destroyer

looking at stylus makes me sad.

Your Blues, of course. His best collection of songs and no other album in the world sounds like it.

"it's gonna take an airplane" has one of the most unforgettable melodies in years. but i still can't get over the lyrics on streethawk

yer blues

Tough to argue with Owen, but I might just go Rubies or Streethawk. I'll give it some time.

rubies or streethawk,yeah

going with city of daughters just becuase "no cease fires" is one of my favorite songs ever

Detroit Rock City

streethawk is probably his best work

― cutty, Sunday, January 11, 2009 8:37 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but i just voted rubies

and i'm listening to your blues

also i just recently found out that kranky artist LOSCIL is the drummer for destroyer. impressed.

streethawk is a better album, but i think "rubies" is my favorite song

partial to streethawk, but it might just be because i heard it first. and it is admittedly awesome.

This Night ... Could've voted for any of these, though. Pretty consistent discography there!

"the bad arts" on streethawk maybe my favorite destroyer moment. the joy division referencing "you've got the spirit, don't less the feeling" is so great.

so are there any trouble in dreams fans? who think it stands with the best of the prior albums?

first sentence should include the word 'here'

So, where are "God Of Thunder", "Beth" and "Detroit Rock City"? ;)

here, my geir
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=19569

"so are there any trouble in dreams fans? who think it stands with the best of the prior albums?"

i know that i love it but sadly it's still the first thing i've heard from him so i can't vote.

*only thing

Man, Trouble In Dreams sucked huh? I mean, in comparison to most of his other shit.

"blue flower blue flame" and "favourite year" are so good.

Yeah, those ARE good. Two. Maybe 3-4?

Oh, and City Of Daughters is sooo gooood. Not as celebrated as Streethawk, surprising!

Many of these posts look like Cryptic Crossword hints.

In destroyed rubies: it felt like a kiss. (6)
Purification found in scarlet heifer. (5)

bruise
lethe

yes.
nope, but it's not your fault

redox? detox?

No, I effed it up.

I got distracted thinking about them last night, trying to find solutions to "Famous? Toronto painter in your pocket" and "An actor's revenge: yields blue blood" but that's the backwards way of writing them.

"trouble in dreams" wasn't bad at all, just a bit forgettable unfortunately. not as strong throughout as he's been in the past, though "blue flower blue flame" is all kinds of fantastic and there were a couple i liked too. no matter what, there will always be a place for dan bejar in my music listening world

rubies

also i just recently found out that kranky artist LOSCIL is the drummer for destroyer. impressed.

there are Loscil "remixes" on side 4 of the Rubies vinyl. (I don't like em though)

I voted for Streethawk, for me it's between that and Rubies with This Night third

again any destroyer fan who hasn't heard "no cease fires" should do so immediately

partial to streethawk, but it might just be because i heard it first.

yeah that's pretty much where I'm at. "The Sublimation Hour" was the first song of his I ever heard (fuckin awesome)

I should make a playlist of all his songs from the New Pornographers records

queen of languages on thief is also quite the tune in my opinion. i vote for this night though. hey snow white is probably my favorite destroyer song.

Your Blues, John.

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.

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

oh also: it's sort of a recurrent theme throughout Bejar's work, but I feel like there's a particular emphasis in This Night on the limitations of language -- all the wordless choruses, lines about "Deciphering what it means / When the band goes 'Doo rah, doo rah, doo rah, doo rah'"; I even read "Here Comes The Night" this way, interpreting the "night" in a line like "Don't look now, angel, here comes the night! (Ba-baaa, baaa, babababababa)" as a sort of absolute wordless darkness, desolation and loneliness, an emotional state that can't be conveyed (or exorcised) by language. but this might be a personal hangup.

so, Kaputt is going to be a "saxophone and soft jazz driven ode to an America that doesn’t seem to exist anymore."

this guy doesnt like it so much:

http://ventvox.com/tag/destroyer-kaputt-review/

i don't listen to jazz, and i don't like saxophone so much, so my anticipation level goes down, down,down...

Kinda want to beat that reviewer up

This album will rule

because?

Because Bejar is one of the few people that could pull off such a horrendous sounding concept. Really anxious to hear this, tbh.

i didn't like Your Blues so much, but i can see where youre coming from

i have a demo of suicide demo for kara walker and its pretty brilliant. it kinda bobs along at the same pace, doing the same thing. in the same vain as shooting rockets/bay of pigs/grief point i guess. the main instruments appear to be a bass guitar, a broken keyboard and a drum machine. then it finishes with a fake saxophone solo. looking forward to this album.

mp3: http://www.mbvmusic.com/2010/11/23/mp3-destroyer-chinatown/30569
sounds good to me, but i really love Your Blues, so this is a welcome return to that kinda more synthetic sound. sounds a little looser, spacier than Your Blues. Balearic, maybe?

uhhh this is amazing

brb firing up my yacht

This is amazing.
Also in that it's amazing without the zingers
Which I'm sure we'll be getting to by track 2?

well, at least it doesn't have fretless bass all over it.

that song sounds like lotta love.

the record is a killer.

