destroyer

Your Blues, Michael.

I'll go with Rubies because it has two of my favorite songs of all time.
For me the correct order would be

Rubies
Your Blues
Streethawk
This Night
City of Daughters

I cant rate the rest because to be honest I still havent heard them with enough attention.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"Bay of Pigs" is the longest of Destroyer songs, and Destroyer's first foray into ambient disco. The song was recorded throughout the winter of 2009 with Destroyer collaborators/members John Collins and David Carswell at JCDC Studio in Vancouver. "Bay of Pigs" is an account of the 1961 American invasion of Cuba. The music for "Ravers" was played entirely on analogue synthesizer, and recorded in April 2009. It explores some of the more meditative realms of 20th Century classical composition. The song is a casual rumination on parties, political parties, madness and suffering (for one's art).

Destroyer's first foray into ambient disco

Destroyer's first foray into ambient disco

The music for "Ravers" was played entirely on analogue synthesizer, and recorded in April 2009. It explores some of the more meditative realms of 20th Century classical composition.

not sure if this means it will be more or less boring than trouble in dreams. actually tbh i love that album. dan bejar can do no wrong though, so this will atleast be pretty awesome.

going to see him tonight. supposedly he's playing all alone up there on stage. only other time i've seen him live was when frog eyes backed him. pretty stoked. i hope to enjoy this first foray into ambient disco sold by some all star moves

bay of pigs is amazing.

Sucks that it's a vinyl-only release.

i am pretty fond of trouble in dreams, actually; would have voted for it

need to hear 'ravers'

reallly into the bay of pigs title track, never really been crazy abt his stuff but yeah

I'll go with Rubies because it has two of my favorite songs of all time.

― Moka

Which two songs? My favorite is Watercolors Into The Ocean, but I love the whole druggy Bowie vibe on the disc.

the opening one-two punch to "city of daughters" is like my favorite ever

and yeah, "bay of pigs" is amazing

havent seen you for ages
still fly into rages
at the mention of your name...christIIINNNEEE...WHIIIITE

http://pitchfork.com/news/40413-destroyer-goes-ikaputti-on-new-album/

Kaputt:

01 Chinatown
02 Blue Eyes
03 Savage Night at the Opera
04 Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
05 Poor in Love
06 Kaputt
07 Downtown
08 Song for America
09 Bay of Pigs (Detail)

also

As previously reported, on November 2, Merge will release the new Destroyer EP "Archer on the Beach" b/w "Grief Point", featuring collaborations with Tim Hecker and Loscil. Neither track will appear on Kaputt.

not rly anticipating that one tbh

but I anticipate Kaputt

I love the whole druggy Bowie vibe on the disc.

psyched for this

I love the whole druggy Bowie vibe on the disc.

___________________

haha, not trying to hate but... couldn't you say this about basically every Destroyer album ever??

in my defense, i was in a drug-induced haze when i posted this.

and no, i mean, that synth-y disc he did before rubies and that bay of pigs EP and that theif piano-based disc weren't "druggy."

but everything else, yes, for the most part.

also, lately I've been wondering: is there some sort of critical or fan consensus that This Night is not among his best work? because I friggin' love that album, and think it has a totally awesome vibe from start to finish, in spite of (because of?) the overlong jamminess of some of the songs

bernard, you are right on--these kinds of records are so big and epic (like exile) that they can't really be appreciated except after a period of subterranean integration. yes, it is the sleeper/secret weapon in the destroyer oeuvre!

This Night is the favourite of "the man himself", so I'm told

YESSSS NEW RECORD

okay I'm glad it's not just me -- under the right conditions, which are not particularly uncommon, "Tonight Is Not Your Night" is easily my favorite song in the entire Destroyer oeuvre -- I mean fuck, those lyrics:

I also know I'm not the one
You've been dying to slip off with
Into the night!

You shouldn't hurt the ones you love
... Unless you really want to

Try to celebrate the world
Not hurl insults at a girl

i wonder how the new record will sound like - is it going to be another departure in sound or more of the same?:

Trouble In Dream was basically a weaker version of Rubies, and the new e.p's are electronic-based stuff.

I consider Rubies, Trouble In Dreams, Streethawk, and Thief all better than This Night

i agree. This Night has it's moments but it tends to be tedious

feels like it's been forever since we've gotten a new Destroyer record, but that's probably just because we got Trouble in Dreams two years after Rubies and here there'll have been a three year wait

This Night has "Goddess of Drought" = one of Bejar's finest songs

yoooo pumped for this

yeah, i agree -- goddess of drought is his best ballad-y number. this night was the first destroyer i heard, so it's a sentimental fave.

I consider Rubies, Trouble In Dreams, Streethawk, and Thief all better than This Night

don't wanna be a hater but I just don't get this. not that Trouble in Dreams sucks or anything, but it just doesn't hang together as an album for me, and I don't think there are enough awesome songs (there are a couple!) to make up for that.

Well in my estimation Your Blues towers above all his other efforts so wtfs all around it's all High Quality

fair enough

I enjoy those records more, yeah, but This Night is a monster at certain hours/in specific climates.

So much xpost.

word. at the risk of stating the extremely obvious, it's an excellent, er... night album

feels like it's been forever since we've gotten a new Destroyer record, but that's probably just because we got Trouble in Dreams two years after Rubies and here there'll have been a three year wait

well, he released that bay of pigs ep about a year ago, and that title track quickly became one of my favorite destroyer songs.

hope he goes with that on the upcoming full-length disc.

totally forgot that was even released -- and last year!

hope he goes with that on the upcoming full-length disc.

09 Bay of Pigs (Detail)

I wonder if (Detail) means the entire song's just gonna be a taken from the cutting room floor, one second clip of someone pressing a single key on a keyboard

Destroyer, the wordy, glammed-up project led by New Pornographer Dan Bejar, will release their ninth album, Kaputt, on January 25 via Merge.

In a press release, Bejar lists off 22 things we might want to know about the album. That oblique list is below, as is the album's tracklist.

Bejar: "Kaputt by Malaparte, which Bejar has never read… Kara Walker, specifically the lyrics she contributed to the song 'Suicide Demo for Kara Walker'… Chinatown, the neighborhood bordering on Bejar's… Baby blue eyes… 80s Miles Davis… 90s Gil Evans… Last Tango in Paris… Nic Bragg, who played lead guitar on every song, again… Fretless bass… The hopelessness of the future of music… The pointlessness of writing songs for today… V-Drums… The superiority of poetry and plays… And what's to become of film?… The Cocaine Addict… American Communism… Downtown, the neighborhood bordering on Bejar's… The LinnDrum… Avalon and, more specifically, Boys and Girls… The devastated mind of JC/DC, who recorded, produced and mixed this record from fall of 2008 to spring of 2010… The back-up vocals of certain Roy Ayers and Long John Baldry tours… Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence…"

Thought you all might be interested

The hopelessness of the future of music… The pointlessness of writing songs for today…

cosign

don't wanna be a hater but I just don't get this. not that Trouble in Dreams sucks or anything, but it just doesn't hang together as an album for me, and I don't think there are enough awesome songs (there are a couple!) to make up for that.

It took a very long time for Trouble in Dreams to click for me, but it finally did. This Night, I gotta be honest, it just seems interminable to me. Some good songs & then some that just go on forever. It & Your Blues are the weakest points in the D.B. catalog for me.

Oh I had this moment earlier this year when I decided Your Blues was a perfect circle.

I've had long, long battles over the best Destroyer record, with friends and with self, but from Thief on everything is golden in its own way so why sweat it.

Fuck, I just imagined Bejar singing lyrics over Boys & Girls.

It was fucking awesome.

I'm not suprised (by the results of this poll that I've certainly seen before, lol) -- 'Rubies' got so much love on ILM when it was released vs. everyone everywhere being kinda down on 'Dreams' (check Bejar's riffing on "Grief Point") -- In the end, though, I played 'em both out, along with the three before (still haven't heard Thief, not crazy about CoD)

AS an aside, I and my wife both LOVE Grief Point.

yeah but like... you're self-loathing english on the mediterranean, innit?

Bejar featuring on a new Sandro Perri track. Very nice!

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/sandro-perri-everybodys-paris-pt-iii-ft-dan-bejar/

that's great!

thanks for the heads up

Seeing him do a solo show at the end of the month. Interested to see how the lush sounding stuff from his recent records comes across sans band.

I saw him do a solo show last night, it was cool. he played songs from all over his career - at least one from every album except Ideas for Songs and City of Daughters and also one new one called I think 'Crimson Tide' that was reminiscent of the first section of Rubies and a lyrical sequel to The Laziest River.

hope he manages to bring the full band out here some day.

https://mergerecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-merge-group-plays-heroes

live album of a merge supergroup doing a "heroes" album tribute, featuring bejar on lead vocals. it sounds great

This sounds great!!!