Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic

The Tune for Today is:

FoxyGen - No Destruction 

I assumed you knew this photograph of me in my new car
But I hate to say I miss you cause you don’t need me anymore
I politely say I miss you but we know you don’t mean that anymore
Like when the toc tic finally caught you
Then you weaseled through the door
Through the door of consciousness

San Francisco,
Oh you make it so
Oh you make it so long on me
Someone who takes part in the suburbs
Part in the subway with me
Oh destructo, you’re so destructive
Oh you so destructive to me

No destruction in the waking hour
No destruction in the waking window
No destruction in the waking hour
No corruption on the mountain high

I’m talking to my grandma who lost her arms in the war
The aliens and armory that bond hers to God’s door
Now you think that I don’t know but I know you to know quite well
That I caught you sipping milkshakes in the parlor of the hotel
There’s no need to be an asshole, you’re not in Brooklyn anymore
You may take what you are given but you leave it on the floor
And I know you’re gonna try to take my big mouse
Take the panels off my greenhouse

Oh but the door of consciousness isn’t open anymore
Oh you think it’s over, oh it’s over with me
Someone who sloaks by in the suburbs
But in the suburb with me
Oh destructo, you’re so destructive
Oh you so destructive to me

No destruction in the waking hour
No destruction in the waking wind
No destruction in the waking hour
No corruption on the mountain high

No destruction in the waking hour
No destruction in the waking window
No destruction, no destruction
No destruction…

Review by  Fred Thomas (allmusic)

With their album-length 2012 EP Take the Kids Off Broadway, backwards-looking concept rockersFoxygen arrived with so many classic rock reference points you could have made a bingo card out of the various nods to various heroes contained in their still somehow undeniably hooky songs. Proper full-length We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic is even more stuffed full of familiar sound cues and convincing '60s and '70s pop star mimicry, this time with heightened production fromRichard Swift taking the album out of the lo-fi realm, and more personal lyrics adding some character to the artifice. Picking apart the blatant, intentional references to different classic songs that cycle verse-to-verse throughout the album is a fun game for record collector types; from the nod to the intro of Sgt. Pepper's on album-opener "In the Darkness" to the bold-faced Dylanisms (and less overt but equally strong Al Stewart-isms) of the incredible, big city lament "No Destruction." Bowie, Lou Reed, all eras ofMick Jagger, specific doo wop songs, and even moments of the Band; no oldies are safe from Foxygen's pure-hearted appropriation. Their reconstructive surgery of various influences is an interesting approach for a band made up of kids in their early twenties circa 2013, but it isn't the entire formula for what makes this record so great. Lots of bands before Foxygen have dealt with quick changes and sonic patchworks of older influences, but few have managed to craft songs as moving and catchy as these. The thick accents and psychedelic swirl of "San Francisco" walk the line of being patronizingly nostalgic until the hook-heavy chorus comes in, distant guest vocals from Jessie Baylin and Sarah Versprille answering singer Sam France's "I left my love in San Francisco" with refrains of "That's okay, I was bored anyway" and "That's okay, I was born in L.A." This one move disarms any cloying elements of the song and reminds the listener that Foxygen are in complete songwriting control, not just throwing back-dated pop culture references at the wall and hoping something sticks. In their earliest days, Of Montreal had a similar knack for updating their favorite records with their own personalities, as did many artists of the Elephant 6 collective, but WAT21CAOPAM is more tuned in, clear-headed, and full of intent than any ofFoxygen's more immediate predecessors. It's a gorgeous and non-stop convergence of ideas, some borrowed, some original, some refurbished, and some outright stolen. In the end, however, the album's coherence comes in its incredible architecture of all these ideas, and the way the band sells them with everything they've got, taking what could be incredibly obtuse music back into the realm of pop from which it was born.

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