hissyfit: Toronto Tim Says: Album of the Year: Destroyer: Kaputt

Saturday, 14 January 2012

Toronto Tim Says: Album of the Year: Destroyer: Kaputt

Tim Patrick has posted this from Canada:

Destroyer : Kaputt... If you've already heard this CD and hated it... never mind! Just ignore this...

At then end of the 2011, I was endlessly bemoaning about how disappointing a year it had been for music... not one album I could eagerly recommend. I checked all the music rags to see their year-end Top 50 lists, and Destroyer's "Kaputt" kept popping up near the top, referencing Prefab Sprout, Talk Talk, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Steely Dan, New Order, Eno, Brian Wilson and even Al Stewart. Initially, I avoided investigation because Dan Bejar's previous work with New Pornographers and his own band Destroyer were not to my tastes at all. However, eventually I decided to have a quick listen to sample clips just to confirm my negative expectations. I was not prepared for the surprise I would discover! Further exploration had me hustling off to the local HMV store to pick up the CD and give it a 'proper' listen...

Bejar, a veteran of the Canadian indie rock scene, regarded as an eccentric genius by many, but in my view just too weird, chaotic and possessing extremely irritating vocals. Apparently, he opted for a bold and grand departure on this record... a bizarre and beautiful one! Adopting a less eccentric vocal style, and venturing into meticulous 80's "smarty pants" pop territory, and obtuse but interesting lyrics that bring to mind 'Swoon' era Paddy Mac'. There are also sumptuous threads of trumpet and sax that thread through several of the pieces that lend a very elegant jazzy vibe.

Anyway, this is simply the the best front to back CD I've listened to in a long while, holds up to repeated listening... and I'm truly thrilled about it!

I think I'd better bite my tongue now and belatedly recommend... "MY FAVOURITE ALBUM OF 2011"... by a country mile!

6 comments:

Tim Patrick15 January 2012 at 07:56
Aye Captain, I see you decided to post my spontaneous blurb. I'm afraid when I find something I love... gotta share it! The girls here give it a thumbs up... they're dancing! It is quite groovy. Different than my usual listening I suppose. Give me your review when you give the CD a real listen... a great headphone experience! Hope I haven't oversold it...

Sorry you had problems accessing the official record company HQ Youtube videos. Apparently, some uploaders limit the countries where videos are available, a nuisance for you, rummaging about finding alternatives... some 'unique' ones you found! Post looks great again!
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Hissyfit15 January 2012 at 09:45
Yup, hope that you don't mind; I'm similarly spontaneous these days. I'm looking forward to getting the album; any review that mentions the Prefab's 'Swoon' period gets me dribbling...
No worries regarding the YouTube stuff; it's nice to get lost whilst navigating; you meet some interesting folk...
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Anonymous15 January 2012 at 10:04
Hi Trev and Tim

I'm glad you did post it - once I got over the shock of seeing Swoon mentioned re a band name that sounded like it came from a grunge throwback or a death metal band I gave it a listen via Spotify and ordered a copy straight away!
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Hissyfit15 January 2012 at 10:45
Funny, I got that whiff of leather pant and bullet belt too...
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Tim Patrick16 January 2012 at 06:20
I agree, crap name for a band. I associated it with an old Kiss album title. Although several reviewers mention sonic allusions to Prefab, I was the one citing 'Swoon' lyrically. I think obtuse was the the wrong word. Perhaps enigmatic or pretentious may be better? Yet, as St. Hubbins said "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever." Read the CD lyrics and prepare to be bemused! Funny though how goofy lyrics stick in you brain. "Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque!"
Still can't believe this guy is a Canadian, the sound is so lush 80's New Romantic Brit-pop. Connects with me anyway!
Got to get back to the Golden Globe Awards. Ricky Gervais is hosting and taking the piss out of Hollywood... fearless and hilarious!

PS: "Spotify" - Qu'est-ce que c'est?
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Anonymous17 January 2012 at 09:50
Hi Tim

Spotify - either the death of music of a great way to try before you buy.

Basically a streaming site either free with adverts or monthly charge without. There isnt a lot that isnt on there. You can create your own playlists etc and listen to those of others
The music business are desperate for it to work as a battle against piracy however I think artists only see a pittance. But it is so good that it is difficult to ignore - so I compremise and only use it for stuff I want to check out before buying - Destroyer being a great example
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‘Jones’ is Trevor Jones; principle songwriter with the critically acclaimed duo Miracle Mile, where he works alongside collaborator, arranger and musical partner Marcus Cliffe. Together they have produced nine albums, the latest of which was 2012’s ‘In Cassidy’s Care’, rated ‘Album of the Month’ by HiFi News, with respected journalist Johnny Black noting that Miracle Mile were “far and away the most unfairly unsung musical wizards ever to emerge from this sceptered isle. Big on memorable tunes wrapped around honest-to-goodness emotionally involving lyrics.”

Trevor Jones has also previously produced four solo albums: ‘Hopeland’ (2009), ‘Keepers’, (2010), ‘To the Bone’ (2014) and ‘Happy Blue’ (2016). Co-produced again with Marcus Cliffe, ‘Carver’s Law is another triumph of intimacy.
Previous critical acclaim for Trevor Jones:

“Gorgeous, as ever. Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; gently beautiful and genuinely moving. You may cry.” The Sunday Times

“Masterpieces of subtlety and observation clothed in sumptuous, lush melodies.” R2

“Jones is in a class of one. Near-perfect explorations of the human heart. The beauty on offer here is enough to make you weep. It did me.” Americana UK

“Achingly tender.” Folk Radio UK

“Intellectually as well as emotionally engaging.” MOJO

"Meticulously orchestrated, careful and complex, this is canny songwriting leavened by bona fide humanity." Q

“Moves you to tears and refreshes the soul. Scintillating.” Maverick

"Gentle enchantment. The loveliest melodies you've ever heard.” Uncut

“Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised. Jones has compiled possibly the finest catalogue of adult pop. Gently beautiful and genuinely moving” The Times

Miracle Mile: A User's Guide by Johnny Black

Despite being based in a home studio in a rural backwater on the outskirts of West London, Miracle Mile chose to name themselves after a fictional gold rush main street half a world away where, according to adventure yarn spinner Jack London, ragged 49ers would blow their hard-won nuggets on booze and broads.
They apply a similarly unorthodox approach to their career in general. The band’s core duo of singer/guitarist Trevor Jones and multi-instrumentalist/arranger Marcus Cliffe have been relentless in their pursuit of the perfect song. Not the fastest, the gnarliest or the loudest, not even the most instantly commercial, but the song whose melody, lyrics, arrangement, performance and spirit might stand the test of time, giving pleasure to listeners not just for years but centuries.
They’d be the first to admit they haven’t yet found that perfect song and maybe never will, but I’d argue that their albums — the documentary evidence of that search — deserve a place alongside the best work of time-tested tunesmiths as elevated as Randy Newman, Elvis Costello or Tom Waits.

Marcus Cliffe wasn’t yet on board when the first album, Bicycle Thieves, arrived in 1997 but already it was evident that frontman Jones didn’t fit in with the prevailing mode. There was no rage, bitterness or self-loathing in his songs and nothing at all turned up to eleven. Instead, he offered meticulously orchestrated slices of ordinary human life, transforming the mundane into the marvellous with carefully crafted lyrics sincerely delivered. Even here, though, the hypnotic sample-based "Recycletwo" revealed a willingness to experiment that marked Jones out as more than just a pop craftsman in the vein of Crowded House or Aztec Camera.

What had started essentially as a recording project had become a five-piece live band by the time the follow-up, Candids, was released in 1998. Loaded with nagging guitar hooks and dynamic vocal interplay, it included one particularly affecting piece, "Small Ad," which featured just one line of lyric, the heart-rending couplet, "Baby’s shoes, never used." With those four words, Jones conjured up a yawning abyss of grief that other writers might struggle to evoke in an entire album.

Jones quickly realised that live performance was not his forte and retired to the womb of the studio for 1999’s third album, Slow Fade, which also saw the birth of the partnership that would lift Miracle Mile higher still above the norm. Marcus Cliffe, in demand as a player for Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Mark Knopfler and others, was drafted in on upright bass.
Immediately the music took a more intimate turn, with Jones exploring the little things that illuminate the big things. Almost every song offers up at least one unforgettable line, like "I'd rather be ashes than dust" in "Everybody Loved You," or the concept of filling the void left by his loss of faith "with despair and metalware" in "Starwatching."
Slow Fade was further enhanced by the delicately filigreed swirls and swoops of England’s finest steel guitar maestro, B.J. Cole, whose style sat so well with Jones and Cliffe that he has become virtually a full-time member of the band.

And then, out of nowhere, catastrophe struck. Trevor Jones’ beloved sister died in tragic circumstances. It’s typical of the man that, rather than wallowing in his grief as he had every right to do, he dealt with his loss in the quiet, honest dignity of "Sister Song," the achingly lovely tribute that concludes the fourth album, Alaska. It can’t have been coincidence that the album, despite its meltingly beautiful musical landscape, was named for one of the coldest places on earth.

By the time of Stories We Could Tell in 2004, Miracle Mile were drawing critical plaudits in every significant British magazine and newspaper, along with comparisons to such pop pluperfectionists as Prefab Sprout and the Blue Nile. Critics were noting that Miracle Mile was fast becoming a repository of timelessly romantic music fueled by the same shamelessly emotional human concerns that inspired the great standards. More than this, it was being noticed that while most bands go into decline after two or three albums, Miracle Mile were getting better, perhaps because they’d avoided the trap of trying to be contemporary, and had no need to be more outrageous than the competition, largely because they didn’t see music as a competitor sport.

The sixth album, Glow, showed up in 2005 and found Jones and Cliffe further expanding their musical palette mixing Celtic folksiness with slow, semi-industrial percussion on the inspirational "An Average Sadness," blending Badalamenti guitars with Bacharach horns on "What Kate Did Next," and opening "Strange Sympathy" with a beautifully synthesised string orchestration before letting the song melt seamlessly into a laid-back country-rock rumination on the gap between aspiration and acquisition. Glow was also their most lavishly packaged disc, gorgeously presented at no small cost to themselves.

Album No. 7, Limbo, offered fifteen songs overflowing with sensitively wrought melodies and heart-fluttering lyricism. If it’s not a contradiction in terms, Limbo was even more quietly passionate than usual, deliciously understated and, at times, devastatingly tear-jerking.

‘Cassidy’s Care’ followed in 2012 and received similar critical acclaim.
Miracle Mile may just be too concerned with timeless quality for their own short-term commercial good. They’ll never sink a fang into the jugular when they can plant a whisper of a kiss on that sensitive spot at the nape of the neck and set off a tiny ripple that will, in the fullness of time, explode in the heart. I, for one, wouldn’t want it any other way.
Johnny Black

“Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; Marcus Cliffe anchors it in the sweetest pop. Gorgeous as ever. You may cry.”
Sunday Times

"Gentle enchantment. The loveliest melodies you've ever heard."
UNCUT

“Gorgeous melodies, hooks galore, intelligent lyrics that demand and repay careful listening, beautifully produced instrumentation, and an overall effect that combines poignancy and joy in equal measure. Music and words come together in a state as close to perfection as makes no difference, and leaves you with a delicious ache that makes you hug yourself with the sheer overwhelming joy of hearing such wonderful music. The beauty on offer here is enough to make you weep. It did me."
Americana UK

“A little oasis illuminated by musical creativity, glimpsed like a lovely mirage. Intelligent tunefulness that doesn’t kowtow to passing trends has always been as rare as fish fingernails, but it’s here.” Mojo

“Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised” The Times

“Moves you to tears and refreshes the soul. Scintillating.”
Maverick

“A tender sadness. Songs that have universal resonance.”
Netrhythms

"Trevor Jones has produced a gorgeous pop album that few will hear — unless there’s justice in the world.’ The Wall Street Journal

“Jones has compiled possibly the finest catalogue of adult pop. Gently beautiful and genuinely moving”
The Sunday Times