destroyer – Austin Town Hall

Levitation 2025 in Photos: Sunday

October 3, 2025 brian.gray Leave a comment

As I get ready to head out and photograph another three day festival weekend, we have another gallery from Levitation 2025.

It is big gallery, we had some photogenic sets that included smashed guitars, Austin legends and legendary indie. Bands featuring in the gallery – Daiistar, Population II, A Place to Bury Strangers (I got dizzy from the strobes, rad), Diles No Me Maten, Frankie and the Witch Fingers (really tight set), Upchuck, The Black Angels (thanks for the Reverb), Being Dead (always clever fun), Built to Spill, Destroyer (smooth) and Pavement (legends). It was a lot to take in.

Click through, it is a big one…

TR/ST Share Brand New Single

December 13, 2023 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

B.Gray and I love TR/ST; we’ve loved the project since before the “u” was syntactically replaced. Today there’s a new bop from the dark electronica act, the first we’ve heard since 2019’s Destroyer LP. Weirdly, the groove on this one reminds me of a shadowy version of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” operating with this rhythmic pulse that almost seems like it’s got spring yet never goes all the way over. That said, there’s some mystery to the TR/ST puts into his craft, allowing all the shadows to creep into his work, making it perfect for club nights before last call. Dais Records has just signed the artist, with the promise of a new EP coming in 2024.

News
Tunes

Cereus Bright Shares Seven Wonders

June 1, 2023 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

Sometimes I feel like I have pigeon-holed my own musical tastes; you send me something with really great arrangements and a deep melodic voice, I’ll likely cover it somehow. That’s how I hit upon this new track from Cereus Bright, which I keep playing. There’s this central piece from songwriter Tyler Anthony that ultimately feels like a really good folk ballad/croon, but the arrangements from the strings and woodwind samples totally take this into territory you’d likely find on an old Broken Social Scene record; it has that everything but the kitchen sink feel, only with great execution. File this under a more serene version of what Destroyer sounds like!

<a href="https://cereusbright.bandcamp.com/track/seven-wonders">Seven Wonders by Cereus Bright</a>

News
Tunes

Show Review: Destroyer @ The Mohawk (2/25)

March 4, 2020 nicole.baumann Leave a comment

Last Wednesday, we were treated to an evening of tunes from the legendary and mystical Dan Bejar. Riding high off the well receivedHave We Met, Bejar returned to the Mohawk to a nearly sold out crowd. After years of creating tunes largely under the radar, and really seeing his breakthrough record around a decade ago, I was pleased to see so many people brought back once more, or perhaps out to see Destroyer for the first time.

Click past the jump for words on the evening and some photos.

Shows

Strong Track From TR/ST

April 8, 2019 brian.gray Leave a comment

Look, I was getting a little concerned about the poppier side of Robert Alfons, but all things are set right in the universe with this dark beauty. Pre-order link, Tour Info link (including a stop in Austin).

News
Tunes

Top Albums of 2017

December 5, 2017 nathan.lankford 7 comments

Lists are arbitrary and burdensome, but why not join the fun everyone else is having? We gathered our lists, separate lists for all of us, then combined them into one that had 50 albums. What you get here are the four writers/contributors of ATH, giving you their meaningless opinions on what we thought was the jam in 2017. It’s alphabetical, and we put the initials next to it so you could track down your enemy!

Destroyer Drops New Video

September 13, 2017 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

I don’t know what it is, but even when Dan Bejar seems to go out of his comfort zone, he’s able to execute as Destroyer. For instance, his new track definitely has an early 80s pulse to it, heavy on the synths and sterile percussion. Somehow, Bejar’s unique croon is able to slide carefully in between the grooves, delivering contemplative lines that reverberate as the synths echo in the background. In the video, there’s some great imagery captured in the stills that fill it. Look for his new album, ken, to hit on October 20th via Merge.

News
Tunes

Brand New Destroyer Tune

August 8, 2017 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

While I’m enjoying going through all last week’s tunes, it would be hard to overlook that there’s a new Destroyer tune floating out there today. He’s perhaps one of the most distinctive voices out there in the music world, and he puts that voice on display for this song’s opening two minutes. For that period, the song’s pretty sparse, but then it expands with furthered textures…keyboard, guitar and more pronounced percussion. He’s titled his new record, ken, and it will be out come this October via Merge Records.

News
Tunes

Chris Bierden Is Invisible Boy

October 20, 2016 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

Chris Bierden spends a great deal of his time with Polica, but don’t think that Invisible Boy will resemble that outfit too much; it’s clear with this single that he’s got another itch to scratch. Listening through, this sounds like a grander aim, something akin to a lounging version of Bowie. I love the fact that the central figure, aside from the vocals is the piano work…that always gets me for some reason. It almost sounds like Chris is channeling the world of Destroyer as well, crafting a huge operatic pop figure. Look for his debut album on November 11th via Totally Gross National Product.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/287530750″ params=”color=00aabb&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

News
Tunes

Festival Recap: Day 1 of Primavera Sound 2016

June 6, 2016 nicole.baumann One comment

Photo by Eric Pamies

While each day’s slated program of Primavera Sound 2016 was filled with great bands from all over the world, Thursday, the first day of the festival at Parc del Forum, was for me, the busiest of them all. Thursday had me bouncing around from stage to stage, and hustling to make the most of my time while keeping the headliners in the back of my mind. Read on after the jump to hear what were the best parts of day one and see some pictures.

News

1 2 3 4 »