Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

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!

yeah, someone on the p4k thread suggested it sounds even better than its influences and I think that's true, at least production-wise

I’m not even a big fan of the supposed sound he’s channeling in here and yet the production on this one makes it work.

Maybe somebody in this thread can help me with this one: Is there a Destroyer song where he cribs the line "It's time I had some time alone"? I seem to remember one (or maybe I saw him play it live?) but I can't recall for sure and maybe I'm just making it up because I think it'd be a great line for a some to appropriate

Listening to As Falls Wichita, So Falls Witchita Falls by Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays, getting very strong Laziest River vibes

They don't really sound that similar, but are both mellow epics

I'm getting those vibes too, thx for the recommendation

Maybe somebody in this thread can help me with this one: Is there a Destroyer song where he cribs the line "It's time I had some time alone"? I seem to remember one (or maybe I saw him play it live?) but I can't recall for sure and maybe I'm just making it up because I think it'd be a great line for a some to appropriate

xp

Sweet, glad you checked it out. It's a pretty unusual piece. I've been able pick up a pile of pristine Metheny vinyl for super cheap lately, and have really enjoyed digging into his catalog. Such a wide range of interesting recordings, especially from the ECM days.

This record.

Yeah, this record. <3

my 3.5 yo son blew my mind by singing parts of Chinatown. Turns out my wife had an old CD of Kapput in the car.

don't let the terrible name scare you, mr twin sister delivers sophistihouse sure to delight any Kaputt fans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-XHeBLwTE

does this come in instrumental?
― jaxon, Saturday, January 8, 2011 5:45 PM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this man sounds like an elf

it's that time of the year folks

get the elf off the shelf

I'd say he sounds like a smurf. His voice is really beyond bearable. The music can have its moments though. Like "The laziest river" for example. Very eclectic stuff rooted in the eighties. Reminds me of my student years. Retro but pretty good retro.

the sound of an entire generation of music critics ossifying about half-remembered childhood referents

just playing, ilx!

his actual speaking voice sounds like that so he's not putting it on (he was in front of me at the waldorf cold beer and wine once)

don't let the terrible name scare you, mr twin sister delivers sophistihouse sure to delight any Kaputt fans

it's not the terrible name that puts me off.

oh then what is it

sophistihouse

haha

well see what descriptor you can come up with

anyway people who dislike Bejar's voice I don't mean to say you're not welcome itt but I will say you're wasting your time because Bejar is a great singer

polite no

a friend of mine once described his voice as a cross between nick cave and kenny everett

I actually like that Mr. TS song but I'm struggling to see much of a connection. That name though, sheesh.

here's an interesting anecdote:

Frontman Dan Bejar had largely completed his soft-rock opus before asking Shabason to improvise over the recordings, where his ghostly saxophone lines proved to be the perfect complement to Bejar’s alternately hedonistic and weary narrator, hanging over every story like a heavy cologne.

i got a new tattoo

https://i.imgur.com/Nge8t6i.jpg

Excellent <3

8 years old. How.

one of the greats

randomly the new lloyd cole album "guesswork" sounds a lot like a destroyer album with lloyd cole singing (with a touch of junior boys ballads too)

i'm not saying it's a great album or anything

thanks for the tip! this album is totally Blue Nile core.

the commotions were definitely in the sophitipop pocket at times (other time more jangly or even countryish?). can't say I've kept up with his solo career but will give this a listen

quite possibly my favourite album ever is 10 years old today, wow

The weird part about Kaputt is that also showed me that the saxophone didn't suck. I was such a self-loathing sax player for so long and Kaputt showed me that people actually want to hear a saxophone solo. Who knew?

— Joseph Shabason (@JosephShabason) January 25, 2021

(he's the saxophonist on it)