Destroyer | Kind of Bleu

Kind of Bleu’s top albums of 2011, with links to each review in the countdown.

Honorable Mentions:
Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan & Chris Thile – The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
I’m From Barcelona – Forever Today
Panda Bear – Tomboy
My Morning Jacket – Circuital

20. Chris Thile & Michael Daves – Sleep With One Eye Open

19. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life

18. Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

17. Wild Flag – Wild Flag

16. Tom Waits – Bad as Me

15. The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart

14. James Blake – James Blake

13. The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck

12. Wilco – The Whole Love

11. Feist – Metals

10. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s a Corporate World

8. Middle Brother – Middle Brother

7. Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire

6. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

5. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

4. The Antlers – Burst Apart

3. Destroyer – Kaputt

2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

3. Destroyer – Kaputt

Destroyer’s ninth album is the most interesting thing to happen to music this year — and maybe even longer.

Singer-songwriter Dan Bejar’s acoustic guitar disappeared in a haze of smoke, drugs and nostalgia, replaced by saxophones, flutes and synths. Kaputt‘s light jazz and funk lifts his obscured poetry to a cinematic high. Bejar creates musical images of cocaine dealers walking through Chinatown in the late ’70s and hazy dreams of New York City streets.

Though it heavily recalls the ’70s and ’80s, nothing’s ever been made that sounds like Kaputt. Bejar treads a fine line between irony and Steely Dan worshiping. Whichever way he’s actually leaning, it’s fantastic.

I wouldn’t expect Kaputt II. Knowing Bejar, he’s bound to come up with some incredible and bizarre new direction soon.