Been on kind of a Destroyer nostalgia kick lately, so while I've got y'all's attention: "Another word for sacrament" = probably "host", no?
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Thursday, 13 February 2020 14:54 (four years ago) link
This album is v. good and doesn't sound at all "retro" to my ears, the way Kaputt did. I think it actually sounds very of-the-moment with the airless, sound-designed-to-death production.
― may the force leave us alone (zchyrs), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:42 (four years ago) link
very of-the-moment with the airless, sound-designed-to-death production
So I guess this is why I don’t like a lot of critically praised contemporary music.
― o. nate, Thursday, 13 February 2020 17:57 (four years ago) link
saw them live the other night, the band is killer
― na (NA), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 21:45 (four years ago) link
"crimson tide" sounding especially prescient in the covid area
― i am a horse girl (map), Thursday, 30 April 2020 02:26 (four years ago) link
era
I saw them in Raleigh on March 11 before things went ah viral. Bejar, sodden and sometimes incoherent, was nevertheless terrific, and the band's embellishments marvelous.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 April 2020 02:34 (four years ago) link
I remember when I saw him on the Kaputt tour he had a certain anti-charisma onstage.
― o. nate, Thursday, 30 April 2020 20:34 (four years ago) link
https://devonrecordclub.com/2020/05/24/destroyer-have-we-met-round-110-probably-nicks-choice/
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 24 May 2020 21:20 (four years ago) link
Really love this record!
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Tuesday, 24 November 2020 22:45 (three years ago) link
I feel that after Trouble in Dreams, he's been on automatic pilot lyrically, and putting more energy into coming up with a big presentational concept for the arrangements/production on each album than writing songs. Same lyrical tics, same chord progressions over and over.
I didn't really like Have We Met either, but I did just watch all three videos from the album. They communicated a lot more than the songs alone. Maybe he needs to write a bunch of songs for a movie, or some other external framework to give his songs context.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 01:07 (three years ago) link
I also adore this album, and the Philadelphia show in March was sublime.
― Stem Cell Maria (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 04:53 (three years ago) link
My friend sent me this when I enthused about the new one in an email, thought it was interesting: https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/destroyer-dan-bejar-nine-favourite-songs
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Thursday, 26 November 2020 16:54 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r_N-BMBJMo
new album labyrinthitis is out 25 march
quite an interesting single, it's unusually hard for him
― ufo, Tuesday, 11 January 2022 08:23 (two years ago) link
love it.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Tuesday, 11 January 2022 17:50 (two years ago) link
Been completely addicted to the new single, it has some of his best lyrics imo.
― Van Horn Street, Saturday, 15 January 2022 12:59 (two years ago) link
I love the bit in the video where it says "DE-STROY-ER" for the line "insert three syllables here"
― ceci n'est pas une messi (cajunsunday), Saturday, 15 January 2022 18:36 (two years ago) link
a few tracks in & he's super into new order again but the results are way cooler than on ken
― ufo, Thursday, 27 January 2022 10:29 (two years ago) link
he's still coming up with ways to make what should be well-worn ground for him feel fairly fresh & inspired, another great album & up with his best
― ufo, Thursday, 27 January 2022 11:04 (two years ago) link
it's most similar to the last one but more upbeat, denser & weirder
― ufo, Thursday, 27 January 2022 11:09 (two years ago) link
yeah i really love this album
gets pretty close to being a kaputt sequel at times but always keeps things weirder
― ufo, Thursday, 27 January 2022 23:47 (two years ago) link
where are you hearing it?
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 27 January 2022 23:58 (two years ago) link
it's floating around out there, unusually early for these days
― ufo, Friday, 28 January 2022 00:20 (two years ago) link
For me, his last really convincing record was Trouble in Dreams. His stylistic shift with Kaputt made sense, but the actual songs and lyrics since then have felt like Destroyer-by-numbers. I think he feels this shift, he's alluded to a change in mindset around 2010.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 28 January 2022 01:00 (two years ago) link
imo his only weak album since kaputt is ken.
i think the shift in sound from his previous folk/glam thing to the new sophisti-pop-adjacent palette from kaputt onwards has been a big improvement & fit his vocal approach much better. but i don't really love his old material or anything, i only really go back to your blues & rubies, so i can understand how someone who absolutely loved what he was doing before could be let down by his newer sound.
― ufo, Friday, 28 January 2022 01:10 (two years ago) link
I wouldn't say I dislike the new style; I think the songwriting changed at the same time, but the two didn't have to go hand-in-hand. His lyrics don't hang together like they used to, it's like they're off-the-cuff jottings meant to sound as "Destroyer" as possible. Aside from maybe one or two songs per record, all I get from them is semi-cynical mood music.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 28 January 2022 01:31 (two years ago) link
i haven't heard full destroyer albums for a while because i'm lazy but i'm obsessed with "crimson tide" and feel like i could also be with the new single. i think the lyrics for both are incredible. the new one manages to achieve this encapsulation of what it's like to drive across the desert now in 2022 when the climate is changing and the world is full of crazy shit in one line. the opening of "crimson tide" through the line about being on the lookout for anything that moves is just devastating. i don't hear cynicism, i hear a bunch of different strategies for survival.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Friday, 28 January 2022 01:59 (two years ago) link
also the "crimson tide" video is so so good.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Friday, 28 January 2022 02:02 (two years ago) link
the change in lyrical approach he's discussed was just becoming more restrained, so there's less of him trying to cram his dense poetry into his rock songs, which allows him to take a more relaxed vocal approach. he's gone back and forth with exactly how dense vs. relaxed he gets.
his lyrics have their ups and downs, but i'm not a huge lyrics person. sometimes they're very compelling and sometimes they're basically self-parody but still endearing. i can get how if you loved his older, denser lyrical approach you'd be disappointed by his move away from that post-trouble in dreams.
― ufo, Friday, 28 January 2022 03:02 (two years ago) link
poison season was pretty dense, wasn't it? i didn't return to that one much, felt like a self-conscious throwback
― Clay, Friday, 28 January 2022 03:26 (two years ago) link
Another new one. Didn't realise the album had already leaked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmOagjXedYk
― groovypanda, Tuesday, 15 February 2022 14:45 (two years ago) link
Eat the Wine is closer to the vibes of the whole record than Tintoretto. Also, it probably has the least interesting lyrics of the record, it's a groove tho.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 16 February 2022 22:54 (two years ago) link
Anyone who's eaten wine with fork and knife on a Saturday night will relate.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 February 2022 22:56 (two years ago) link
I still think it's good mind you, maybe because it doesn't keep up with the three opening lines which are fantastic: Unfounded accusations // "Ruff, ruff" goes the beagle to the terrier // Been meaning to wear my hair like this for ages.
The rhythm section throughout the record is some of the best they've done. I am no musician so my understanding of these things are limited, but it sounds like from Have We Met they found a formula that just elevates everything else.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 16 February 2022 23:02 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3hFZkFgs-g
video for "june", one of the real highlights on this album
https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/destroyer-labyrinthitis/
and a good interview, though once again he mentions they started out with a cooler idea than what they ended up with:
"they set out to make what Bejar calls a “high-energy Cher record.” They imagined an unceasing four-on-the-floor beat going through an entire side of the LP, with Bejar spewing his cryptic musings between the pounding bass hits."
― ufo, Thursday, 10 March 2022 00:14 (two years ago) link
you can hear the remnants of that idea in "suffer" and "all my pretty dresses" (a little of which is at the end of that video) but they didn't end up really going for it.
― ufo, Thursday, 10 March 2022 00:23 (two years ago) link
dump him!
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 10 March 2022 01:28 (two years ago) link
i like the concepts and the lyrics but i'm not feeling the music tbh
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 10 March 2022 01:29 (two years ago) link
i take it back, the music is good
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 10 March 2022 01:34 (two years ago) link
June is good
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 10 March 2022 18:09 (two years ago) link
Looking forward to the instrumentation album
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, 10 March 2022 18:41 (two years ago) link
*instrumental
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, 10 March 2022 18:42 (two years ago) link
The new song/video is genius. I'm excited for 'all my pretty dresses' too
― cajunsunday, Thursday, 10 March 2022 22:35 (two years ago) link
album is out, it's still excellent, one of his very best
"it's in your heart now" is like, if robert fripp played lead on something from disintegration
― ufo, Friday, 25 March 2022 09:51 (two years ago) link
sounds good on first listen
― corrs unplugged, Saturday, 26 March 2022 10:33 (two years ago) link
Has it been put back in the U.K.?
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 28 March 2022 05:26 (two years ago) link
looks like the uk physical release is delayed until june?
https://bellaunion.ochre.store/release/266901-destroyer-labyrinthitis
― ufo, Monday, 28 March 2022 05:55 (two years ago) link
Late getting around to this one and haven't finished my first listen yet, but I wanted to call this post out as being very much otm.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 4 April 2022 21:37 (two years ago) link
I'm recent to Destroyer, having only heard Kaputt this year, and only now another with his latest, but it just struck me on "Tintoretto" that there's a David Tibet aspect to him. The mystique, the spoken word full of pathos and disassociated, attraction for piano and ambient/dance electronics, formula applicable to any sound, the fan obsession. Maybe a bit of a stretch. Anyway, I like the new album.
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 10:26 (two years ago) link
Obsessed with the second half of ‘June’.
― triggercut, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 14:05 (two years ago) link