Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

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