Chicago quintet Disappears entranced fans at The Satellite with their hybrid of Kraut and garage rock. With the exception of “Halo,” “Magics,” and “New Fast,” they played entirely new material (which will comprise their new LP to be recorded in October). This year’s Guider introduced a less melodic but exceedingly mesmerizing sound than Lux with its cyclical, driving rhythms, and Disappears continued in this direction.
Instrumentally, the band couldn’t have been more solid; skeletal guitarist/vocalist Brian Case seemed to communicate telepathically through a half-drunken shoegaze. As drummer Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) and bassist Damon Carruesco pounded out inexorable rhythms, lead guitarist Jonathan Van Herik flavored the set tonally with expert use of a wah pedal and feedback, ostensibly attempting to lacerate his instrument with incendiary strumming. With Brian Case only interrupting the music twice to express his thanks and fuzz connecting each song to the next, Disappears transported listeners to a speed-induced motorcycle flight through the underworld.
Throughout the set, Brian Case’s lyrics were mostly unintelligible under layers of heavy reverb and echo. They evoked the image of a protestor shouting into a shoddy megaphone to militarize his troops. Thus, as Case crept off the stage and joined the audience I felt it was appropriate to ask him the following question. “If your music could speak, what would it say?” His answer: “move over.”
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