Posts Tagged ‘Desaparecidos’

DESAPARECIDOS – ” Read Music​/​Speak Spanish ” 20th Anniversary Edition

Posted: June 21, 2017 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

Desaparecidos is a 5-piece rock band fronted by Bright Eyes singer/songwriter Conor Oberst (vocals, guitar) and featuring Denver Dalley (guitar), Landon Hedges (bass, vocals), Ian McElroy (keyboards), and Matt Baum (drums). Matt and Ian are familiar to many of you from the various incarnations of Bright Eyes‘ touring band of which they played in.

Conor Oberst may be better known for his confessional song writing and storytelling, but Desaparecidos is nothing of the sort. Indeed, similar vocal melodies and song structure are present, but the guitars are loud and distorted, the bass is pounding, and the drums and keyboards round out this hi-energy, pop-rock band without the lyrical focus of personal relationships. Oberst screams out observational commentary about urban development, the sacrifice of human value for the dollar bill, and the new American Dream.

http://

2022 finds us releasing the 20th Anniversary Edition of Desaparecidos’ “Read Music/Speak Spanish” into a world in which the dread and disenfranchisement detailed throughout the album feel as pertinent today as they did then. The characters and settings may have changed, but the startling narrative has not.

In late 2001, Conor Oberst, Denver Dalley, Landon Hedges, Ian McElroy, and Matt Baum spent a week at Presto! Recording Studio in Lincoln, NE recording a punk album. That debut album, released in the post-9/11 fog of early 2002, screamed out observational commentary on urban development, the sacrifice of human value for the dollar bill, and the new American Dream in a way that felt distinctly out of sync with the hyper-patriotic atmosphere of peak G.W. Bush-era America.

The band toured, got a bit of attention, and then went their separate ways for a long spell. In the ensuing years, Read Music/Speak Spanish gained cult status and became one of the most beloved and meaningful documents of the era, capturing the alienation that those who had seen through the fog of war for $$$$ experienced at the time.

20 years on, those feelings are just as, if not more, relevant than they were in that moment. America has mutated into a new confused version of itself, in many ways unimaginable two decades ago. Yet, the fear and disgust voiced on Read Music/Speak Spanish now sound more prophetic than paranoid, making the album’s message as necessary as ever.

Setting out to capture the rawness of the band, the record was recorded over one week at Presto! Recording Studio in Lincoln with producer Mike Mogis. Bright Eyes fans will love it, but it’ll also appeal to anyone who’s ever dug At The Drive In, The Pixies, Weezer, Dinosaur Jr., etc.

This album was originally released February 11th, 2002

DESAPARECIDOS – ” Payola “

Posted: January 2, 2016 in MUSIC
Tags: ,
0

http://

After the success of Oberst’s band Bright Eyes, the punk-leaning Desaparecidos seemed inked in the Nebraska indie history books as a one-and-done project after releasing the Read Music / Speak Spanish LP in 2002. But after Bright Eyes waned in the public spotlight, the band regrouped in 2010 for Nebraska’s Concert for Equality, an event that aimed to aide the repeal of anti-immigrant legislation in Fremont, Nebraska. A mini-tour in 2012 followed, and the ball started rolling on new material from the five-piece outfit. The inevitable LP doesn’t play out like an old band finding its footing. With an election just around the corner, Oberst and Co. seem anxious not only to churn out some great punk tunes, but to also turn that high-gain energy toward the political landscape. That energy is Payola’s best asset. Though its 14 tracks were recorded sporadically across something like three years with co-producer Mike Mogis, you’d be hard-pressed to hear a lack of momentum or consistency. The tracks cover a wide-range topically but with Oberst cutting any and all metaphorical fat, his points rise above the glorious racket of gliding synths and feedback. Rebellion hasn’t sounded this awesome—or honest—in a long time

DESAPARECIDOS – ” Backsell “

Posted: December 4, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: ,
0

An album that makes the discographies of Propagandhi and Rise Against look impenetrably subtle by comparison, Payola proudly bears its politics in song titles like “The Left Is Right,” “MariKKKopa,” and “Slacktivist.” There’s no mistaking the passion that seethes in each of Payola’s 14 tracks, some of the most ferociously melodic rock songs released this year.

If there was any knock to be made on Desaparecidos’ otherwise perfect 2002 album Read Music/Speak Spanish, it was that it was too Omaha. The band’s brilliantly crafted songs chronicling the growing pains and local politics of their hometown were almost enviable from a national perspective. How about directing some of that energy outwards, dudes? Fortunately, when Conor Oberst and crew returned for their lonnnnng-awaited sophomore album, Payola, 13 years later, they did just that. Each of the record’s 14 songs is a self-contained indictment of a large-scale American problem, which, unfortunately for the country but fortunately for music, there is no shortage of. Failed healthcare systems, institutionalized xenophobia, and Wall Street bro culture all feel the vengeful and sometimes wonderfully sarcastic hand of Desaparecidos. Not to mention that sonically, Payola is about as solid of a distortion-heavy rock record as you’re gonna get.

DESAPARECIDOS – ” City On The Hill “

Posted: April 15, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

Desaparecidos is a band from Nebraska. It is a project headed by singer/guitarist Conor Oberst, the frontman of the indie folk band Bright Eyes.
“City On The Hill” by Desaparecidos from the album ‘Payola’, out June 23rd, Conor Oberst’s new punk band Desaparecidos just announced Payola, their first album in thirteen years. It will be released June 23 via Epitaph.
Today, the band have shared a video for “City on the Hill”, comprised of ads, news footage, and clips from movies and television. It was directed by Rob Soucy. The band are Desaparecidos its members are Conor Oberst
Landon Hedges, Casey Scott, Matt Baum, Denver Dalley, Ian McElroy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ydyMWSUf8