybe the closest depiction (in style, not actual subjects) to the vague images I saw in my head when I first listened to Your Blues.

cool charlesburg

i listened to this 4 times in a row at work today

sarge are you on my level with this yet or what

album of 2011

ha, shit, i haven't listened to this yet actually

i'll download it now

dude

why arent u on aim fwiw

well tbh the whole smooth jazz thing made me kinda wary

dont be a pussy, jordan.

you can handle smooth jazz.

i DJ'd a kind of early set tonite from 8pm-10pm. lotsa people from the start but kind of a standing round art gallery vibe for the first hour.

i opened my set with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRSwdKclcpg

nb mixed right out of it into this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3iPZtJpFJA

does this come in instrumental?

ha

>:|

is vocals are not my favorite but i'm ok with them. love this album.

would love an instrumental of this.

J0rdan, it's like not just smooth jazz as much as jazz disco, Lindstrom style.

thanking u

i need max on this thread

i need jaxon to actually listen to this and then post in this thread

probably need Lamp in here too

i think this is my favorite album in a few years

:D

i think this is my favorite album in a few years

― gr8080, Sunday, January 9, 2011 5:25 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

i've listened to this album probably 3 or 4 times in the past few days. that's actually saying a lot as i usually listen to mp3 downloads once or twice max before i delete from my phone. i love the music. sounds like so much stuff i love. studio or a mountain of one or the cure or roxy music or blue nile or, yes, prefab sprout, whom i'd never listened to before this thread, so thanking u for that. but i kinda think he sounds like an elf. and some of his phrasing is hella awk. that said, i keep listening to it. i listened to one song off his older album and pretty much hated it. mike simonetti posted on his FB something like, "when did all these indie rock bands learn about 'balearic'. get ready for a bunch of mid tempo schlock" or something and i commented that i wasn't sure if i loved or hated the new destroyer and now that status is no longer on his page. hmmmm.

yeah the bejar vox are kind of an acquired taste (and maybe one more easily acquired thru listening to the rockier stuff?), but I think they're perfect for this album — phrasing is (sometimes) awkward on purpose, innit? like the part in "Suicide Demo for Kara Walker" starting ~6:00 where he motormouths unintelligibly through some stuff about "pressing fast-forward" and then lands on It's not you, it's nothing personal, no hard feelings, nothing's there, which is sung so casually that the hurt barely even registers (cf. I heard your record, it's alright on whatever track that is).

btw everyone who hears even a fragment of this album seems to instantly fall in love with it. convinced that Destroyer is Right For America in 2k11

sounds like so much stuff i love (like) a mountain of one

love you for loving them.

the act that bejar's recent discs (well, really rubies, i guess) most often reminds me of is 70s-era bowie.

i love the "400 more years of this shit, fuck it" line

oh man that just reminded me of another one: the transition from "I look up, I see the north star" to "I look up at the bar" — I have no idea how to render the subtleties of phrasing at play here but the whole moment is chill-giving

btw everyone who hears even a fragment of this album seems to instantly fall in love with it

yeah ditto

yeah my gf (whose taste in music is, uh, mainly p different from mine) heard some of this in the car the other day and was all "what is this it's amazing"

I wonder if it's because the smooth-jazz aesthetic was so thoroughly repudiated (after being so influential/high-profile for a while) that everyone kind of already has a place for an album that sounds like this in their heart? like it doesn't matter whether your reference point is Prefab Sprout or Bowie or Steely Dan; there's probably something you love that you can find reflected here.

Do I go see the "eight-piece Destroyer orchestra" or the Residents? Both are playing on the same night and I'm inclined to say Residents based on everything I've ever heard about Destroyer shows, but at the same time I do find myself liking Kaputt even more than I did when I first heard it. I'm inclined to say that it and Your Blues are my two favorites for sure at this point.

xp urgh I phrased that really poorly — basically what I'm suggesting is that lots of ppl like (at least some) music that sounds like this, but nobody is really willing to make it anymore

i feel like i saw this guy live once and thought it was p much total bollocks but the ref .s ppl r throwing around here are making me confused bc it was like a more annoying of montreal then

dude the whole thing with this record is that its a new sound. a lot of the ppl ive turned onto this were like " I really did not like his other stuff but man this"

idk i dont really like challenging my preconceptions

ive never listened to prefab sprout before this thread either. maybe because they have the worst band name ever.

enjoying them so far, kind of hear the similarities.

lol yeah, i had thought prefab sprout were like a totally diff band before i heard them

anyway jus lettin u know i will never listen to this album even tho i would prolly really like it

cool, thanks for posting

for the record i think Destroyer is the best band name ever.

there's basically a spectrum of band names that looks like this:

PREFAB SPROUT <---------------------------------->DESTROYER

yeah this is really good, already my favorite of his records after Your Blues. which i guess is to say his thing works better without the usual trad-rock-sounding backing band

destroyer is a pretty good band name. surprised no one took it before bejar.

better than, say, "the beatles."

i love prefab sprout and i also love this record...

tho i also wish there was an instrumental version. hopefully there will at least be some decent remixes

ha. grady, love the band name spectrum. as much as i hate the name prefab sprout (also why i never listened to them until this thread), i kinda like why they named themselves it

According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, the band was named after a phrase from the Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood song, "Jackson", misheard by frontman Paddy McAloon.[1] The correct opening lyrics for "Jackson" are "We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout";[3] which McAloon misinterpreted as 'hotter than a prefab sprout'.

i hate stories behind band names like that, like its actually a pet peve

but "Jackson" is all-time. 2 of my best friends performed a ~*raucous*~ version of it at their own wedding reception.

how could you mistake that lyric??

updated:

PREFAB SPROUT <--------------------METALLICA--------------------> DESTROYER

I absolutely fuxx with this album.

"poor in love" is my jam.

haha what a surprise.

thread needs 'balearic' in the title to bring in some more posters

I absolutely fuxx with this album.

