Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

It only signaled what SD would do on that song! Have you heard Gaucho? The tile track, "Time Out of Mind," "Third World Man," "Hey Nineteen" -- lots of complex chordal interplay, and TIGHT.

xp to shakes

oops, sorry, there is a vinyl-only track.

eh, whatever. imho Kaputt cops the sound and the texture of late period Steely Dan, but doesn't bother with the song structures and hooks and uber-session musician chops. which is, I think, what deej was saying.

xp

It only signaled what SD would do on that song! Have you heard Gaucho? The tile track, "Time Out of Mind," "Third World Man," "Hey Nineteen" -- lots of complex chordal interplay, and TIGHT.

this is all correct. sorry if I implied otherwise that wasn't really my intention. I just ref'd Babylon Sisters cuz it seemed most analogous to what Kaputt is going for, except even Babylon Sisters has more going on in it than most of these Kaputt songs do.

or is it more that you just take issue with my casual summation that late period Dan is more free-form/groove-centered than their earlier stuff...? I guess that's arguable (Do It Again has what, three chords?).

Well, everything you've said really: about Steely Dan, their applicability to what Bejar's attempting, and Kaputt itself. I'm not going to offer a full review yet, but I hear very little Steely Dan here: it's closer to what a lot of Bejar's English faves from eighties, inspired by the Dan, attempted.

*from the eighties

English faves: Scritti Politti, China Crisis (produced by Walter Becker, of course), Prefab Sprout.

it's really weird how you guys feel the need to compare/contrast this with steely dan so much

yeah, stop that before you ruin it for me.

"Complex" chords = "Steely Dan" for lots of people I know. It's not like they were the only band to play them.

shakey at least listen to the record first

Shakey it's not about the number of chords it's about the tertial harmonies

Also, blehhhhhhh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFUdMbYpPEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8-m_tMw36A

lol those sound nothing alike

avalon is the closest touchpoint for me still although it doesnt sound like a 'pastiche' of avalon as much as a 'similiar production style'

you gotta shake it baby

I LOVE THIS ALBUM.

how is it a touchpoint? Genuinely curious -- no snark.

'similar production style'

b/c Ferry was more direct vocally and chordally on Avalon than he ever was and would be again.

& instrumentation, & the general svelte aesthetic

lol those sound nothing alike

that's my point now can we move on

Man, if only Bejar had asked Ferry to play synths on Kaputt...

that's kinda what I don't like about it! Steely Dan had HOOKS

this album has mad hooks, sometimes more than one in a song!

OMGZ the LinnDrum on side 3!!

so i picked up a shift last night at my bar on "college tuesday"...put this on and got surprising reactions. Lots of "who's this?" and to top it off Song for America actually had people dancing and sexy girl dancing. Although there were a few odd looks during the whole animals...deaths embrace thing. Meanwhile I was doing lots of pelvic thrusts behind the bar. Im sure this is exactly what Bejar was going for.

i don't hear steely dan in this at all really, there's more elements of like...fleetwood mac or something than the dan even

it reminds me of Gerry Rafferty

Picked this up yesterday and was listening on the way to work this morning. Definitely not seeing the Dan touchpoints. Actually, the first comparison I thought of was Spandau Ballet, which Dan gets a little tetchy about in his interview here. But on first listen, there's a lot to love here -- it seems to me that he never approaches these aesthetics, either here or on the Bowie-compared records, ironically or as pastiche. It's just a production/arranging choice, one of many he could make.

"Suicide Demo" is amazing.

Also, by weird coincidence, "Babylon Sisters" just popped up on my iPod.

He should really get a haircut.

I'm reading all of these 70s band references and getting annoyed. Please, no more smarmy 70s rip offs! Then I realize I'm in a Destroyer thread and I am probably going to buy this!

bay of pigs makes a lot more sense in context with the extra music on side3. half of this album is kosmische!!!

listened to this album again this morning, it's really good but it's kind of intense to listen to the whole thing at once

i know there are cheesy signifiers like the sax and some of the guitar licks but for me it's all about the drums+bass, synthesizer washes, and vocals, none of which particularly signify cheesiness or "the 70s" (aside from the disco-y rhythms)

also as someone who hadn't heard bay of pigs at all before this album, it fits in well with the rest of the songs. i wouldn't recognize it as a "separate entity" if i didn't know it has been released earlier

"blue eyes" is still the standout track for me but i generally have poppier tastes

i get that people would call some of the sounds here "cheesy", but mainly this record is really beautiful. also, the guy is singing better than ever here -- his phrasing is really about as good as it gets.

i get that people would call some of the sounds here "cheesy", but mainly this record is really beautiful

/!\ OTM /!\

fuck yea

word

also n/a i am totally the opposite: this is the first album in a while that i feel compelled to listen to str8 thru every time (though now i've got it on vinyl i'm generally skipping sides 3/4)

yeah, i want to listen to the whole thing -- it sounds like one long song, really. in a good way.

can't really get over how much better the vinyl sounds, too---dunno if that's just me wanting it to be the case, a general truth of 160kbps v. vinyl, or attributable to the production, or what.

i need to get me something to play vinyl on.

really want to get that but cant find anywhere in the uk that has it :(

don't think i'm gonna get the vinyl -- is the long ambient track available anywhere else? [/ysi?]

Also I love how well Sibel Thrasher's voice both contrasts with and blends with Dan's, and how she adopt his rather idiosyncratic phrasing and vowels.

As far as "sounds like 80s production" stuff goes, this >>>>>>>>M83.

the only steely dan comparison i would make is the juxtaposition of the really mellow, studio pro lite rock chops with the sorta odd, malevolent lyrics.

sonically songwritingwise, i don't really hear any steely dan

also, he pretty much lets you know that this is an anglophile post new wave patiche thing in the lyrics severeal times, so yeah prefab, jazz butcher, talk talk, blue aeroplanes, all that shit seems way more appropriate

tylerw: the vinyl came with a digital DL of the album that includes the ambient track. i am merely bringing that to your attention.

Yeah, the bass lines are gorgeous.

Sorry if this was already discussed:

Does the vinyl include a digital download?