This record is fantastic

I really want to hear this thing.

^^cosign

also, lol@yr display name

that song is ... alright. the fake sax is a bit hard to take. but Your Blues is my least fave Destroyer record. (still listen to it from time to time though.)

otoh I have listened to "Chinatown" 4 times today so there must be something there. either that or I am trying too hard.

i dont hear a fake sax? i dig the flugelhorn

cant decide if like this okay or really like it

fake sax or real sax or real flugelhorn it is kinda syrupy sounding to me. like that little run at 1:14 sounds like late night cable tv or something.

30 seconds in, and this rules.

i really want to hear it too! i haven't been interested since your blues, but man, bejar was my fucking MAN in like 2003-2004. not to be a dick, but that's the truth. i fell into different wormholes.

still, city of daughters isn't that bad! what's wrong with you people.

god, i had forgotten how much i love him. sorry, i'm just looking at tracklists and lyrics are coming back to me. and whoo.

Fuck I can't wait to hear this. I agree with Owen, kinda can't wait for the zingers to return.

I was blasting Rubies on the way home from the girlfriend's just now, makes me so excited for this.

question for anyone who's heard Kaputt: did this song make it on the album?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC7QBf17X8I

question for anyone who's heard Kaputt: did this song make it on the album?

No.

Don't want to say too much, but the whole album is along the lines of Chinatown and the Bay Of Pigs single from last year, which appears in slightly truncated form as the album closer. It's all about the soft synths, female (gospel-ish) backing vox, lots of trumpet and sax solos, very jazz-pop with a slight disco feel. Very synthetic in comparison to Rubies/ Trouble In Dreams, but not as far removed from those two as, say, Your Blues. Reminds me very much of those 80s bands like Prefab Sprout and even Deacon Blue, cheesy but still powerful. Probably a better album than 90% of this year's best.

Based on "Chinatown," I'm even more psyched for this album that I was before (and I was pretty psyched before) - Bejar can do no wrong in my eyes.

waht it sounds like Prefab Sprout? so stoked now.

is this dude from england?

wancouwer

ah okay he's really putting on an accent huh? is this typical of destroyer? i thought it would sound way different than this.

i think i like it.

i guess i thought destroyer was like smog or something

nah destroyer's on some erudite glam shit

he calls it "european blues" which a pretty apt descriptor

huh, i don't know how i feel about this

i'm pretty sure he is talking about Vanity from Vanity 6 on one song and calls her a "negress"

o_O

video for Kaputt is pretty cool; babes + surreal stuff
http://vimeo.com/18442047

oh we're talking abt it on the other thread

destroyer covering gorkys zygotic mynci! yay!

http://www.avclub.com/articles/destroyer-covers-gorkys-zygotic-mynci,83550/

love this new order cover too. i don't remember destroyer ever doing a cover before 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR85bAxCX6M

Surprised no one seems to be talking about this interview/new track? http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9651-accidental-pop-a-conversation-with-destroyers-dan-bejar/

we r on the kaputt thread

Ah, OK

Nothing to discuss. Reporter asked a question about Taylor Swift, Bejar makes it clear he doesn't listen to her and has no plans.

lol wrong thread

Yeah, less about the Swift thing than general anticipation of the new record. But Diamond Dave set me straight on that

I heard "Year of the Cat" by Al Stewart for the first time today snd just, damn. D sounds just like him! And the instrumentation and progression were spot on too.

mmh has actually been mentioned on the quite active kaputt thread
Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)

not much love for trouble in dreams in this poll! great alb imo

yeah that's a good one (but I still would vote for Rubies over anything else by a large margin)

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!!!

i've been pretty touch and go with destroyer. for some reason i'm listening to poison season and .. it's fantastic! a lot of warmth in it.

Cool. Wonder how that "Heroes" cover compares with the Spanish version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqmu84ltzl0

i'm almost to the end haha! did i miss the "heroes" cover? i've been kinda half-listening to it while writing tbh. great vibe though. he sounds cheerful on it.

Saw him live on Sunday and it was great. I thought that he seems like an avant-garde artist who fell into a career as a frontman, the same vein as Yoko Ono and Mark E Smith perhaps. The band was great and the crowd was great, A+ show

Yeah poison season is rad