There are few certainties in life. A new album from Dan Bejar + Co. typically yields an almost guaranteed spot on most end of year lists. Destroyer will release their ninth album, ‘Kaputt’, on CD, LP, and digital download on January 25 (buy here). The forthcoming release of ‘Kaputt’ follows along that same trend. Dan Bejar’s talk singing omnipresent on anything he touches is still very omnipresent on this record and the compliment harmony of female vocals (sounds like Joanna Newsom) pull this release together. ‘Savage Night at the Opera’ sounds as if Peter Hook was manning bass duties with the quite lull of MIDI-synthesizer functioning as the perfect adhesive to one of the standout tracks on the album. Dan Bejar also sent Merge Records some themes alluded to or avoided while making the new album-
“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…”
Track listing:
1. Chinatown [mp3]
2. Blue Eyes
3. Savage Night at the Opera
4. Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
5. Poor in Love
6. Kaputt
7. Downtown
8. Song for America
9. Bay of Pigs (detail)