― Tim F, Sunday, January 9, 2011 11:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

too early to say for sure but i think my favorite is "blue eyes"

really surprised that jaxon had never listened to prefab sprout b4

lol suicide demo for kara walker

apparently she wrote some of the lyrics for it? wld be curious to know which!

also, re: "Blue Eyes" — took me a long time to warm up to it because it's maybe the cheeziest thing here* — but yeah, so fucking great! hooks upon hooks! "Oh baby, can't you see they had it in for me?"/"I won't, and I never will!"/BLUUUUUUEEEE EYES!!

I like how quickly it goes from sparsely pretty Bejar intro to full-blown disco anthem. and the chiming echoey U2 guitars that pop up in the background sometimes. and, well, everything about it.

*: and knows it! i.e. telling the press "don't be ashamed or disgusted with yourselves", which I interpret as a snarky attack on the idea of "guilty pleasures" which someone will inevitably invoke w/r/t this album at some point...

Haha, I interpreted that line as being like someone walking up to you and saying, "you know, that pimple on your face really isn't that obvious."

tim f I am disappointed in you, how could "a message in a bottle" ever become embroiled in such an encounter? it boggles the mind!

close-reading, ppl!!

No, I mean I assumed he was sending them a message saying "don't be ashamed or disgusted with yourselves" in order to imply that they had reason to be.

ah, sry, the metaphor threw me

really love the way the female vocalist (over)enunciates the word "wrong" in the chorus of "Kara Walker"

(lol, as if it wasn't clear from this thread, I basically cannot put the album without listening to the whole thing — "Poor In Love" sounded great a second ago and now I'm into the title track again — pacing is A+ and uh no [obvious] weak points? or have i so thoroughly drunk the kool-aid on this one that I am incapable of objective evaluation?)

When does this come out? I have no moneys but I feel like I need to buy this.

.rar

xpost beginning of february I think?

dudes voice is hella irritating, i could prolly get over it but i would much rather here like a rasmus dub

curious why you find it so irritating — I mean yeah it's totally affected, but I think done with consummate craftsmanship and taste, and compliments the music well — plus he sings more-or-less intelligibly, which is nice because the lyrics are usually worth listening to

how do you feel about the backup vocals?

(not that I wouldn't listen to an instrumental version of the album!)

idk maybe its more that i just find the vocals kindof intrusive, i gen. have a high threshold for crap indie voices and i realise that this isnt partic. bad on that scale

yeah, they're definitely prominent (altho maybe a little more in the background, compared to the last few albums?) — for me, it never quite reaches the point of 'pulling me out of' the music but i can where it might for someone else

sara walker is currently top of my list if only for `moment' when it shifts from formless opening to groovy

yeah totally

thinking about sbing anyone who talks bad about his voice from this point on

what is the deal w/ this guys voice?

awesomeness is the deal iirc

destroyer's on some erudite glam shit

― champagne for my t-friends (Edward III), Tuesday, December 7, 2010 2:49 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

does anyone know about his band on this one? i mean since it's not released no official liner notes exist yet, but damn. either those are some badass hired hands or there could be a side project floating around somewhere or something

with this and the caribou album, merge records is making a weird turn towards the awesome

which is totally unexpected, but then again i stopped giving a shit about merge long ago so wtf do i kno

im not sure if this is as good as 'streethawk' or 'city of daughters' but its p fantastic

kinda feel like this is his 'i'm your man' record esp whats he doing w/ his voice. & the sax!!! just the lyricless ba-da-dum stuff on 'savage night at the opera' & the use of repetition (such a great mood piece) and how gentle it seems but then how vicious it gets as it goes!!!

does anyone know about his band on this one?

don't know who it is but for the live show he's billed as traveling with an "eight-piece synth-jazz orchestra" (including the woman who does all the backing vocals)

i guess i should check out streethawk? i've got rubies and your blues and rubies was always tough to get into, and i only really gave your blues another try because of this album and appreciate it a lot more than i did before.

streethawk is v much a different sound and aesthetic but its also a lot more naked and confrontational so i guess it depends on what in particular u like abt this record

don't want to turn this into a streethawk thread (esp. since there's already a poll thread going rt now) but it's def. an awesome record and it's probably easier to "get" what he's doing vocally & lyrically in the context of his more glam / Bowie phase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV75zugzPJc

i.e. I totally disagree with this from upthread but to each his own:

which i guess is to say his thing works better without the usual trad-rock-sounding backing band

I have a hard time getting into his rock ensemble stuff. his words are so precise and his delivery so idiosyncratic that sloppy indie moves make for a mushy listen (thinking more about the stuff from rubies or this night or trouble in dreams when he's trying to be neil young and less the bowie moves of streethawk). seems like midi-symphonies and highly syncopated pitter-patter throw his vocals into perfect relief. don't really get the complaints about his voice, if kaputt had some pretty vocals I prolly wouldn't even be listening tbh.

does anyone know about his band on this one?

the lead guitarist on kaputt is the same guy he's used for years. I remember around the time of rubies he was on this "destroyer is a band now" kick, not sure how many of the other players are the same tho.

btw all of america lives to light its pipe at night

streethawk's most like rubies in sound, with standard rock instrumentation. though it's played straighter than rubies, and there's less groove and less indie sloppiness all around iirc

xp more or less

sooo damn good! jan 25 can't come soon enough!!

btw if anyone has a copy of 'bay of pigs' theyd sell me that would kick @$$

apparently she wrote some of the lyrics for it? wld be curious to know which!
― Egyptian Raps Crew (bernard snowy), Monday, January 10, 2011

I think I read somewhere that he used quotations from an interview with her that he read in an art magazine. For those who don't know her work, she is an African-American artist who plays with racial stereotypes going back to the Civil War, and her medium are black "silhouette" cutouts

Nic Bragg is the guitarist and Sibel Thrasher is the woman singing. Dunno about anyone else.

See I don't like Bejar on Streethawk to be honest, I think he's better when he tempered his idiosyncrasies a bit and wasn't so all over the place, delivery-wise.

Chinatown is right up my street on some 79 MOR disco vibe like nicolette larson or summat - can't wait for the lp

yeah i'm gonna get this on vinyl for sure.

can you imagine meeting a woman and hearing her say "My name is Sibel Thrasher and I sing in a band called Destroyer."

?!

oops Thrasher should be italicized not Sibel

AT THE PARK OR AT THE PIER
WATCHIN SHIPS DISAPPEAR
IN THE RAIN

rain in forecast this week thinking about taking a sick day field trip to the oakland docks

http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/01/05/destroyer-announces-2011-tour-dates/

i'm not a "lyrics guy" but his words have always scanned so beautifully to me

you terrify the land, you are pestle and mortar
you're first love's new order, mother nature's sun
king of the everglades. population one.
i write poetry for myself
i write poetry for myself

you're a permanent figure of jacked up sorrow
i want you to love me
you send me a coffin of roses
i guess that's the way that things go these days

take pills, for instance
i heard they're no good for you
i won't and i never will
she said, "i won't and i never will"
blue eyes

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7914-destroyer/

awesome interview. bejar rules

And I'm just a sucker for new-agey synth sounds and instrumentation.

love this guy

I did most of the vocals while fixing myself a sandwich.

/!\ attn jordan s /!\

man this is an excellent, honest interview

lol i have listened to the entire album all the way through roughly 45 times in the last month

probably 25 times in the last week for me

only got it this wkend, listened to it abt 5 so far (never usually do that)

bejar total sandwich bro

chinatown, suicide demo, & title track are all total awesomeness. kinda think bay of pigs sticks out too much, especially considering that it probably pushes it to double lp length.

Strikes me as a ham on dark rye kinda guy

chinatown, suicide demo, & title track are all total awesomeness. kinda think bay of pigs sticks out too much, especially considering that it probably pushes it to double lp length.

it does btw, at least according to amazon.

and yeah its a good song but I'm not sure I'm on board with the whole "its epic and amazing!!!!!" stuff I've read. it feels capstoney and w/e but other tracks are much stronger.

"bay of pigs" is certainly one of the best songs on this but i sometimes end this album after the second to last song - i've heard "bay of pigs" dozens of times and it was on my 2009 ballot. i don't like it any less tho

when he gets to the "It's got that swiiiiing..." line i always think of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgcpKOnutOc

yeah bay of pigs is like a nice extra. don't need to hear it every time, but it's an incredible piece of music regardless of context and takes nothing away from the album that precedes it.

and for some reason makes me want to reread Pynchon's V.

yeah that's a great way of thinking of it. feels like a pixar short film---great, not necessary to enjoy the main event

xp

haha, pixar analogy totally otm!

xxxxxxp hahaha that might be my favorite thing t&e have done

sounds, smash hits, melody maker, nme
all sound like a dream to me

Winter spring summer and fall
Animals crawl
Towards deaths embrace

just typing this out and realizing it's a nice little play on the carol king song.

Whereas I usually set up a mic to do the "real vocal take" and everything, I found that I could get the relaxed quality I wanted for this record while I was, like, lying down on the couch.

Pitchfork: Did you actually record some vocals lying down on the couch?

DB: Yeah, I did.

I didn't think it was possible to love this man more.

when i first wrote this song i had intended it to be a waltz, but the musicians i was playing at the time apparently were unable to play a waltz... and that's why this country will always be at war

That's a great quote!
I wonder what Soto and/or Matos would think of this record, especially if they haven't liked Destroyer in the past

So this is going to be huge.

duh, it's awesome

where else is this getting buzz aside from here? in the "we've heard it and it rules" sense, not the "this is comin out" sense

theres def other places

srry if that sounded snide. afaik sonically this is a v. accidentally trendy album

80s soft rock /quiet storm kinda feels like a thing right?

hipsters love sting

It has become a thing and I wish it would go away. Aside from "Savage Night at the Opera" and "Poor In Love" I think this record is total dreck.

lol rong, those are the two worst trax

they're also two of the shortest

so like if you just don't like the album, those wld probably be among yr least disliked

and they're two of the rockiest

basically what i'm saying is i think pgwp sux

otm

if u want short rocky songs go listen to a guided by voices album or something, jeeze

zing.

gtfo

stfu

>--(O___O)--< )))\___\

It has become a thing and I wish it would go away. Aside from "Savage Night at the Opera" and "Poor In Love" I think this record is total dreck.

― scott pgwp (pgwp), Friday, January 14, 2011 1:16 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I hope the P4k opinion is not this.

honestly i kinda hope this gets like a middling 6.0 from pitchfork so we don't have to deal with all the associated nonsense. i'm pretty certain it'll break 9 tho and then again i do want this dude to get paid so

pgwp is not plagenhoff i dont think. i agree abt this being accidentally trendy but what other evidence besides last year's ariel pink record is there?

ha he can speak for himself but no he's not & i don't have any problem w/ pgwp & read his blog from time to time. think we were just ribbing

I don't write for Pitchfork. pgwp stands for pretty goes with pretty.

I think that awful Gayngs record is another example of the trend - not coincidentally those are my three least favorite albums of the last few months! It's a trend that must be squelched.

xpost thanks k3vin.

Ahh I thought you were Pl@genhoff. And yeah I have no problem with pgwp. Can't blame you about those two songs tho, "Poor in Love" is the most immediate, I think. The "Painter in Your Pocket" of Kaputt?

gayngs yes

i like gayngs & this. what dont u like about the aesthetic -- is it u dont like it in gen, or just this version of it?

How similar is the Gayngs record? I haven't gotten around to hearing it yet.

they both have saxophones iirc

trenchcoat indie

I don't like the aesthetic at all, whether it's done by indie dudes in 2010 or by Lite FM artists of the 80s, 90s, and Today (tm). Though I admit to being especially irritated by the sound's infiltration into indie rock in general.

It comes down to the instrumentation, the saxophone specifically. That smooth sax sound, and sax solos in general, almost always turns me off. I can handle the synths usually, and the terrible drum sound sometimes. But smooth sax kills every song its on, whether we're talking Destroyer or anyone else.

smooth sax is like my number one favourite thing. if i was in a band there would be smooth sax solos in every song.

Love the Gayngs record, so I should love this too.

smoke weed, listen to sade imo

this is kindof precise and clear where the gayngs thing is woozy and hazy and lets smoke some weed man

I will say that of the three albums (Destroyer, Gayngs, and Ariel Pink), Kaputt is the best of them. It contains all the things I usually like about Bejar, just mixed with awfulness. It feels like less of a cheeky joke - rather, just something Bejar wanted to do. I can respect that even if I don't like it. Gayngs and AP, to my ears, sound like they're just having a laugh by playing this kind of music, which only makes me hate them more.

tbf gayngs do seem like major cunts

don't see how this sound is a 2011 "trend", I was calling bejar postyacht back in 2006 yo

Why does it have to be a "cheeky joke," though? Do saxophones have to be employed ironically? What I like about Kaputt is that the saxophones, and the guitars, the beats, is that they're actually good... the saxophone runs are just well, dope-sounding.

yeah if you watch the videos of gayngs live they do this totes gross winky "look at us in our white tux jackets" thing

ariel pink seems really weird to lump in w/ this and hes been doing this shampoo commercial fuzz pop for like ten years or more right?

I said Bejar specifically sounds like LESS of a cheeky joke, more earnest. Still hate the sound though.

Plax I'm not familiar with Ariel Pink beyond his most recent album.

Right, didn't mean to suggest you stated otherwise. I'm just asking the question in general, really.

idk i take a kinda quiet storm radio approach to all this which is 'does it sound aesthetically like other shit i like?' yes -> its dope, no -> its not

the songs are there, i dont detect a half-assedness, all three of these records sound great (gayngs most intermittently) ... i love how much (esp w/ the bass parts) that ariel pink sounds like steely dan

this isn't really r&b at all to me, way more like uh prefab sprout and shit like that tho

i think whats key w/ this & esp Pink (which is my fav of the three) is that the songs are there & the atmosphere doesnt feel as much like an affect ... its like w/ chromeo, where their first lp is wack to me for being this half-assed pastiche, but on the 2nd one they really brought it in the songwriting dept

this isn't really r&b at all to me, way more like uh prefab sprout and shit like that tho

― mekka lekka hi mega-hiney hoes (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, January 14, 2011 4:38 PM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark

but loggins n messina arent *technically* r&b either

quiet storm playlists are totally indiscriminant abt genre, pre-balearic-style

but then i have a longstanding <3 for this style ... my dad played avalon a lot, & sade has been one of my like top 5 dead or alive artists for years now

i like this album a lot actually but i guess i don't see *that* much of a comparison to gayngs

tbh i only like 3-4 songs off the gayngs lp but i really like them

Also I think this sound really sands some of the rough surfaces of Bejar's idiosyncrasies, too. As much as I love Destroyer, sometimes Streethawk Bejar is just too much to handle, and this retains all that's good about him with less abrasiveness.

i never heard any destroyer stuff before this and i think it's great

same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV75zugzPJc&feature=player_embedded#!

This is what I mean by the above statement. It's a little much to swallow at times, for me. I'm a fan of the less-theatrical and autistic Bejar.

yeah ren's otm though i totally wouldn't be surprised if a lot of ppl who are new to him & into this record found his vocal affect and way w/ words grating at first on his older stuff, because it's def toned down a bit here

nb i love this abt destroyer

ok that song rennavate posted is pretty good too, more of a hunky-dory era bowie pastiche. reminds me of velvet goldmine.

does he have a particular schtick on each album?

Yeah, obvs that older style of singing/delivery wouldn't work on this smooth free-jazz disco shit.

And yeah, it's a good song, but there's only so much I can listen to it before I need a break ha.

Uhm yes and no. He's definitely the kind of artist that "grows" with each album, but it's not as like programmed as "this is my Bowie record," "this is my ____ record." I think it's taken him some time to grow into his own artist.

UMS — not exactly a 1:1 schtick:album ratio, but a couple of broad styles he moves between — the glam-rock style from Streethawk, reworked w/less transparent Bowie-biting, becomes sort of his 'default' setting up thru this album, but Your Blues was completely different and sounded a bit more like this one

Your Blues is his MIDI record.

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36747/walker-on-the-wild-side-dan-bejar-on-his-musical-collaboration-with-artist-kara-walker/

man this is so much better than the Gayngs record. Bejar's just so much more of a compelling presence on this album and in general. but i'm a lyrics guy so... he's easily top 5 rock lyricist working today.

the glam-rock style from Streethawk, reworked w/less transparent Bowie-biting, becomes sort of his 'default' setting up thru this album

as Ed III said upthread there's more of a slacker Neil Young vibe happening on This Night and Rubies ("Sick Priest Learns to Last Forever" starts off like something from Tonight's the Night)

but yeah Streethawk and everything before that (Thief, City of Daughters) are in that wordy glam indie rock style

This Night has some Velvets-y moments too imo (like "Hey Snow White")

Quatrain etched on a turnstile
Just set the loop and then go wild

not exactly a review, just kinda riffing on this album:
http://givefascistshell.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/political-pseudo-review-for-destroyer-to-sing/

That was a good post

is the band all that different? i was hoping it was mostly the same -- i guess fisher rose's sax playing didn't really sound much like that, though

nope, pretty much all change. hum

AD: The last two records, Destroyer’s Rubies and Trouble in Dreams, had you working with a consistent lineup for one of the first times in your career as Destroyer. Is the same group on board this time and how has that stability worked on these records?

