1996.London. Brit Pop was almost over. Damon was looking for an escape hatch. No more 'knees up Mother Brown.' It was tired beyond description and he knew it. He turned as he did in moments of dire emergency, to guitarist Graham Coxon who had been driven to despair by the House in the Country video and anyway was much more into Pavement, Beck and Guided by Voices these days. Albarn concurred and given that Stephen Malkmus was a houseguest at the home that he and Justine Frischmann shared at the time, maybe started taking notes on how to transition out of this dead end.
Blur regrouped and wrote and recorded the Blur album. A conscious attempt to reinvent the their brand. Fortunately for them, it worked. Listening to Madison, Wisconsin quintet Disq's second album Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet reminded me of that record more than any other.
I don't mind at all. That Blur record is a very fine record and I'm happy to listen to anything that takes leads from Pavement, Beck or Guided by Voices either. But the resemblances are immediate and enduring from its opening moments.
It's strange hearing a record that sounds like this in 2022. Disq weren't born when Beetlebum was recorded. But then Blur weren't when The Kinks made the records that in turn influenced them so much so I guess it's all fair game.
Anyhow Disq have done a very good job. This is also a fine record, although it will almost certainly drag listeners of a certain age back to the Nineties. Apart from the aforementioned, I also hear The Lemonheads, R.E.M. of Monster, Fountains of Wayne, Weezer and other similar suspects.
This is certainly highly promising anyhow and I'll tune in for whatever comes next. Perhaps next time round they might carve out a greater identity for themselves but in the meantime, this will more than do.
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