I'm loving the new songs! Some lyrics on instagram appeared for an unreleased track from 2009, which is colloquially known as 'It Aint Easy Being Baby' so I'm wondering if that one made it with a different title. Do check out Poison Season and ken when you can, they're both great albums imo. There's a new interview with Bejar on pitchfork also.
― cajunsunday, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:25 (four years ago) link
wasn't really into the last 2 but so hype for this
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:37 (four years ago) link
Cue Synthetizer is such an earworm. It keeps getting stuck in my head, particularly those guitar parts.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 00:51 (four years ago) link
“No I don’t hope to”
― calstars, Wednesday, 15 January 2020 01:28 (four years ago) link
Yeah I think "Cue Synthesiser" is the best yet.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 15 January 2020 02:03 (four years ago) link
That Pitchfork profile was great, I didn’t know any of that stuff about Bejar working with David Berman on that lost record.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:45 (four years ago) link
https://www.stereogum.com/2070605/dan-bejar-interview-destroyer-have-we-met/franchises/interview/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/destroyer-have-we-met-interview-930839/
a few more pretty interesting interviews
― ufo, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 09:46 (four years ago) link
quite a bit about the production choices in this Quietus interview https://thequietus.com/articles/27717-destroyer-dan-bejar-interview-have-we-met-2020
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 10:54 (four years ago) link
album is very very good, probably second only to Kaputt in his catalogue. really gorgeous soundscapes
― ufo, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 19:14 (four years ago) link
https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/destroyer-dan-bejar-nine-favourite-songs
this is another great piece
― ufo, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 19:26 (four years ago) link
i liked that pitchfork piece but couldn't help but note that there's a mark's work warehouse in the kingsgate mall where you could definitely get green socks
― frederik b. godt (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 19:43 (four years ago) link
Could not for the life of me think who he sounded like then it came to me in a flash....
https://youtu.be/iQamw4xxxHY
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 21:28 (four years ago) link
new album is out!
Just look at the world around you...Actually, no, don’t look!
― cajunsunday, Friday, 31 January 2020 09:46 (four years ago) link
famous novelist brothers shithead no. 1 and shithead no. 2
― ufo, Friday, 31 January 2020 10:04 (four years ago) link
this album is GREAT. best since Kaputt.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Friday, 31 January 2020 12:22 (four years ago) link
xp I opened the thread to give it up for "Clickety-clack, the music makes a musical sound" and read ufo's post at the exact moment Dan was singing those words ^_^
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Friday, 31 January 2020 12:51 (four years ago) link
Ok this is dope
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 31 January 2020 13:01 (four years ago) link
quite the PR blitz this time around. Don't recall this much attention paid to the previous two.
― Paul Ponzi, Friday, 31 January 2020 13:35 (four years ago) link
Every article I read mentioned how this started out as an idea to make a dark 'Y2K' record but in the end that only seems to come through for me in the lyrics. Musically this has a ton of really lovely moments. Maybe some of the synths and drums but this reminds me more of Kaputt era than anything else.Less emphasis on the yacht rock influences. Loving it.
― gman59, Friday, 31 January 2020 16:40 (four years ago) link
this is good, not as good as kaputt or rubies but still top shelf destroyer
― ciderpress, Friday, 31 January 2020 21:30 (four years ago) link
yeah, this is really good, I've only listened to it once but this seems better than 'ken' (which was good, but not a bit disappointing after Kaputt and Poison Season (which I still think is his best)).
― silverfish, Friday, 31 January 2020 21:42 (four years ago) link
in a lot of the interviews he's said that the 'Y2K' thing was just that their initial plan was to try to make a late-90's trip-hop record but they quickly gave up because they had no idea what they were doing and that he wasn't sure how that became such a prominent part of the press release. would still love to hear a trip-hop destroyer record though
― ufo, Friday, 31 January 2020 22:47 (four years ago) link
nicolas bragg has to be one of my favourite guitarists at this point
― ufo, Saturday, 1 February 2020 01:44 (four years ago) link
haven't heard this but what a title!
