ZapTown

Disappears
Lux
kranky
Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Link: http://www.kranky.net/

Sometime back in the ‘80s, I stumbled upon a cassette of Television’s Marquee Moon. It was hotter than hell that summer, and I was nestled outdoors sipping on a double espresso and lemon rind somewhere on Ohio Street, dressed in black. You could feel the breeze shoot out from a sunset temporarily providing relief to what was another scorching day. Digging into my Walkman, Television’s sound blew me away so much that I can still remember the moment when I first heard this album. Same goes for Magazine’s The Correct Use Of Soap, the dark and intricate yet simplistically fuzzy sounds made time stand still.

A decade later, and I’m at Radio Radio catching a glimpse at 90 Day Men perform. As soon as they take stage the band erupts into something that can only be considered an exorcism. Prolonged instrumentals lead into howling vocals lead into more prolonged instrumentals. 20 minutes or two hours, who the hell cared once you were trapped in that surrealistic tesseract. Once again time stood at a standstill and left me with a moment I will never forget.

A decade further into time, we bring ourselves to the Present, and I put on Disappears’ Lux. Comprised of 90 Day Men’s Brian Case (along with Boas member Graeme Gibson and Jonathon Van Herik as well as Damon Carruesco) anything could be possible with a line up like that. But reality and the first notes sank in, and the simplistic intensity is shockingly radiant.

If bands like Magazine and Television gave us the scent of black leather, Neu! shoved us into the heat of a stellerator and pinpointed the force of energy in a feedback mass of repetition, the same mass that controls songs like “Marigold” and serve as a homage on the band’s album cover, mimicking Neu!’s simplistic one word diagonal design.

Some of my favorite bands are the ones whose raw drive pushes us forward beyond the  initial conception of what music is made of. Add the Disappears to this list.