Destroyer - Kaputt (AKA NSW: NEVAR Forget)

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Girl in a Sling and Archer on the Beach are my favs at the moment I reckon. The former is one of the few tracks that is imbued with the vocal emotion that was found on Kaputt and the latter just has a such a terrific atmosphere and is more esoteric lyrically, which is what I like about Dan Bejar.

Also, a really underrated track that doesn't get discussed enough: Suicide Demo for Kara Walker.
 
cobl04 said:
Also, a really underrated track that doesn't get discussed enough: Suicide Demo for Kara Walker.
Click to expand...
Agreed. My third favorite on Kaputt.

Some random thoughts:

I don't necessarily like the first version of Times Square but I like how Dream Lover starts with a bang after it. The latter packs more of a punch that way.

I love the instrumentation in Forces From Above. The song itself isn't spectacular but the percussion is nice, as is the climax.

Holy shit, the guitar that comes in at 01:58 in The River. The beginning of that song reminds me a lot of another Destroyer track. It might be Strike.

Times Square is classic Destroyer. Probably the best song on here.

Archer on the Beach is another favorite.

The back half of the album hasn't made much of an impression on me yet. I was half asleep listening to it for the second time yesterday.

In general, I think it's very solid with a few stand-outs (the songs I've mentioned). It's no Kaputt or Rubies but it's not too far off and who knows what I think of it after a few more listens. Destroyer is great at doing something slightly different with each album but still having his own sound.
 
iron yuppie may be excited to know there's a five-year-old version of Archer on the Beach featuring Tim Hecker doing the music.

I am very happy it's be redone because the Poison Season version destroys it.
 
I don't know if anyone's going to feel me on this, but I think Poison Season is superior to Kaputt. As great as Kaputt is, it's only got one trick up its sleeve - it's a fucking awesome trick, but it does mean some of those tracks run together.

On Poison Season, though, there is a great deal of variety. Even more impressive is that, for as dense and abstruse as the record is lyrically, the songs are remarkably light on their feet instrumentally. The River and Archer on the Beach stand out especially - the piano flourishes in the latter are almost Aladdin Sane-ish. Also the watery trumpet from Solace's Bride could have come from second quintet Miles. I'm really digging this album.
 
Poison Season is cool, but yeah, for all its variety (which is really just two tricks instead of one, and the chamber pop half doesn't work as well as the E Street Band half) it doesn't click as an entire project for me. If Times Square wasn't on there three times it would lack a center altogether. And as Niels mentioned, the second half slips by mostly on aesthetic.

Kaputt is a masterpiece, one of the most fully-realized and consistently great albums of the decade.
 
The second side is the strength of the album for me. Admittedly it is mellow, but "slipping by" is not a term I would use for it. That refrain in Bangkok is probably the strongest hook on the entire album.
 
iron yuppie said:
I don't know if anyone's going to feel me on this, but I think Poison Season is superior to Kaputt. As great as Kaputt is, it's only got one trick up its sleeve - it's a fucking awesome trick, but it does mean some of those tracks run together.

On Poison Season, though, there is a great deal of variety. Even more impressive is that, for as dense and abstruse as the record is lyrically, the songs are remarkably light on their feet instrumentally. The River and Archer on the Beach stand out especially - the piano flourishes in the latter are almost Aladdin Sane-ish. Also the watery trumpet from Solace's Bride could have come from second quintet Miles. I'm really digging this album.
Click to expand...

Woah, a huge call that I cannot get on board with. I think all of the songs on Kaputt are so strong that even when they do run together it sounds so good and fully-fleshed out. Whereas with Poison Season I think a few of these tracks run together, particularly in the second half, without standing out.

I really like this album though. The songs are all really sticking with me, which is quite remarkable considering I've not even had it a week.

And I think you make a great point regarding the music being light on its feet. It really stands out, particularly on those songs you mentioned, they're so well recorded and produced that they're almost like vocal parts, they are so focal, interesting and lucid.

We've also just ticked into spring over here and the first day of it after a shitty winter is a lovely one and this album is working wonders for me right now. Good stuff :up:
 
cobl04 said:
Woah, a huge call that I cannot get on board with. I think all of the songs on Kaputt are so strong that even when they do run together it sounds so good and fully-fleshed out. Whereas with Poison Season I think a few of these tracks run together, particularly in the second half, without standing out.
Click to expand...

Well I'm a sucker for a good jazz-inflected set of tracks, which Poison Season has on the back half.
 