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Saturday, 1 February 2020 01:57 (four years ago) link
this album is really great
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 1 February 2020 02:11 (four years ago) link
"It Just Doesn't Happen" is easily my favorite so far
― I wanna publish memes and rage against machimes (rip van wanko), Saturday, 1 February 2020 03:34 (four years ago) link
The first three songs really
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 1 February 2020 03:42 (four years ago) link
One listen = ❤️
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 1 February 2020 05:38 (four years ago) link
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Friday, January 31, 2020 8:57 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
ok i need an explanation
― I wanna publish memes and rage against machimes (rip van wanko), Saturday, 1 February 2020 06:14 (four years ago) link
Great album
― Frederik B, Saturday, 1 February 2020 09:34 (four years ago) link
First listen and like it very much. Love the cover.
― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Saturday, 1 February 2020 10:25 (four years ago) link
I kinda wish Bejar would make a soundtrack or an album of instrumental stuff. The title track is gorgeous.
― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Saturday, 1 February 2020 10:49 (four years ago) link
i am not very convinced. there is still this cheap 80s keyboard sound. and i will never get over his voice. additionally i find his self-referential lyrics bloated and don't like his permanent use of words like "shit". besides being totally retro his music is also totally uninteresting retro. what is the point in making music today which seems to be written to break the charts in the 80s?
― walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, 1 February 2020 21:24 (four years ago) link
I don't agree with any of that but I do think the hyperbole in this thread is a bit much
― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, 1 February 2020 21:33 (four years ago) link
if you've never liked destroyer i wouldn't expect this to be the place someone would start liking him. i generally like all his weird stylistic quirks.
ken is the only previous album of his that has those sort of synth sounds and i think the synths on this album are much better-sounding generally. it's obviously drawing strongly on 80s sophisti-pop, as has most of his work from kaputt onward, but it's more than just a pastiche so it's not uninterestingly retro to me. over the past decade he & his band have done an excellent job of filtering various retro sounds through their own style to get something that feels distinctly destroyer. like nicolas bragg's guitar leads are a defining part of the destroyer sound and which 80s synthpop or sophistipop band had a player that sounds like him?
i went back to poison season to compare it to the new one and i'd probably put them at about equal second in his discography now.
― ufo, Saturday, 1 February 2020 22:35 (four years ago) link
Nothing sounds "eighties" here, more like aural tips of the hat
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 1 February 2020 23:35 (four years ago) link
― I wanna publish memes and rage against machimes (rip van wanko),
I'm not sure why I like it so much, it's just very suggestive in many ways. A question but no question mark so maybe it's a statement that used to be a question. It's a phrase that has changed meaning since social media. Also, my oldest friend says to me when I ask her a question that I should already know the answer to.
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Saturday, 1 February 2020 23:51 (four years ago) link
*says this to me
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, February 1, 2020 4:35 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
yeah. “crimson tide” sounds like berlin bowie and every band inspired by berlin bowie collapsed into a single point, for instance. it’s not bound by the popular idea of the sound of a decade
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 February 2020 00:13 (four years ago) link
there's a bit of OMD in It Just Doesn't Happen
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Sunday, 2 February 2020 13:08 (four years ago) link
kaputt gestured toward avalon but i think this is bejar's actual roxy music album
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 February 2020 18:43 (four years ago) link
foolssong
― ciderpress, Monday, 3 February 2020 14:24 (four years ago) link
i am in love with this gorgeous album. kind of want some y2k versions to see release, though.
― zuck zuck lucify (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 7 February 2020 04:06 (four years ago) link
Just realized, this joins the elite class of Destroyer albums where a title track appears outside of the first and/or last spot on the tracklist (Your Blues, Kaputt)
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Thursday, 13 February 2020 12:56 (four years ago) link
Been on kind of a Destroyer nostalgia kick lately, so while I've got y'all's attention: "Another word for sacrament" = probably "host", no?
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Thursday, 13 February 2020 14:54 (four years ago) link
This album is v. good and doesn't sound at all "retro" to my ears, the way Kaputt did. I think it actually sounds very of-the-moment with the airless, sound-designed-to-death production.
― may the force leave us alone (zchyrs), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:42 (four years ago) link
very of-the-moment with the airless, sound-designed-to-death production
So I guess this is why I don’t like a lot of critically praised contemporary music.
― o. nate, Thursday, 13 February 2020 17:57 (four years ago) link
saw them live the other night, the band is killer
― na (NA), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 21:45 (four years ago) link
"crimson tide" sounding especially prescient in the covid area
― i am a horse girl (map), Thursday, 30 April 2020 02:26 (four years ago) link
era
I wouldn't say I dislike the new style; I think the songwriting changed at the same time, but the two didn't have to go hand-in-hand. His lyrics don't hang together like they used to, it's like they're off-the-cuff jottings meant to sound as "Destroyer" as possible. Aside from maybe one or two songs per record, all I get from them is semi-cynical mood music.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 28 January 2022 01:31 (two years ago) link
i haven't heard full destroyer albums for a while because i'm lazy but i'm obsessed with "crimson tide" and feel like i could also be with the new single. i think the lyrics for both are incredible. the new one manages to achieve this encapsulation of what it's like to drive across the desert now in 2022 when the climate is changing and the world is full of crazy shit in one line. the opening of "crimson tide" through the line about being on the lookout for anything that moves is just devastating. i don't hear cynicism, i hear a bunch of different strategies for survival.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Friday, 28 January 2022 01:59 (two years ago) link
also the "crimson tide" video is so so good.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Friday, 28 January 2022 02:02 (two years ago) link
the change in lyrical approach he's discussed was just becoming more restrained, so there's less of him trying to cram his dense poetry into his rock songs, which allows him to take a more relaxed vocal approach. he's gone back and forth with exactly how dense vs. relaxed he gets.
his lyrics have their ups and downs, but i'm not a huge lyrics person. sometimes they're very compelling and sometimes they're basically self-parody but still endearing. i can get how if you loved his older, denser lyrical approach you'd be disappointed by his move away from that post-trouble in dreams.
― ufo, Friday, 28 January 2022 03:02 (two years ago) link
poison season was pretty dense, wasn't it? i didn't return to that one much, felt like a self-conscious throwback
― Clay, Friday, 28 January 2022 03:26 (two years ago) link
Another new one. Didn't realise the album had already leaked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmOagjXedYk
― groovypanda, Tuesday, 15 February 2022 14:45 (two years ago) link
Eat the Wine is closer to the vibes of the whole record than Tintoretto. Also, it probably has the least interesting lyrics of the record, it's a groove tho.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 16 February 2022 22:54 (two years ago) link
Anyone who's eaten wine with fork and knife on a Saturday night will relate.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 February 2022 22:56 (two years ago) link
I still think it's good mind you, maybe because it doesn't keep up with the three opening lines which are fantastic: Unfounded accusations // "Ruff, ruff" goes the beagle to the terrier // Been meaning to wear my hair like this for ages.
The rhythm section throughout the record is some of the best they've done. I am no musician so my understanding of these things are limited, but it sounds like from Have We Met they found a formula that just elevates everything else.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 16 February 2022 23:02 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3hFZkFgs-g
video for "june", one of the real highlights on this album
https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/destroyer-labyrinthitis/
and a good interview, though once again he mentions they started out with a cooler idea than what they ended up with:
"they set out to make what Bejar calls a “high-energy Cher record.” They imagined an unceasing four-on-the-floor beat going through an entire side of the LP, with Bejar spewing his cryptic musings between the pounding bass hits."
― ufo, Thursday, 10 March 2022 00:14 (two years ago) link
you can hear the remnants of that idea in "suffer" and "all my pretty dresses" (a little of which is at the end of that video) but they didn't end up really going for it.
― ufo, Thursday, 10 March 2022 00:23 (two years ago) link
dump him!
