Destroyer - Kaputt

I put on Destroyer's newest release in the car the other day, left the volume on low, and promptly forgot about the album. The next day I went out to go pick my sister up at the airport, I wondered how Liz had got a muzak installed in our car over night without me knowing (joke!). But seriously, from the outset of this album it sounds like Dan Bejar has channeled his inner-Will-Ferrel-Yazz-Flute, or was contracted to write the score for a teen drama circa 1985 and then decided to write lyrics over the music.

The bizarre part of all this, gentle ribbing aside, is that it absolutely works and this album is certainly a front runner for album of the year. Yes, it's early, but Kaputt is absolutely stellar.

Bejar's songs have always been my favourites off all of the New Pornographers albums, but I've felt like that's mostly because he's been restrained by Carl Newman's pop-sensibility. Most often (with the exception of Destroyer's Rubies and "An Actor's Revenge") his music has gone over my head. I've thought, he's an interesting lyricist, he's got an interesting cadence to his voice, but... meh. Maybe it's just that I'm too low brow and need at least some semblance of a hook or chorus in my songs.

I'm convinced that at least half my adoration for this album comes from the fact that it's a light, breezy, sort of album which is perfect for the weather here in Durham, NC today: shorts, flip flops, and windows down in the car. The other part, I think, is that the album draws you in with a really easy, steady rhythm at the beginning. The light snare (?), the synth noises, seem like the perfect fit for Bejar to wander with his often bizarre and cryptic lyrics.

That steady rhythm seems to permeate through the entire album, and that rhythm gives Bejar the leeway to freelance. And the album has that feel to it, fresh, almost like it's unscripted. Like the way that I imagine great jazz comes together -- where the drummer starts off with a beat, and then the other musicians come in and layer on top of each other. The last layer being Bejar, who's vocals sound like half lounge singer and half poet.

The moral of the story is, give it a chance. I always find that these types of albums, the ones that sound like they're going to be terrible -- either by their description, or by your first impression of the first few notes -- are often the ones you become the most attached to. I'm attached to this one.

... at least the first minute and a half of the video is worth watching even if you want nothing to do with the album... eat your heart out Napoleon Dynamite...

Well, it's not a disaster (like the Bay of Pigs)...

I suspect a fairly substantial number of (LO)BM's readership is familiar with the work of the New Pornographers (except for my parents). Probably slightly fewer peeps are into or familiar with individual Pornographers: AC Newman, Neko Case, and the subject of today's post, Dan Bejar aka Destroyer.

I've never been a real active fan of Destroyer (which is the reason there isn't a whole lot of Destroyer talk here). There's always been something a little too arty, or this sort of poetic air to his songs that have always just put me off. I mean, really, who wears a scarf inside (photo)... c'mon! Despite my misgivings about Bejar's whole aesthetic, he writes (or sings) my favourite Pornographers songs and Destroyer's Rubies [2006] has somehow - possibly b/c the first 4 songs are truly outstanding - become a real go to album for me, like, I'd give it serious consideration for top-20 of the 00s kind of good.

So, given my distaste for the whole aesthetic but my secret love for his songwriting, I was ready to completely write of the whole Bay of Pigs EP - 13 mins. "Bay of Pigs" + 8 mins "Ravers" - as, well, a Bay of Pigs like disaster (I suspect that probably wasn't what he was trying to do with that title). I'm not sure it's my favourite, it's slow, there's some electronicness in it, and there are geniunely points in the title track where, when you're doing something else and listening you wonder whether the song is actually on, but I suppose that's Bejar.

Even with all that experimentation, there's definitely something there that people who like Bejar in the first place are going to really appreciate -- unless they forgot the album was on and went and did something else. Bay of Pigs, I don't think, will win over any new fans, but it should give Bejarophiles something to sink their teeth into. If you're new to Bejar, personally, I'd start with the song "An Actor's Revenge" and then move your way into Destoyer's Rubies... but that's just me...

[mp3] Destroyer - Bay of Pigs

Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams... yeah, the trouble part is right.

I've been sitting on a this Destroyer post for what has been at least a couple of weeks, since I'm not exactly sure what to say about the new album Trouble in Dreams. But, rather than gouging my eyes out watching another Raptors game, I thought I'd give it a go; because, honestly, if I watch another Raptors game this year I'm liable to pull a Youzhny and crack myself in the head with my tennis racquet.

Dan Bejar (Destroyer) has always been my favourite part of the New Pornographers – with Neko Case a close second – as his more wandering lyrical music always seemed to be a nice fit with tNPs poppy sensibility. So, when I first heard Destroyer (Destroyer’s Rubies, recommended by Kyle I think) I was kind of taken aback that they didn’t sound at all like tNPs and was admittedly a little turned off. It took a while, but I really came around on Rubies and there was a period where I listened to the opening 4 songs – Rubies, Your Blood, European Oils, Painter in Your Pocket – a lot.

That said, for me, there's no stretch like that on TiD and I've found myself listening to 'Blue Flower/Blue Flame' then getting about halfway through the next song, and giving up and moving on to something else. And, the more I listen to Destroyer I just find myself wishing that he'd just take all that creative energy and Carl Newman would let him take the reins to tNPs.

In my mind, a pretty forgettable album, with a couple of tracks 'Blue Flowers/Blue Flame', 'Foam Hands' that I'll still be listening to in a few months.

[mp3] Blue Flower/Blue Flame
[mp3] Foam Hands

I prefer to remember the better times...

[mp3] An Actor's Revenge (from Your Blues [2004] - my fav Destroyer song of all time)
[mp3] Myriad Harbour (from The New Pornographer's Challengers [2007])


And this is just wicked awesome...

Best Videos 2007

7. Carleton Singing Knights "Chicago" (Sufjan Stevens cover)
This acapella version was good enough that I felt compelled to share it even though it happened last year. For fans of Soofyan Stevens, and Andy Bernard's 'Here Comes Treble'.



6. K'naan "KickED PushED"
The story of yet another hardship for K'naan.



5. The Besnard Lakes "For Agent 13"
Very moving, even if Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas aren't really 'video people'.



4. Bat for Lashes "What's a Girl to Do"
Donnie Darko meets BMX bikes.



3. Kanye West "Stronger"



2. Destroyer w/ Final Fantasy & Cadence Weapon "An Actor's Revenge" (live @ Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX)
How excited is Cadence Weapon to be on stage with Dan Bejar (the New Pornographers, Destroyer)? I think, very excited.



1. Feist "I Feel it All" (live on Jimmy Kimmel, on a moving city bus)
Reason #1,032 why I love Feist.