I don’t listen to a lot of straight-up rock bands anymore, but Disappears (who were one of my surprises in my list last year), returned just a few months later with another cool record. And while I wrote last year that their album was difficult, one that I would hardly go around recommending to people. It sounded like “garage band, but with the garage door closed,” as I wrote.
But on Pre Language, they brought Sonic Youth’s drummer into the studio for the first time (he’s since left the band), turned everything up a little louder, infused their riffs with a menacing repetition, and get a huge awesome swirly psychedelic groove going. Don’t mess with these guys.