Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

I think that Christgau review is pretty weak, not to mention repetitive. In one short paragraph, he twice uses the phrases: "lacks the heart and chops", "historical anomie" and "depressive". I hear lots of heart and chops, and Bejar doesn't sound very depressed on "Blue Eyes", for instance.

The Dean's least attractive routine, playing armchair shrink, he did the same thing although much harsher with GBV (and their fans!).

GBV deserve nothing less

He did the same thing with Adele too: "I can feel a down-to-earth plus-size who touches women who look a lot more like her than like Beyoncé or Katy Perry" - uh, maybe people like her for other reasons than her figure?

I heard these songs on the radio a lot this year and they didn't do anything for me but suddenly this very moving. if I never liked the new pornographers should I bother w/ any of the rest of his stuff?

suddenly finding this*

yeah, listen to 'rubies'

If the New Pornos sounded like Bejar's pre-Kaputt material I'd never have given this record a chance.

Also try "Your Blues".

What radio are you listening to that plays Destroyer a lot?

college radio

Sigh. I wish Chicago had better college radio options.

i listened to 'destroyers rubies' after getting into 'kaputt' and i loved it. its more like 'heaven is a truck' or 'five years' than the 80's soft rock and sophistipop feel of 'kaputt'.

I think "Your Blues" is the closest thing in his catalogue to this record

nyc has pretty shitty college radio actually, but we listen to the university of washington's station at work via internet

nyc radio so bad it's not even funny

cosign the similarities between your blues and kaputt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl4-PPbnpKg

This was the first Bejar I got into, bought Rubies shortly after and love that just as much.

Anyone into this who hasn't heard the vinyl bonus track "The Laziest River" or, especially, his collaboration with Tim Hecker "Archer on the Beach" really should check it out. I love Kaputt but those two songs took things to another level for me.

his collaboration with Tim Hecker "Archer on the Beach"

Whhhaaaat

Yeah I had NO idea about that either, just googled it!

http://stereogum.com/564282/destroyer-archer-on-the-beach-feat-tim-hecker-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/

the cover art to that and Bay of Pigs are sweet. can imagine having them up on a wall. also: kaputt.

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2009/08/destroyer-bay_of_pigs.jpg
http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/11/Destroyer-Archer-On-The-Beach.jpg
http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2011/01/Destroyer-Kaputt.jpg

His hair is unFerryesque though...

Has anyone heard/loved the live version of "It's Gonna Take an Airplane"--sped up and with a bassline straight out of "All Along the Watchtower"? His show was easily the best I saw in 2011.

Blow Monkeys.

saw him on the rubies tour and "it's gonna take an airplane" was the highlight of a pretty boring set

wish I had checked out a recent show cuz he's more interesting the further he strays from a standard rock band format

seeing Destroyer tonight at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, w/ full band and still doing the Kaputt material I think, should be good

missed them last year at Webster Hall

A buddy said they killed it Sat night in DC.

sweet

I found this J. F*scher Washington City Paper interview with Dan interesting (although I have not read many interviews with him)

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2012/06/15/once-you-break-with-rock-music-its-hard-to-find-your-feet-again-a-chat-with-destroyers-dan-bejar/

This band that I am going on tour with is different from the one that toured last year for Kaputt, and for the first time ever, [we're] kind of consciously trying to learn a bunch of back-catalog stuff in addition to stuff from the new record. We probably know twice as many songs as any Destroyer formation has ever learned. And doing that, it’s interesting to see how the older songs knock up against the new ones. They’re a fair bit different, but I guess I see it outside of thematics. It’s really noticeable in the sense of space on the Kaputt songs, in, like, an effort to flatten out as many chord changes as possible. There’s a vocal delivery required in the older songs that seems divorced from the way I was singing on the Kaputt record.

...

I don’t know what I’m cast off into from Kaputt, but it seems to be a kind of void or something. Once you break with rock music, the kind of music I listened to for so long, it’s hard to find your feet again. [Laughs] I don’t know, I’m really enjoying playing with the group, more than I ever have, but at the same time I feel more distant from rock music, or even pop music, more than I ever have. It’s weird. Maybe Kaputt was like the kiss-off.

yeah, that show in dc was tremendous - great versions of "suicide demo," "bay of pigs" as the encore, etc. i dunno if i'd describe the way they perform as emotionally detached, exactly, but it isn't far off - it was kind of interesting to watch them play the older, more self-consciously clever stuff ("english music," notably) with that kind of demeanor

yeah I'm curious to hear what non-Kaputt stuff they'll play and how it will come off

Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure he played a new song at the dc show. Third song in the set with a "be my baby" beat? Anyone recognize this?

saw them a couple weeks back in portland. just an amazing show. was blown away most by "rubies" as the closer iirc.

is 'english music' really more 'self-consciously clever' than anything on kaputt?? what a weird notion

yes it is

"write your english music, run free" is as self-consciously clever as good music gets

european blues

This band that I am going on tour with is different from the one that toured last year for Kaputt,

Interesting, because the press release line, via Merge and others, is that this is the Kaputt band. Who is different?

how was the sound at brooklyn masonic? the shows i've seen there have sounded pretty poor.

i don't really understand what separates 'english music' from 'song for america'. i feel like if anything kaputt is more self-conscious. or at least more difficult to parse or reduce, which seems 'cleverer' to me.

how was the sound at brooklyn masonic? the shows i've seen there have sounded pretty poor.

I thought it sounded great. it's the first time I've been to the venue so I don't have anything to compare it to. a friend said the sound was much better than the last time she was there.

the show was excellent imo. would have liked to hear English Music or something else from Streethawk or This Night, but we did get three tracks from Rubies (European Oils, Looter's Follies, Rubies) that sounded amazing. better than on the Rubies tour. horn section gave it this collapsing, wasted cabaret vibe that I was really into. Looter's Follies was probably the show highlight for me.

the show opened with Your Blues (which starts out a cappella, pretty striking), there was also a new track that was listed on the setlist as Heartswarms

from Kaputt I think they played the title track, Downtown, Kara Walker, Blue Eyes, and Savage Night

Bejar was the most comfortable and non-stage-fright-y as I've ever seen him I think.

Heartswarm is a Swan Lake song.

ah, thanks. I've only heard Beast Moans, not the second one.

http://pitchfork.com/tv/youtube/18-city-of-music/310-destroyer-performs-libbys-first-sunrise/

Cool thx.

i'm actually a little embarrassed by how much i liked that

literally watching the end of the party through smoke

time itself is unable to decay the classic from this album