Destroyer - Kaputt [Merge]

8.7

Dan Bejar has been making music since the mid-'90s under various acts like The New Pornographers, Swan Lake, and Hello, Blue Roses, but he is probably the most home with his main band Destroyer. The ninth disc entitled Kaputt by Destroyer creates one of their most beautiful, yet frightening albums to date. Led by songs like synthesizer soaring "Savage Night At the Opera" and the spacey ambient "Bay of Pigs", Kaputt is a unique, adventurous musical achievement in the early season of 2011.

Bejar has always been known for his cryptic lyricism and distinct voice throughout any of his musical acts, but Destroyer has always been his strong suit. The best musical genre to classify Kaputt is a sort of jazzy indie pop that flourishes with new wave bass lines, delicate resonant trumpet reverberations, and of course the sensual saxophone solos. All of these elements come at you with such force and a mock-mellowness. Bejar's voice stays the same throughout the entire record; he never gets worked up or rises to different pitches.

As mentioned before, Kaputt has so many different elements throughout it. The smooth acoustic staccatos in the intro of "Suicide Demo For Kara Walker" don't at all prepare listeners for the disco-esque beat and chilling flute solos. The nostalgia from the '80s is so strong throughout Kaputt with hints of new wave, disco, nu-jazz, and other elements famous and infamous from '80s pop music. Indie music has been experimenting in '80s for some time now, with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's Before Today last year was teeming with '80s elements and now Destroyer has been inspired by this musical fad and create a beautiful, unique record that is bursting with the sense of nostalgia that I really can't relate to (being born in 1994).

The epic finish to Kaputt, "Bay of Pigs", starts off with a spacey ambient intro that builds into a epic storytelling grandeur from Bejar, "I was born in the North, but my father is from the South/Love is a political beast with jaws for a mouth, I don't care!" laments Bejar. One thing that sticks out on Kaputt is how none of the songs really reach a climax; instead they build up and then slowly move back to normal, that unusually song writing creates a tense listening pattern that will keep you listening and listening and stay excited and relaxed.

Kaputt is an excellent nostalgic record that pays homage to various '80s musical elements. Looking back at other Destroyer works; Your Blues, Streethawk: A Seduction, and others are well crafted but don't stick out as much as the unique renditions of indie music through Kaputt. Dan Bejar's talents are again showcased through is tenacious, unique approach of music.

Sample:

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde [Fat Possum]

8.3

Growth in musical artist is always so intriguing. Weather it be artistic growth, maturity, or experience. Smith Westerns falls under the category of maturity. Only in high school when these garage rockers put out their self-titled debut. Now two years later, Smith Westerns have switched directions from their heavily distorted garage rock feel on their debut and they come across with hints of glam rock, lo-fi vocals, and huge walls of George Harrison-inspired guitar lines.

Coming off influences like T. Rex, '60s garage rock compilations, and David Bowie, you can see all three of those in Dye It Blonde. T. Rex; through the high-strung guitar lines and glam rock aspect. '60s garage rock; through the messy walls of sound and vocals sounding like they were recorded through a laptop. You get the idea, Smith Westerns is an interesting group. Everything goes fantastic for the Smith Westerns, except their immediate downfall of repetition and vocals.

The vocals go down as some of the worse. Hiding behind the production make it inclined that lead singer Cullen Omori doesn't want to be heard, he sounds whiny and immature. His vocals just don't fit in with the glorious guitar anthems, walls of guitar sounds and dissonant acoustic strums. Thankfully, the rest of Smith Westerns pick up for the slack on Omori. Excellent, heavily distorted guitar work that is reminiscence of The Beatles' George Harrison.

Highlights of Dye It Blonde are the opener "Weekend" and the ballad/anthem "All Die Young". "Weekend" starts out with a playful guitar line that foreshadows the rest of the album. "All Die Young" starts out as a prom-like glam rock dance tune and then descends into a frantic anthem of Omori's yells of "All die young!". The great hooks that Smith Westerns create are never ending throughout Dye It Blonde as well. The jangly guitar line on "Still New" keep me coming back for more and more.

Dye It Blonde unfortunately wears old towards the latter part of album starting with "Fallen In Love". There's a sense of repetitive natures on the second half of the album with the glorious guitar solos and messy vocals all starting to sound the same. The album picks back up with the fast paced fun-loving "Dance Away" and the outro of the most guitar-heavy track "Dye the World".

Dye It Blonde is a decently done album that really flies by you with the hooks of guitars singing in your ears. From the jangly "Still New" to the guitar mow-down "Dye the World", Smith Westerns pull through. The growth from their debut is very apparent and will easily be noticed by anyone who has taken a listen to their debut and they will not be disappointed.

Sample:

Wire - Red Barked Tree [Pink Flag]

5.4

I don't want to call the post-punk masters "washed out", but I just might have to. It's a sad thing. It always is. It has been about three decades since Wire's masterful punk debut Pink Flag. Wire's intensity, simplicity, and pure sense of what they were doing has never been matched since. Now on Wire's twelfth studio album Wire goes for exasperated melodies, weak vocals, even weaker lyricism, and an overall bore of an album.

Simplicity is ironically a hard art in music to use effectively. Only a couple of artists have mastered this art. Wire is one of them, but as they processed in their career they moved to more of an art-pop sound that has been a hit and miss. On Red Barked Tree the melodies that Wire attempts to put out are overly simple and don't create the earthy resonance of Pink Flag, instead they create dull, uninspiring lines that fail.

