Poison season: the night in which all bags show thru
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 17:42 (nine years ago) link
After falling in love with Kaputt, this one was like listening to his previous releases, a huge let down.
― JacobSanders, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 17:48 (nine years ago) link
Can't believe anyone would be bored by this, it covers so much ground and has so much going on (and sometimes barely anything at all). Loving it.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 08:39 (nine years ago) link
And I can't believe anyone would think it sounds like Rubies, Streethawk, Your Blues, Thief or any of the other pre-Kaputt albums.
― niels, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 08:51 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, this is definitely a post-Kaputt album. He's said it was partly about trying to capture the sound of the band that had evolved from playing Kaputt live.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 09:57 (nine years ago) link
My dislike of Kaputt was solely down to my visceral hatred of sophisti-pop signifiers and anything that resembles Prefab Sprout - it was never the songs, the words, the voice (OK, maybe a little bit the voice) - so I'm delighted with Poison Season.
― impossible raver (Re-Make/Re-Model), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 10:36 (nine years ago) link
Kaputt was my way in to Destroyer, so I'm happy that this feels like a continuation / logical next evolution, in terms of what they're doing with brass and percussion. Delighted they've pushed it slightly away from sophisti-pop and towards jazz. Also loving what they're doing with strings. Faintly sad that there's not any ambient disco, as I loved those bits.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 11:39 (nine years ago) link
sophisti-pop signifiers?
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 12:46 (nine years ago) link
Never mind, just figured out what sophisti-pop meant.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 13:00 (nine years ago) link
I don't like the word but it does nicely sum up a whole bunch of 80s pop that I've always found insufferable.
― impossible raver (Re-Make/Re-Model), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 19:01 (nine years ago) link
I was hoping for more soft rock saxophone/synthesizers and fretless bass on Poison Season. I just listened to it again and most of the songs I had to skip half way through. I guess I only need one Destroyer record in my life.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 19:26 (nine years ago) link
Crazy talk. The musicianship here is amazing, the songs are great, his singing is great, the lyrics are great. But I guess the relative lack of interest here compared to the Kaputt thread suggets that maybe ILM was primarily into that record because of its sophisti-pop signifiers rather than because of anything else. Which is a shame, because I think they're a great band.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 3 September 2015 08:03 (nine years ago) link
well, my problem with this record is that there's not one song that I really like (so far) while there was always at least a couple in their previous albums that I know.So it's an album I can play in the background for sure but there's no "meat" to me.
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 3 September 2015 09:42 (nine years ago) link
you don't like "Times Square"?
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Thursday, 3 September 2015 10:49 (nine years ago) link
well it's alright.but not particularly memorable...like the rest of the album !
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 3 September 2015 10:56 (nine years ago) link
I'm sorry... maybe watch the video? I liked it
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Thursday, 3 September 2015 11:10 (nine years ago) link
I like the spanish EP much more, for instance !
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 3 September 2015 11:21 (nine years ago) link
fair enough! the best moments of Poison Season remind me of Rubies, so if you can't get on board w/ 'tall ships made of snow' then maybe this just ain't the album for you
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Thursday, 3 September 2015 11:31 (nine years ago) link
oh I like Rubies !anyway, yeah, I guess what they went for with this one is just not for me....
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 3 September 2015 11:51 (nine years ago) link
Immediate highlights = Dream Lover (raucous, exciting, radioplay), Archer On The Beach (familiar, dreamy, unfamiliar, jazzy), Midnight Meet The Rain (rocking, dramatic), Times Square (three times! Different versions, lovely strings on the first), Forces From Above (changes, crazy percussion, brass).
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 3 September 2015 12:24 (nine years ago) link
Hell reminds me of the Michael Nyman soundtrack to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Thursday, 3 September 2015 12:50 (nine years ago) link
sorry that was meant to go in my diary
This album doesn't hit me as hard as Kaputt did, the first Destroyer album I've liked. I'm not sure it was the 'sophisti-pop signifiers', though I've learned to love Tango in the Night since. It was more the incredible atmosphere, the woozy soundscape, the lazy vocals, the dreamy lyrics about walking in strange city-scapes. That album to me is a world. Poison Season is an album, a collection of songs. And I like them, many of them, but it is a very different kind of album for me.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 3 September 2015 13:10 (nine years ago) link
Tango in the Night is Sophistipop?