DB: Actually the only two records that involve a consistent line-up are Thief and Streethawk. Trouble In Dreams had a different drummer than Rubies, but sometimes a different drummer is like having a different singer. This was one of those cases. I see very few similarities between those two records, aside from maybe “Introducing Angels.” And maybe “Leopard of Honor” sounds a bit like “A Dangerous Woman Up To A Point,” if you were to look at those two songs stripped of their performances…though they mean completely different things (there’s the rub!). Nic Bragg is the only person from those records who plays on Kaputt (unless you’re talking about the vinyl version of Kaputt, in which case Ted Bois pretty much composed, performed and recorded the entirety of Side 3!). He also played lead guitar on This Night.

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2011/01/17/destroyer-the-ad-interview/

I've really grown into this album. It totally gives me these decadent Gaucho vibes. I still think he's trying to sound like Al Stewart, much more than Bowie.

gaucho and al steward flourises are building my excitement for this album.

flourishes.

http://towerofsleep.tumblr.com/post/2817579667/interviewing-dan-bejar

the idea of Bejar singing along with Neil Tennant makes me a little bit giddy

oh my god, the great namechecks continue....I KNEW Sylvian and Isham were in the Kaputt mix!

off topic by "email interviews" should be banned

i think a lot maybe most? interviews are done by email nowadays you'd be surprised maybe some of them are ones you have loved

No one’s mentioned Jamiroquoi, which is nice of them.
hahaha, wtf! I never heard any jamiroquoi beyond that one single — did the album actually sound like this?
(saw someone compare this to ween on facebook today, too... weird)

off topic by "email interviews" should be banned

― gr8080, Tuesday, January 18, 2011 8:58 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

why?

i mean surprise surprise no one is paying me $$ to pick up & fly across the country to interview unknown rappers like roach gigz but if u want to buy me a couple tixx i can stop in HI on the way back & watch yr dog lol

no one uses a phone anymore? i pay $120 a month for mine.

i dont really see the advantage of a phone over email tbh. its not like the guys im talking to are getting censored by their agents or something afai can tell.

i see numerous disadvantages -- including some ive had to deal w/ that include tapes not recording properly, volume being too low, danger of mistranscription, the pain in the ass of transcription, etc

i guess you lose the element of 'natural conversation' to it. im sure interviewees love it for being able to allow for nuance etc

ban e-mail "interviews"

Kaputt is #7 on Entertainment Weekly's The Must List for next week

shoulda been higher

I gave the album 5 stars in my review which will be published on Tuesday.

I sent the "Kaputt" video to my jazzbo friend who likes almost zero new pop music and he said it was awesome. For some reason everyone gets this stuff.

played it for my jambro who likes phish and 'can't get into' indie rock b/c the musicianship is subpar or whatever... he seemed lukewarm

kind of a hard person to please tho — i thought for sure he would dig the dirty projies (not rly, altho he said the dude had "a good voice"), and akron/family before that

played it for the chick I'm seeing right now and she thought it was corny

played it for the chick I'm seeing right now and she thought it was corny

― ullr saves (gbx), Saturday, January 22, 2011 1:14 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

This might be the most usual response... but ohhhhh how wrong it is.

i think its corny & i love it

at some moments i feel like i'm listening to "the saturday night live band"

~in a good way~

played it for the chick I'm seeing right now and she thought it was corny

― ullr saves (gbx), Saturday, January 22, 2011 2:14 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ha yeah i cant get the girl im seeing into anything that remotely codes as 'cheese'
i think this is maybe a thing about being that age. or am i being condescending lol

last 2 girls in my car while this was playing made no remarks on it whatsoever.

is the world not ready for this album?

tbf the context of a gr8080 car ride i cant imagine this is a huge variation from what u are normally bumping??

this album is a huge variation from ~everything~

last 2 girls in my car while this was playing made no remarks on it whatsoever.

not surprised. destroyer is a geeky -- albeit great -- act (almost wonkish with the insider-baseball lyrics about other musicians and the industry), and will always have limited appeal.

THAT'S NOT TO SAY P4K WON'T GIVE THIS DISC A 10.0, BECAUSE THAT'S THE RUMOR.

The vinyl has a 20 minute instrumental.

^whoa

indeed

♪~♪ d(⌒o⌒)b♪~♪ﾗﾝﾗﾝ！！！

love this dude / this record but am already sick to death of hearing about this

so glad i dont read music blogs/sites anymore

xp get over yrself

plan for 2k11: fewer albums, slower hype-cycle, bigger audiences, keep it positive

so glad i dont read music blogs/sites anymore

― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Sunday, 23 January 2011 19:35

^^^

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15034-kaputt/

cover connections?

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/cb07630eac09cd4e75aa06c63325daa4/2971769.jpg

just happens to be two overhyped pfork pet bands iirc

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51b2x2o-wcL._SL500_AA300_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZUGqNBdTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Bejar

lol overhyped pitchfork pet band "the body"

girl gbx is seeing otm btw

lol @ ilxor commenting on 'overhyped pfork bands'

girl gbx is seeing otm btw

!!!

ggis

or

ggbxis

lol @ ilxor commenting on 'overhyped pfork bands'

lol @ pfork writer who constantly overhypes various things even daring to touch this

if this thread is bringing the lols we've hit a new low in comedy

big talk for a dude who posted straight-ticket pfork opinions until two weeks ago

ed iii hasnt seen an episode of miranda recently

outta yr mind deej-o

how my taste has radically changed in the past two weeks, i've no idea

well you did just discover jazz for example

big talk for a dude who posted straight-ticket pfork opinions until two weeks ago

Just want to quote this for posterity, so we can remember it next time deej tries to claim he doesn't stir shit up with other posters.

something pfork has yet to do, judging by its review archives, amirite?

are you playing captain save an ilxor
there was a time when shitty posting like that would get the smackdowns it deserved

I don't see how ilxors stupid, harmless "zings" are any worse than your stupid, harmless "zings" deej.