The effects that go into the vocals create an echo and double layering effect that just is not right. The most enjoyable track on the LP, "Two Minutes", has that furious tenacity that Wire is known for with no cheesy vocal effects. If lead man Colin Newman stayed on the path of the snarling, menacing classic vocals of "Two Minutes", then Red Barked Tree could have definitely been something.

Now you have Red Barked Tree's absolutely atrocious lyricism. Colin Newman sings rhymes just to rhyme. "The overcrowded nature of things," Newman sings on "Bad Worn Things" probably one of the worst Wire songs of all time. The over all lyricism just sounds so awkward and unnatural. Usually I'm not that big on lyrics, but Red Barked Tree's are so bad that it increasingly aggravated me and made me dislike the album more and more. Again, "Two Minutes" has the most interesting lyricism on the whole album with cryptic lines like "Possibly signaling the end of Western civilization" and "Offering the age of fragmentation", it's those cryptic and symbolic lyrics that Newman offered on their debut and following successful albums that made Wire such a post-punk powerhouse.

Red Barked Tree is not the Wire anyone is looking for. Instead it is a boring, messy, uninspiring LP that does no justice to the great memories of the fantastic Pink Flag or Chairs Missing. New listeners of Wire might or might not enjoy this one, I really can't tell since I'm a huge Wire fan. I hate saying it, but Wire is most definitely washed out.

Sample:

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [Sub Pop]

7.4

On the post-rock grandfathers of Mogwai's seventh studio album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, Mogwai creates some of the most conventional, rock-oriented instrumental tracks of their career. Occasionally they will dabble in vocals ("Mexican Grand Prix"), but for the most part, Hardcore is a pure instrumental, guitar-power house anthem that might be showing how the heavily adored rock genre of post-rock is slowly, but surely dying.

What do I mean by post-rock dying? The evidence is very strong; on Sigur Rós's latest work Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust; they moved more and more away from the minimalistic and atmospheric approach to their previous work and move towards a more "folk" oriented style that has more conventional guitar lines and acoustic instrumentation. What other evidence do you need? Arguably the world's most popular post-rock band is moving away from post-rock elements. But of course, you can't take one band's disentanglement from post-rock a downfall of the genre; you still have post-rock giants like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky. But post-rock has reached this point of "where will it go now?” It seems to be under the rinse and repeat spell.

Mogwai sound as conventional as ever. It's immediate; the subtle use of dynamics is erased as the hook-filled intro "White Noise" buzzes across. Though the use of their dynamics changes their approach to their music, their sounds haven’t changed. The heavy use of guitars, heavy distortion, deep throbbing bass, and simple progressive drum lines remain. This sound has captivated audiences for a decade and its dramatic and enticing texture wraps around you. But, some tracks don't have the dramatic, heart-pounding sound. The very bizarre "Mexican Grand Prix" uses bells and keyboards plus the very unnecessary use of vocals that are barely audible make it a very mediocre track that really sucks Hardcore down. Fortunately, the mediocrity is immediately picked back up by the hard-hitting "Rano Pano".

Only two tracks really suck Hardcore down and they are "Mexican Grand Prix" and "Too Raging to Cheers", both create inadequate mixtures of instruments that don't work in the context that Mogwai intends to cross. Probably the strongest track "How To Be a Werewolf" takes the most conventional post-rock route. Another highlight, "Letters To the Metro" creates a very moody atmosphere that is the most relaxing and ironic tracks on Hardcore.

In a nutshell, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is just a pretty simple post-rock guitar anthem-fest. Only clocking in at 53 minutes (short for a post-rock album), Hardcore is a good start for someone looking into the genre and there are plenty of enjoyable hooks encased within Hardcore.

(c) Mike Lavin, Friday January 7, 2011

2011 Watchlist

Ah, a new year. Always a breathe of fresh air, in my honest opinion. You get a brand new start and establish a "New Years Resolution" and all that good mumbo jumbo. My favorite part of a new year is a fresh start to the music year and the anticipation of great record releases. I started my blog around March of last year (I really can't remember), so I never got around to doing one of these, but here it is. Here's a fairly short list of records I'm looking forward to this 2011 year. All of these are North American releases.

January 11

Wire - Red Barked Tree [Pink Flag]

January 18

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead [Capitol]
Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde [Fat Possum]
White Lies - Ritual [Geffen]

January 25

Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings [Carpark]
Deerhoof - Deerhoof Vs. Evil [Polyvinyl]
Gang of Four - Content [Yep Roc]
Iron & Wine - We Kiss Each Other Clean [Warner Bros./4AD]
Talib Kweli - Gutter Rainbow [Talibra]

February 1

The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts [Memphis Industrials]

February 8

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Death - Tao of the Dead [Richter Scale Recordings]
James Blake - James Blake [Atlas/A&M]

February 15

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [Sub Pop]
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake [Vagrant]
Yuck - Yuck [Fat Possum]

February 22

Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine [Carpark]

March 8

R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now [Warner Bros.]

Some time in March

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong [Slumberland]

April 5

Surfer Blood - I'm Not Ready EP [Kanine]

Sometime in 2011

Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1 & 2 [Capitol]
Coldplay - TBA [Capitol]
Dr. Dre - Detox [Interscope]
Fleet Foxes - TBA [Sub Pop]
Foo Fighters - TBA [RCA]
Radiohead - TBA [?]
The Strokes - TBA [RCA]
U2 - Songs of Ascent [Mercury/Island/Interscope]
Wilco - TBA [Nonesuch]

So there ya have it, make sure you go out and support your favorite artists and buy there records through a store, weather it be iTunes, Walmart, your local record shop, etc.

Good listening!