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 10 March 2022 01:28 (two years ago) link
i like the concepts and the lyrics but i'm not feeling the music tbh
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 10 March 2022 01:29 (two years ago) link
i take it back, the music is good
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Thursday, 10 March 2022 01:34 (two years ago) link
June is good
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 10 March 2022 18:09 (two years ago) link
Looking forward to the instrumentation album
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, 10 March 2022 18:41 (two years ago) link
*instrumental
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, 10 March 2022 18:42 (two years ago) link
The new song/video is genius. I'm excited for 'all my pretty dresses' too
― cajunsunday, Thursday, 10 March 2022 22:35 (two years ago) link
album is out, it's still excellent, one of his very best
"it's in your heart now" is like, if robert fripp played lead on something from disintegration
― ufo, Friday, 25 March 2022 09:51 (two years ago) link
sounds good on first listen
― corrs unplugged, Saturday, 26 March 2022 10:33 (two years ago) link
Has it been put back in the U.K.?
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 28 March 2022 05:26 (two years ago) link
looks like the uk physical release is delayed until june?
https://bellaunion.ochre.store/release/266901-destroyer-labyrinthitis
― ufo, Monday, 28 March 2022 05:55 (two years ago) link
Late getting around to this one and haven't finished my first listen yet, but I wanted to call this post out as being very much otm.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 4 April 2022 21:37 (two years ago) link
I'm recent to Destroyer, having only heard Kaputt this year, and only now another with his latest, but it just struck me on "Tintoretto" that there's a David Tibet aspect to him. The mystique, the spoken word full of pathos and disassociated, attraction for piano and ambient/dance electronics, formula applicable to any sound, the fan obsession. Maybe a bit of a stretch. Anyway, I like the new album.
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 10:26 (two years ago) link
Obsessed with the second half of ‘June’.
― triggercut, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 14:05 (two years ago) link
new album is my fav thing he's done in a long time
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 14:20 (two years ago) link
its good feels like a logical extension of the last one but more uptempo
― ciderpress, Friday, 6 May 2022 19:20 (two years ago) link
"all my pretty dresses" an instant fav, beautiful song
― ciderpress, Friday, 6 May 2022 19:30 (two years ago) link
someone should make a soundboard that embeds additional gratuitous sound effects into "It Takes a Thief."
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, 22 May 2022 05:42 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2f_7OCWXtc
full show video
― ufo, Sunday, 29 May 2022 01:29 (one year ago) link
wish audio was better
― corrs unplugged, Monday, 30 May 2022 11:10 (one year ago) link
Saw him live for the first time recently. He seemed a little shy at first. It took him a few songs to get in the zone (the zone is brimstone and wire), but once he got there he was pretty good. He gave me the biggest introvert vibes I've ever seen off a live performer of his caliber.
They played actually very little of the new album! But the production on the record is so weird that I guess it'd be hard to reproduce live. It was cool to hear a lot of older material. They closed the show with a couple Kaputt tracks, which made me happy.
― OneSecondBefore, Monday, 30 May 2022 18:08 (one year ago) link
I've seen Destroyer three times, and, perhaps unusually, Bejar seemed most comfortable at the show where he played solo acoustic.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 30 May 2022 19:10 (one year ago) link
Why do you say that might be unusual? Makes sense to me, given his beginnings.
― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Monday, 6 June 2022 22:53 (one year ago) link
I saw them last night. My abiding memory of the gig? The bass player's performance! Slap bass with flapping combover and staring eyes...
― giraffe, Friday, 7 October 2022 06:59 (one year ago) link
I can picture Bejar singing that last sentence.
― Chris L, Friday, 7 October 2022 11:14 (one year ago) link
haha
― giraffe, Friday, 7 October 2022 12:38 (one year ago) link
Slap bass with flapping combover and staring eyes/Remind me again how much we're going to pay these guys
― “uhh”—like, this is an insane oatmeal raisin cookie “uhh” (President Keyes), Friday, 7 October 2022 14:30 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBhxLRwsOyQ
new one-off single with sandro perri
― ufo, Tuesday, 18 October 2022 20:51 (one year ago) link
meandering
kept waiting for it to start
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 20 October 2022 13:14 (one year ago) link
The back half of Labyrinths is really fun. This album is really clicking for me now as one of the best of the year.
― Chris L, Friday, 28 October 2022 00:38 (one year ago) link
"Suffer" cracked me up every time I heard it because I thought the distorted voice at the beginning was randomly saying "Sega!" Turns out it's "Say it!"
― Chris L, Friday, 3 February 2023 14:28 (one year ago) link