Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

i was thinking today while listening to the album that i'm kind of skeptical of ilm ppl who otherwise don't f/w dan bejar or think he's some otherwise boring indie crank who are into this record cause of the awesome chill slick production. i think the playing is really interesting--it was really enlightening to hear that all the musicians recorded in isolation & u can really feel the disembodiment imo--but i can't really imagine someone just passively ignoring the vocals & still getting something out of the album. for me all destroyer albums are abt a really strong central personality & an ineffable feeling of connection & wkiw. trying to imagine someone coming at the album w/o a willingness to engage with that dimension of it... but maybe im just strawmanning & u all think dan bejar is cool as fuck too

i'm skeptical of your skepticism

i'm basically ambivalent about his "personality" but willing to see how it goes after repeat listens because the production is awesome, chill, and slick

ya i mean i guess i'm more just curious as to what you really find valuable & interesting abt it. i get that ppl are interested in the aesthetic

listening to it today & thinking abt how most things i've read about it (excluding the p4k review which is the best thing i've read there in a while) have been so narrowly focused on the production & style switch-up and i was like o wait that's not why i care abt destroyer. by all means it's cool and good and interesting, but i don't think that's where the essential content lies, i feel like a meaningful engagement w/ the album requires that you really warm up to him

*i get that ppl are interested in the aesthetic but i'm curious to hear someone of your opinion explain more clearly

his other albums sound annoying

this album sounds awesome

his other albums sound annoying

this album sounds awesome

haven't read the p4k review yet. and i haven't listened to destroyer in a long time, but in a different musical context i hear his voice and read his personality differently. i never really had a very fleshed-out impression of "who he is" tho, so i'm not sure how the new aesthetic effects how you hear him. it just doesn't seem like much of a stretch to see him as a different sort of guy when he's singing over different music, especially for people who weren't too invested in him in the first place.

xpost

trying to imagine someone coming at the album w/o a willingness to engage with that dimension of it... but maybe im just strawmanning & u all think dan bejar is cool as fuck too

well its still recognizably bejar on this record i do think hes softer, less cutting, less layered & reflexive idk. i mean i think you can like the destroyer of kaputt and not love the destroyer of streethawk, yknow? i compared it to leonard cohen's 'i'm your man' upthread & i meant that more than just musically i think theres a similar shift in his personality/tone/way of approaching the listener

i mean disregarding everything else but the lyrics & approach its difficult to imagine the destroyer of kaputt singing "you spent the 90s cowering" or "i'm a tastemaker & i kill things/i'm not a tastemaker & i kill things"

But here the persona seems even more sharply defined. Singing these songs, Bejar comes over as the wizened ex-playboy; he's indulged every vice, come through the other side, and now looks on amused. The cover of Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies' Man, a record that seems to serve as a spiritual (though not sonic) father to this one, shows this figure in its quintessential form. On that sleeve, we see a man in sharp but slightly disheveled dress, a cigarette dangling from a couple of fingers; beautiful people are seated at the nightclub table, ready for another night of glamor and pleasure.

Leonard Cohen in that image has a sense of swagger, and you want to pull up a chair, have a drink, and hear him hold forth on the topic of his choice. The figure inside the songs of Kaputt understands the allure of this life while understanding equally its futility.

i can understand someone who found his persona on your blues or w/e icky & this is def a more charming & universally appealing mode. but if ppl are just tolerating it to hear cool sax jam im kind of incredulous

um, sounds like you pretty much nailed why i like this album and not his other ones

wizened ex-playboys make music i like

that was a quote from the p4k review

But here the persona seems even more sharply defined

even on the earliest records the destroyer 'persona' seemed p fleshed out? i still love the destroyer of 'city of daughters' sneering at himself, at us, at some girl; barbed & clever & anxious. laughing but still angry saying "i'm so what's the word i don't know" trading in quick perversions & puns but that was 12 years ago?

but i mean karl's right p4k has p much hit on why the wiser, warmer bejar is going to be a more appealing figure for some ppl.

everyone gets old

new (i think?) interview at dusted: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/960

found this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1nuO0iVX_s

ah, that's rad. i've been wanting to hear that demo of "demo." you can hear a solo acoustic version of "chinatown" here. sorry if someone's posted it already.http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Destroyer/Destroyer_Live_on_CBC_Radio_3_10022009/Chinatown

better quality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGzM4coJ8v8

flopson so otm

bejar's singing works better for me than on any of the other destroyer albums i've heard and the music is pretty incredible. i tried to get/w streethawk and your blues but couldn't really stand them. might give rubies and w/e the last one was another shot, though.

rubies is prob next most listenable to non bejar lifers

whoa i love that acoustic "chinatown" - so violent!

I can't imagine spending enough time with his records to get into his 'difficult' vocal schtick if it wasn't for the draw of gorgeous kaputt-esque music. Hearing Kaputt, and eventually getting to like the vocals for what they are has got me look into the earlier records, but they are nowhere near as immediate for me.

dunno, i guess there are people out there who like 80s leonard cohen, but can't be bothered with the guy's folkier early stuff?

haha -- I prefer eighties Cohen, mostly for the way in which the vocals play off the rickety Casio presets.

well, yeah, if push came to shove i might say i prefer 80s/90s/00s cohen, but i also love his early stuff. seems like a lot of people here aren't into bejar at all except for this album.

It seems like a lot of people here aren't into bejar at all except for this album.

I'm def one of those.

what was that first clip that's been removed?

oops, sorry--i see it was the demo

I just noticed that the Harvard Crimson gave Kaputt a negative review....BWAHHAHAHA

googled it out of curiosity, wow that's p.bad

Whatever Bejar is trying to express here, he does so with typical poetic flair.

Bejar’s most infuriating characteristic is his imperturbability. Nothing seems able to shake him out of his complacent monotone.

*imagining The Social Network as scored by 2011-era Bejar instead of Trent Reznor*

I like how the demo ends with that flute melody, I was wondering if that would turn up in this version. That melody is easily my favorite part of this entire album.

dmr otm

I am? When?

The Laziest River is amazing.

yeah, it's not just some throwaway track, hard to listen to the album w/o it

in some weird way it makes "bay of pigs" make more sense?

i gotta get my hands on that

via jaxon on the balearic thread

http://mediumrotation.blogspot.com/2011/01/destroyer-kaputt.html

― jaxon, Sunday, February 6, 2011 8:05 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark

Like this fine but prefer lots of other Destroyer albums or any Denim album.

you were otm in pretty much all your posts, dmr.

I wonder if we will ever go back to Sh4rlene's for the trivia contest again

having 5 beers on work night: very difficult.

I may actually buy this album.

Oh man, "Laziest River" is fantastic.

It's cool. It's the best thing on it, but it's not quite on it.

Well, it's not on my (digital) copy, so I'm just now listening to it via that blog post.

Anyone know whether/when this will get a UK release?

I do find it oddly fascinating that apparently so many folks (myself included) that have never particularly liked Destroyer do like this one a lot. It'd be really funny if everyone that liked Destroyer before hated this one, and everyone that didn't liked it. Like, a total 180.