DesaparecidosI’m just about to head out to the cinema to see American Dreamz, so this will be a brief one. What better music to get friday morning off to a rocking start though?

You probably already know , but for those that don’t, they are a five piece band led by Conor Oberst, who will be familiar to just about everyone as Bright Eyes. is much more of a flat out rock band, allowing driving guitars while Conor gets all shouty. It should really be a disaster given Bright Eyes is at it’s best when most mellow, but it all comes together perfectly. This is also helped by the style of song being completely different. While Bright Eyes is deeply personal and introspective on the most part, focus on taking everyone around them to task for the state of the world. This means that the album gets very political at times, which is always a good thing for music to me.

These mp3s are both taken from their 2002 album ‘Read Music/Speak Spanish’:

MP3 Desaparecidos – Man And Wife, The Former (Financial Planning)
MP3 Desaparecidos – The Happiest Place On Earth

Buy it at Insound!‘Man And Wife, The Former’ is about the most personal song on the album, focusing on a young couple trying to make things work for the future. In typical Conor fashion, this is followed up on the album with ‘Man And Wife, The Latter (Damaged Goods)’, where everything has fallen apart. ‘The Happiest Place On Earth’ is a scathing attack on American policy and the concept of the American dream. “I want to pledge allegiance to the country where I live / I don’t want to be ashamed to be American / But oppurtunity, no it doesn’t exist / it’s the opiate of the populace” rambles Conor, getting increasingly angry as the song goes on. The politics can be a little overbearing at times if that’s not what you want from your rock music, but I like it, so I’m not going to complain too much.

As usual, they have one of those website things and a Myspace, which is probably just run by Saddle Creek anyway.