― MarkoP, Thursday, 3 September 2015 13:40 (nine years ago) link
what is sophistipop, actually ?is it anything beyond roxy music's "avalon" and B.Ferry's "boys and girls" ?
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 3 September 2015 13:44 (nine years ago) link
Destroyer covered Everywhere on their Kaputt-tour, and yeah, I thought that was sophisti-pop?
― Frederik B, Thursday, 3 September 2015 13:52 (nine years ago) link
It's a retrospective genre name so it's in the ear of the beholder but I wouldn't include Tango in the Night. The Wikipedia entry lists most of my least favourite 80s bands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophisti-pop
Alfred co-wrote a great Bluffer's Guide about it.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/bluffer/sophisti-pop.htm
― impossible raver (Re-Make/Re-Model), Thursday, 3 September 2015 15:34 (nine years ago) link
this album is very pretty. it's no Kaputt part two but a pleasant listen. there are no stand out songs but i can see listening this a lot over the next few months.
― Bee OK, Friday, 4 September 2015 01:55 (nine years ago) link
Baffled by people saying there are no stand-out songs on this; individual songs have leapt up at me far quicker than Kaputt.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 4 September 2015 13:06 (nine years ago) link
"You can fall in love with Times Square"
― pdf booklet in the cheesecaked factory (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 4 September 2015 18:18 (nine years ago) link
but the song you see
This album is far more song-based than Kaputt, and I'm baffled if at least Dream Lover doesn't immediately stand out for people.
― Frederik B, Saturday, 5 September 2015 00:59 (nine years ago) link
I'm starting to like this a lot.
Thanks, Re-Make!
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 5 September 2015 02:28 (nine years ago) link
Only had one run through this so far, but Dream Lover / Forces From Above hooked me in immediately. Love that cello on Forces ...
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Saturday, 5 September 2015 09:32 (nine years ago) link
Destroyer covered Everywhere on their Kaputt-tour
― ufo, Tuesday, 8 September 2015 05:56 (nine years ago) link
pretty good album
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 11:09 (nine years ago) link
"Times Square" is such a jam
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 23 September 2015 13:38 (eight years ago) link
love the "Young Americans guitar
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 September 2015 13:43 (eight years ago) link
the album as a whole hasn't hit nearly as hard as kaputt but i do really like 'times square'
― jason waterfalls (gbx), Friday, 16 October 2015 23:53 (eight years ago) link
"Times Square" sounded good live a few weeks ago.
I feel like I mentioned it on another Destroyer thread.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 02:31 (eight years ago) link
This album is growing on me big time. It's got a lot going on musically--i like the slightly dialed back word count--and the arrangements/production are really good.
― Iago Galdston, Sunday, 1 November 2015 01:03 (eight years ago) link
Lots of nice trumpet moments
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Sunday, 1 November 2015 01:24 (eight years ago) link
I like this, but I always skip "Dream Lover" because I think it's too noisy.
― rap is dad (it's a boy!), Sunday, 1 November 2015 01:35 (eight years ago) link
do you like Psychedelic Furs?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 1 November 2015 01:42 (eight years ago) link
I had to look up "Pretty In Pink." A little too Billy Idol for me.
― rap is dad (it's a boy!), Sunday, 1 November 2015 01:47 (eight years ago) link
I love the backing horns on Sun in the Sky. Where can I hear more like that? Or is that part of the early Springsteen street rock sound?
Also, is the guitar part on The River played with a slide? I really love that slightly sitar-y guitar sound
― Iago Galdston, Sunday, 1 November 2015 17:42 (eight years ago) link
xpost the opening of "Dream Lover" is kind of abrasive, especially late at night on a long drive when you've got the volume up for the lovely delicate opening track.
― Tom Violence, Sunday, 1 November 2015 17:48 (eight years ago) link
This has really grown on me - probably my second favourite of his now. Especially love The River and Times Square. I miss the sequencers etc. but there's still the all horn/guitar soloing that was so great on Kaputt. It feels like the album some band would have made just before turning to sequencers etc. for Kaputt in the 80s.
― ufo, Tuesday, 17 November 2015 13:07 (eight years ago) link
agree, strong album, grower, tried to figure out what track to nominate for an eoy vote but couldn't choose betw "times square", "dream lover", "the river", "midnight meet the rain"
trumpet is v good
― niels, Tuesday, 17 November 2015 13:28 (eight years ago) link
I'll take my chances on the rain.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 November 2015 13:29 (eight years ago) link