Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

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.