whole lotta jazz reviews on pfork

glad i have just discovered the best jazz resource on the interwebs -- PHENOMENAL

http://pitchfork.com/artists/132-louis-armstrong
http://pitchfork.com/artists/1721-dizzy-gillespie
http://pitchfork.com/artists/2813-thelonious-monk
http://pitchfork.com/artists/13109-eric-dolphy
http://pitchfork.com/artists/5881-alice-coltrane
http://pitchfork.com/artists/3504-sun-ra
http://pitchfork.com/artists/13692-pharoah-sanders

j. stalin: 7.9

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13944-prenuptial-agreement

charles mingus: 7.8

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13163-mingus-ah-um

so glad deej could help me see the light w/r/t which of these two albums is better

i dont even know whats going on anymore but this new destroyer album sure is good

I am old fashioned and waiting to hear this when I can buy it tomorrow, but I'm encouraged by everything I've read about it.

title track is already approaching my most played track on last.fm (since 2008)

im being a zing police, hes zinging wildly
needs some zing control imo

needs some zing control imo

new board description

okay i am going to leave the destroyer thread, this has been derailed BADLY

no but seriously your posts are annoying

lol at least ilxor has an opinion about something, I'd rather read that then see a dozen image posts that aren't funny at all

I am really looking to this album. I haven't always been a fan of Destroyer, but he is an interesting interpreter of other Artist's styles. It will be interesting to see if he can spearhead a critical re-appraisal of this much-maligned sound. If you can look past the production style Hall and Oates for example are exquisite songwriters! At the very least his distinctive sing style should cut through some of that production saccharine! Lets see if he is successful!

whoops that cover I was trying to post was this

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9397/billfaybillfay197198514.jpg

tend to try & avoid actually acknowledging them because well yknow but i can't stand ilxor's posts either

no but seriously your posts are annoying

― *gets the power* (deej), Monday, January 24, 2011 10:31 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

feel kinda dickish putting it this way. sorry ilxor. u just need to chillax a bit

i know i do

goddamnit stephen

this is a thread about destroyer, please talk about destroyer, not me, thx

call all destroyer

how's that new year's resolution coming, deej?

i hit the gym this morning!

jk i didnt make it on time ;_;

shaking yr fist at ilxor does not count as a gym workout iirc

um don't make fun of me but i did a review of this for a local website, it is an "ok" review but i'm not pro muzik critic

http://www.reviler.org/2011/01/06/destroyer-kaputt-four-takes-review/

steve ilxor is like jonathan if every music writer on this board is like some liz lemon/jack donaghy hybrid

grady stop trolling

fuck

smelgs that's a nice review & hole ref

still haven't heard this record. comes out tomorrow, right? <3 destroyer. he is the funniest man in rock, by far.

thx k3vin and thanks for bringing back a favorite elementary nickname of mine :)

ill check yr review after work matt, just want 2 say i liked mark r's review in pfork today

I really am excited to hear this, but sort of worried that I may like the same indie rock record deej does. :/

I was relistening to Trouble In Dreams this afternoon and, while I still think it is his weakest full-length to date, I think it might be growing on me a little. I was just approaching it completely wrong, I think.

jeremy hovda is cute!

i thought trouble in dreams was great when it came out, but it's probably the weakest. at least i'm not drawn to listen to it as much as the others.

I guess I should clarify that I meant weakest post-Thief. I love everything since then, but I have a hard time diving into the stuff prior.

In it’s own way, it’s as aggressive in its aesthetic as any noise record

I like this, m@tt

grady stop trolling

i'm deej-policing, way diff from trolling

house of mirrors shit

thx k3vin and thanks for bringing back a favorite elementary nickname of mine :)

― dj plain ole m@tt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 24, 2011 4:03 PM (29 minutes ago)

haha we talked about this i think - i was smells so it's all good

this sounds like Pet Shop Boys. I'm not surprised to see so much ILX luv

lol which pet shop boys song?

every Pet Shop Boys song basically. just take their electro backdrop and make it less upbeat and bumpin'. then add a pinch more variety in the form of smooth-jazz or whatever and there you go

if my uncle ellis had a vagina he'd be my aunt elanor rigby

doesn't mark post here...? the pfork review made me curious to hear this (even tho I haven't cared about anything this guy has been involved with since Mass Romantic) but then I was kina put off by the weird Death of a Ladies' Man tangent, especially since I disagree with his interpretation of that album (and its cover)

It doesn't sound at all like the Pet Shop Boys -- it comes closest to a couple of David Sylvian's early and mid eighties solo tracks, especially in their use of space and trumpet.

I have detested Bejar for years, and "Bay of Pigs" drove me out of the room, but he has never boasted so many attractive aural surfaces.

...but he has never boasted so many attractive aural floral surfaces.

That's the gayest sentence I've ever read.

I was kina put off by the weird Death of a Ladies' Man tangent, especially since I disagree with his interpretation of that album (and its cover)

so true, where did that come from?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/arts/music/25choice.html?_r=1&ref=arts

This guy's writing makes my hair hurt

its pretty goofy to me how self-conscious of the 'cheesiness' some of this writing is. lots of readers -- esp of like the ny times -- might not find it cheesy at all (its not like my dad thinks 'avalon' is cheesy). i mean, its a different move for indie rock i guess, but if u listen to more than just indie rock, its like telling ppl sade is worth listening to ... only if yr writing to a specific swath of ppl is that really a shocking development

iago galdston, i feel like maybe you should get a haircut? for the sake of your own head?

lots of us don't find Sade, Gaucho, and Avalon cheesy either. That's been my problem with the PFM and NYT reviews. It's funny: if you're under thirty, you have far less of a problem identifying the records I've mentioned as legitimate influences than if you grew up in a certain kind of eighties and nineties indie climate.

Taking into consideration my loathing for this man's voice for more than ten years, it's remarkable that I'm listening to it as much as I have been today; it's like the most indie of indie voices finally took seriously my request to listen to more Boz Scaggs.

and it's def better than Ariel fucking Pink

This guy put out a MIDI record before, it's not like he's averse to potentially cheesy sonic signifiers.

but now he's learned to sing with them

The only song I think is a total bomb is "Bay of Pigs."

good point Alfred. That stuff is part of our generation's discovery of the past and it lacks the vaguely dirty memories and "cheese" associations. My mom heard me playing Badfinger on some recent Christmas trip home and laughed out loud about how I was listening to "bubblegum". I guess, but it's not as if being played alongside now-obscure AM radio dreck in the '70s has any relevance to my "Baby Blue" listening experience, though it certainly does for her.

