After Destruction (Bonus Track Edition)
Descartes A Kant
After Destruction is the fourth studio album by Mexico City art rock band Descartes a Kant, released September 29, 2023 on Cleopatra Records in CD, LP, and digital formats, with a Bonus Track Edition adding a small number of supplementary tracks to the standard twelve-song sequence. The album is a concept record built around a fictional retro-futuristic machine called The DAK — an automaton whose initials mirror the band's name — which narrates interludes throughout the record in the manner of an automated emotional repair service, dispensing absurdist advice (eat more ice cream, adopt a puppy, have more sex) to a user attempting to rebuild after a personal catastrophe. As the band's EPK describes it, the record portrays "psychic discomfort in a compulsively hyper-communicative but emotionally isolated society," lampooning the contemporary emotional wellness industry and the commodification of personal pain, with a retro-futuristic aesthetic that threads together destructive guitars, synthesizers, and soulful melodies. Produced collaboratively by Gerry Rosado, founder and guitarist Sandrushka Petrova, and bassist and synth architect Memo Ibarra, the album runs just under twenty-nine minutes across its twelve tracks.
Musically, Ink 19 described After Destruction as "a bold and brave triumph," finding a sound that "kinda sounds like Ziggy colliding with Zappa outside a Dresden Dolls after-show party" — a characterization that captures the album's unruly eclecticism. The five full musical tracks — including "Graceless," "Raindrops of Poison," "Woman Sobbing," "A Catastrophe," and the title track — are interspersed with computer-voiced interludes, spoken word passages, and short sonic bridges that give the record the structure of a conceptual theatrical piece rather than a conventional rock album. Phonotonal noted that "this is one of those rare examples where the concept encourages you to listen to the songs as a whole," and that the strongest cuts are "at home here, nestled into their creative home." Following the album's release, the band undertook an extensive international touring campaign through 2024 and 2025, performing at Glastonbury, Aftershock, Pohoda, InMusic, Fusion, Louder than Life, Pitchfork Music Festival Mexico, Rock al Parque, and Trans Musicales, while simultaneously releasing a full video collection of the album directed by Persia Campbell.
After Destruction (Bonus Track Edition)
Descartes A Kant
After Destruction is the fourth studio album by Mexico City art rock band Descartes a Kant, released September 29, 2023 on Cleopatra Records in CD, LP, and digital formats, with a Bonus Track Edition adding a small number of supplementary tracks to the standard twelve-song sequence. The album is a concept record built around a fictional retro-futuristic machine called The DAK — an automaton whose initials mirror the band's name — which narrates interludes throughout the record in the manner of an automated emotional repair service, dispensing absurdist advice (eat more ice cream, adopt a puppy, have more sex) to a user attempting to rebuild after a personal catastrophe. As the band's EPK describes it, the record portrays "psychic discomfort in a compulsively hyper-communicative but emotionally isolated society," lampooning the contemporary emotional wellness industry and the commodification of personal pain, with a retro-futuristic aesthetic that threads together destructive guitars, synthesizers, and soulful melodies. Produced collaboratively by Gerry Rosado, founder and guitarist Sandrushka Petrova, and bassist and synth architect Memo Ibarra, the album runs just under twenty-nine minutes across its twelve tracks.
Musically, Ink 19 described After Destruction as "a bold and brave triumph," finding a sound that "kinda sounds like Ziggy colliding with Zappa outside a Dresden Dolls after-show party" — a characterization that captures the album's unruly eclecticism. The five full musical tracks — including "Graceless," "Raindrops of Poison," "Woman Sobbing," "A Catastrophe," and the title track — are interspersed with computer-voiced interludes, spoken word passages, and short sonic bridges that give the record the structure of a conceptual theatrical piece rather than a conventional rock album. Phonotonal noted that "this is one of those rare examples where the concept encourages you to listen to the songs as a whole," and that the strongest cuts are "at home here, nestled into their creative home." Following the album's release, the band undertook an extensive international touring campaign through 2024 and 2025, performing at Glastonbury, Aftershock, Pohoda, InMusic, Fusion, Louder than Life, Pitchfork Music Festival Mexico, Rock al Parque, and Trans Musicales, while simultaneously releasing a full video collection of the album directed by Persia Campbell.