Disappears Cover U2 For AV Club

Disappears cover U2

I really dig Disappears. And I've always really liked New Years Day. This then, is a great combination in my book.

The band really nails it. Notice how they say they don't so much turn it into one of their own as get traditional with it, but as traditional as it is, I would argue that they add some of that smoky, mysterious flavor that makes Disappears' music so unique and compelling.

Disappears

Chicago-based band Disappears recently released a new record via Kranky records. Minor Patterns is not from that record. It's from 2012's brilliant Pre Language. Upon first hearing the band last year via Mr. Brown I was immediately struck by the somewhat updated throwback sound. Now, I know "updated throwback" sounds ridiculous but it's something I've really come to like in another group, A Place to Bury Strangers. The meaning of the ambiguous and possibly even pretentious term is really just a nod to the fact that while doing their own thing - quite well in both cases I might add - there is a definite comparison in sound to be made of bands-gone-by. My two-second elevator pitch for A Place to Bury Strangers when I first fell in love with Exploding Head was, "Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste-era Ministry meets My Bloody Valentine meets Bauhaus. Ridiculous? Maybe, but it worked like a charm in selling more than a few records for the band when I had my retail job so I count it a success. Disappears is similar, in that just listening to the opening chords of Minor Patterns I get that same early-Bauhaus feeling of space within the song. Once the song gets going though, as with the rest of the album, there's an aesthetic comparison I feel can be made to both 80's Sonic Youth (or maybe that's just because Steve Shelley is in Disappears) and even 13-Songs Fugazi. It's that small club/loud amp sound and the knack for writing a song together, organically, as opposed to riff-oriented.  It's the definition of what indie used to mean. IT'S GOOD.

Anyway, don't listen to me babble comparisons at you, if you dig Minor Patterns, go buy the whole record Pre Language. Then buy the new one. I need to do that last part yet, but it's on the ever-growing list for sures.

Oh, and when you have a little more time to burrow into something, there's this: