We get a lot of records sent to us here at The A.V. Club. Fortunately, we end up liking some of them. In Playlisted, we share our latest recommendations.
Album: Pre Language by Disappears (out now on Kranky)
Press play if you like: Utterly primal, bottom-heavy post-punk; Krautrock’s relentless groove; Fugazi’s sinister snarl.
Some background: Typical of Chicago’s experimental rock scene, Disappears has ties to a pair of cult-revered bands: the sadly unsung prog powerhouse 90 Day Men and garage-pop monster The Ponys. Brian Case played guitar for both and sang for the former before reinventing himself as Disappears’ distinctly aloof sneer. But he isn’t the only member with a history. The band released its first two albums fairly quietly—the death-obsessed Lux in 2010 and the shelter-
seeking Guider in 2011—before drummer Graeme Gibson left to devote more time to his other gig with The Fruit Bats. That’s when Steve Shelley stepped in. Sonic Youth’s drummer had long been a fan, and he’s since become a full-timer in Disappears, both on the road and in the studio. The alternately spare and squalling Pre Language was forged by this lineup, and it owes its strange magic as much to Spaceman 3 as it does to its German and D.C.-based forebears.
Try this: The album’s opening slavo is “Replicate,” a cool ripper that moves to the locomotive punch of Shelley’s drums, always steady, but prone to hugely satisfying flares of fiery shredding from Case, who seems to be singing about new love, or maybe androids.