I like Mark Richardson very much but his review had a are-you-for-real poking-finger-into-cheek tone that was bizarre for a guy who I know loves a lot of the music I've mentioned.

Re: all the talk of critical reception: I'd be fascinated to what The Singles Jukebox make of this. d

Shoo, stray 'd'!

the d denotes your excitement

And a definitely think the 'smooth music' textures are being deployed lovingly and somewhat 'authentically', rather than the lol80s cheeky irony that Pink or the chillwave crew might have.

i dont get 'cheeky irony' from pink & i thought chill wave was supposed to be seeped in nostalgia not irony

its ok we all get confused abt the reasons we're not supposed to like music sometimes

lol

Hmm the point is maybe that the Destroyer record actually has the production value and budget to replicate the 'smooth music' style, and thus it comes off as less of an approximation or self-conscious affect.

i dont get 'cheeky irony' from pink

deej otm

I get "inept" from Ariel Pink.

Like Pink is gleefully aware that he's sneaking these subversive little stories under the coiffured synths...Bejar just sounds regal, he owns it like Fagen or L. Cohen.

the ny times thing talk al stewart "year of the cat" as ref point and that definitely hits it for me, though it never occured to me until i read it

He doesn’t seem to be pointing at any of this music out of love or fashion, or at least he doesn’t want us to think so. He seems to be pulling different strands together to make a nice dressing for poems that suggest a comfortable blankness of spirit.

WAHT

tomorrow i am going to go to the record store, buy "destroyer - kaputt", make some burritos, smoke a joint, and listen to this record while eating burritos

^^^like this plan

"smoke weed listen to destroyer"

I should add, though, that I actually *prefer* Pink's rambling, faux-incompetent songwriting style to Bejar's. Although the latter inhabits the textures in a smoother sense, he cannot nearly level up to the melodic gifts Ferry or Fagen bring to this sound palette.

ie it just betrays how hollow his songwriting is when presented in such a vivid setting.

i like both of them -- destroyer is avalon & pink was more steely dan

love this record but invoking Fagan??...."destroyer your arms are too short to box w.god"

kinda jealous of flopson's upcoming day

wait, destroyer's songwriting is hollow?

sorry, I don't get that Pink-Dan resemblance at all. I'll grant Pink his chord and tempo changes, but the rest is closer to a nineties ideal of a fungible singer-songwriter one-man-band record.

pink is closer to guided by voices than steely dan

I like "Round and Round" but I don't hear what's SD-ish about it -- it sounds like mildly interesting bedsit melancholy to me. Steely Dan had a lot more going on.

pink is closer to guided by voices than steely dan

YES

Okay ah I was comparing Kaputt to the production on SD and Roxy, rather than Pink. It was a poorly formed sentence.

i dont listen to guided by voices -- the production vibe, bass parts & unconventional compositions remind me of steely dan. i certainly dont think ariel pink's career is at that level but 'before to day' is similar in approach imo

i like both of them -- destroyer is avalon

to me, bejar is the new bowie.

sans makeup and fake stage-character.

im just talking abt how these two records sound -- is there a bowie record that sounds as much like this as avalon does?

no. you're right. i'm thinking more rubies-era destroyer.

How does Bejar sound like Bowie?

Yeah the Bowie comparisons seem further off than anything..apart from this faint dusting of 'glam'.

In the pre-Kaputt stuff, that is.

maybe cuz Bejar sounds "odd" and "British"

pink is closer to guided by voices than steely dan

I don't get that at all. The production on Before Today is a little murky or hazy, but the songwriting and instrumentation is nothing like GBV.

no. it's the shambling, loose song structures and tumbling-downhill drumming, mostly (reminds me of bowie's berlin period).

The muffled, half-formed ideas and hints of melody that maybe cohere into something attractive definitely remind me of GBV; and there's moments when Pink's voice evokes "Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory" levels of emotion.

also, and i have to go back to rubies to jog my memory, but i think it's also the way the guitars are arranged into the songs. not way out front, but sort of bobbing up and down like a snake.

I kinda see although I would characterise those the two elements you mentioned with Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory, rather than the Kraftwerkian glimmer and sheen of the Berlin-stuff.

ha i kinda love the way alfred frames everything in such pejorative terms that simply by accepting his framing you cede ground to him

"actually i think the half-formed ideas work to ... wait a minute."

I'm 1000x more likely to compare vocals (hence the Destroyer/Pet Shop Boys comparison) than lyrics. Voice is 1000x more important than lyrics

but Pink/GBV are you for real? what's wrong with you?

i agree w/alfred and fucking love guided by voices

xp scratch the 'the' between those and two eek. Some weak prose mistakes tonight...

'Voice is 1000x more important than lyrics' is the wrongest thing said tonight...the enunciation and sounds of the words tell as much of the story as the timbre.

levels of emotional power in vocals is a good comparison? shoot metallica is like GBV sometimes. retarded

lol deej

'Voice is 1000x more important than lyrics' is the wrongest thing said tonight...the enunciation and sounds of the words tell as much of the story as the timbre.

First part in quotation marks = right on. Then the second sentence contradicts the preceding phrase.

xp scratch the 'the' between those and two eek. Some weak prose mistakes tonight...

'Voice is 1000x more important than lyrics' is the wrongest thing said tonight...the enunciation and sounds of the words tell as much of the story as the timbre.

― Davek (davek_00)

enunciation and sounds are vox not lyrics

i've been mildly surprised at the idea of 'cheesiness' or 'irony' as issues with this stuff, though i can see why it might be for some. can't figure out much about how age might play into that, either. (i mean, i suppose you could say i'm of the age where these sounds are like magical preconscious memories of what was on the radio when i was an infant, or something, but i'm not having any strong reaction to them like that.) it's not a sound that's limited to the distant past, eithe -- i liked late-90s Aluminum Group albums that sounded like this, and that last Scritti Politti album had some similarities with this, etc...

xp I don't see that as a flat-out contradiction....the lyrics, the words themselves transmitted have this autonomous effect on the voice. You're responding to the aural patterns of the lyrics even if you're not registering their meaning semantically. Does that make more sense? I get your train of thought though..

My review mentions Scritti Politti, nabisco: that sense of a singer reciting a monologue with himself whose soundtrack comprises Toto, Scaggs, and Sylvian. Also: what's that one track which specifically namedrops magazines?

What I love about Green Gartside is how he tosses a lifeline between himself and his listeners yet he's ready to yank it back.

I suppose you're right, but I'm certain there is this half-life that exists where the words placate the sound/vox. What can I say ILM, I come here to learn!

ha i kinda love the way alfred frames everything in such pejorative terms that simply by accepting his framing you cede ground to him

"everything"

EVERYTHING

haha i like that u dispute quantity, but not the main idea of that post

haha well of course -- I have a paradigm to uphold

haha i like that u dispute quantity, but not the main idea of that post

― challopian youtubes (deej), Monday, January 24, 2011 10:31 PM (4 minutes ago)

ha you kinda turned the tables on him tho..."come on, everyth...wait"

Dalek,

Certain words enhance the vox. I do understand what you are saying. Certain words or sentences can easily ruin a song as well. But lyrics do not influence whether or not I choose to like a song in any other way. Good lyrics do improve a tune that I already like though. I don't care for the vox on Kaputt so there's no room for improvement if I knew the lyrics.

------------

I did not mean to have this many posts to this thread. Sorry yall if it looks like I'm trying to troll here. I just wanted to post one or two cents about this album, see if people agree/disagree, and then bolt.

i liked late-90s Aluminum Group albums that sounded like this

Bless you.

I think the "its songs carefully planned in gesture but meager in structure and development" line from the NYT review really undersells this album. the almost-aleatoric progression of its songs is one of its strengths imo

can i just

Every era has a sound. When considering this, it can be easy to forget that the sound developed as a way to express something.

welcome back, nabisco!!!!

ps- you are needed on the Hyundai car commercial thread

Seriously did not realize that all these years I was the ONLY ONE who had a violent aversion to the sounds Bejar is referencing on this record. I can appreciate him as a lyricist and a songwriter, and can see that there's something to sink your teeth into on this record, but it is dressed in such a way that I just can't stomach it.

The fact that I'm still subscribed to this thread is pure masochism.

Aside from all the signifiers of the 'shiny veneer', the "what does it all mean?" Qs and so forth,
This is a really well performed pop record, like, "Good sax playing!"

Owen P.: truth. The outro on Kara Walker, oh my.

ariel pink reffing steely dan seems a completely weird observation to me. maybe 10cc, the hollies, blue nile, chicago, bread, the carpenters.

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/destroyer-kaputt great review at tinymixtapes for this album. i wonder what reception this will get in the uk press, or if it will be ignored again?

just queued this up on my ipod.

haven't listened to this in a few days.

I've been waiting for the vinyl.

btw dum q but how do you pronounce bejar's last name

um this is pretty fucking awesome. i love the cheesy tone to it, im a sucker for yacht rock.

I always found Ariel Pink sounded more like Hall and Oates than Steely Dan.

Hall and Oates harmonizing in a burlap sack.

btw dum q but how do you pronounce bejar's last name

i would guess "bay-har" but i'm just guessing

THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"
THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"
THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"
THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"
THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"
THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"
THIS ALBUM IS NOT "CHEESY"

Yachty

no it's "corny"

anyway i have taken it as a challenge to get this girl to dig this, but I feel like time and tide conspire against me

i wonder how this would go over at the bar im working at on saturday night...hahah.

I think the secret is to be unapologetic.

also n/a that's what I was thinkin too

yup, thats usually how i am anyways. you don't like what im playing, get the fuck out.

gbx I won't c&p from 77, but best to heed estela's advice re: lectures being ineffectual etc

ariel pink reffing steely dan seems a completely weird observation to me. maybe 10cc, the hollies, blue nile, chicago, bread, the carpenters.

― plax (ico), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:38 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

'completely weird'?? im not talking about 'reffing' im talking about just the feel of the production & compositional style, idk, it hits the same spot for me as a listener, & the production sound is 'black cow'-esque

gbx I won't c&p from 77, but best to heed estela's advice re: lectures being ineffectual etc

true true.

im getting kinda tired of the fact that all these reviews ONLY talk about production and cultural touchstones rather than, say, the music?

bejar seemed to anticipate this tho:

"Kaputt by Malaparte, which Bejar has never read… Kara Walker, specifically the lyrics she contributed to the song 'Suicide Demo for Kara Walker'… Chinatown, the neighborhood bordering on Bejar's… Baby blue eyes… 80s Miles Davis… 90s Gil Evans… Last Tango in Paris… Nic Bragg, who played lead guitar on every song, again… Fretless bass… The hopelessness of the future of music… The pointlessness of writing songs for today… V-Drums… The superiority of poetry and plays… And what's to become of film?… The Cocaine Addict… American Communism… Downtown, the neighborhood bordering on Bejar's… The LinnDrum… Avalon and, more specifically, Boys and Girls… The devastated mind of JC/DC, who recorded, produced and mixed this record from fall of 2008 to spring of 2010… The back-up vocals of certain Roy Ayers and Long John Baldry tours… Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence…"

im confused about how u are differentiating the production & cultural touchstones from the music

melody, hooks, lyrics, etc. the "songs" as it were

i mean i know it can be argued that there's nothing new under the sun and everything is a reference to something in the past, but come on

theres more to this record than that

haaa, not that people on this thread need me to say this, but this record is amazing

I, too, publicly endorse this record.

but I know I could never play it to my real friends.

tell them you got the new Toto record.

im on my second listen now, im loving it.