Trouble in Dreams is indeed very enjoyable. Quite dense with a number of long tracks and I'm going to need some further listens to get a handle on it, but there's a lot to like. Libby's First Sunrise is very good. Plaza Trinidad isn't.
 
Last edited:
:up: My Favourite Year, Shooting Rockets (quite Floyd-esque) and Libby's First Sunrise are the standouts I'd say.

Thief is also good - Destroyer's the Temple, Vulture, Perpetual Roads are all great and Mercy is one of my fav Destroyer songs.

And after all the wait the p4k review is totally half-cooked.
 
I agree with the score, but the end of the review came out of nowhere and the conclusion didn't seem to match anything before it.
 
Archer on the Beach is very quickly becoming one of my favourite songs of the year. I fucking love it. The atmosphere and mood created is stellar, very hard to create an environment like that, something almost tangible, over the space of just five minutes. The rhythm section is the standout, I fucking love that bass line, the light drumming following it very well and then the quick pattern coming out of the choruses. The distant horns do a tremendous job of adding atmosphere to the track, and the piano combines really well with Bejar during the chours. Bejar's lyrics here are wonderfully esoteric and evocative, and his vocals too fit the track sensationally well, in particular I love the way the chorus, the way he starts "and Archer's where you left him..." in this dark yet smirk-y (can't think of the word to describe what I mean, some help would be great) way, building up over the next two lines before sort of letting it go and turning away with the final line "archer on the beach..." at the last second. It's a very sultry, sexy, kind of song and I love it to death.
 
I must admit that I haven't listened to this album very many times, despite liking it.
 
I, on the other hand, have listened to this album very many times.
 
I am going to see him play most of this album live tonight! So yeah, I win.

Sent from my H60-L04 using U2 Interference mobile app
 
Bumping this thread because I was listening to Trouble in Dreams (which is a fucking great album, deserves to be in the discussion with Rubies and Kaputt) today and this song IS FUCKING AWESOME, GIVE IT SOME LOVE:

 
And I'm bumping this because I finally "got" Poison Season. I fucking love this album. This is a stone sober listen that completely changed my view of an album, a rare and beautiful thing.

Dream Lover and Times Square are two of the most ebullient Destroyer tracks, while Archer on the Beach and Midnight Meet the Rain are extremely playful and fresh. Forces From Above might be my favorite track now; it's so insistent and driving yet its soft production helps it slide in perfectly with this gentle, sophisticated and cutting batch of songs.

Still not better than Kaputt though. :wink: I love that album as much as I ever have, if not more so. Kaputt, Suicide Demo for Kara Walker and Chinatown all rank among the best songs of the 2010s for me. I'm just glad I've finally pulled my head out and noticed that there are some songs on Poison Season that aren't far off.
 
Last edited:
LemonMelon said:
And I'm bumping this because I finally "got" Poison Season. I fucking love this album. This is a stone sober listen that completely changed my view of an album, a rare and beautiful thing.

Dream Lover and Times Square are two of the most ebullient Destroyer tracks, while Archer on the Beach and Midnight Meet the Rain are extremely playful and fresh. Forces From Above might be my favorite track now; it's so insistent and driving yet its soft production helps it slide in perfectly with this gentle, sophisticated and cutting batch of songs.

Still not better than Kaputt though. :wink: I love that album as much as I ever have, if not more so. Kaputt, Suicide Demo for Kara Walker and Chinatown all rank among the best songs of the 2010s for me. I'm just glad I've finally pulled my head out and noticed that there are some songs on Poison Season that aren't far off.
Click to expand...

:up: :up: :up:
 
Thanks for coming to the conclusion I, this forum's most passionate and dedicated Destroyer fan, reached two years ago.

Archer on the Beach is the best song for mine. It's fucking sublime. Disappointed to see no mention of Bangkok though. That song has really stood up for mine, it's so beautiful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

LemonMelon
Desert Island X: Group 2 Listening Thread
6 7 8
Replies
228
Views
9K
LemonMelon
LemonMelon
LemonMelon
Desert Island X: Master List and Discussion Thread
3 4 5
Replies
133
Views
9K
cobl04
cobl04
cobl04
Triple J's 2011 Album of the Year Poll
2 3
Replies
86
Views
4K
Kieran McConville
Kieran McConville
phanan
Mini Island Master List, Part Two
2 3 4
Replies
92
Views
4K
iron yuppie
iron yuppie
BlueSilkenSky
In the Stillness of the Evening
Replies
3
Views
1K
BlueSilkenSky
BlueSilkenSky

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom