10 Obscure And Rare Hard Rock & Metal Albums
5. Desaparecidos - Read Music/Speak Spanish (2002)
The brilliance of post-hardcore punk outfit Desaparecidos can’t be overstated. Formed in Omaha in 2001 by singer/guitarist Conor Oberst, the centrepiece of indie darlings Bright Eyes, the band recorded a single album together in 2002, the amazing Read Music/Speak Spanish, before quietly dissolving so that Oberst could devote more time to his more profitable main project, the other members scattering to the four winds.
That album, though… Read Music/Speak Spanish was spiky, unforgiving, politically vociferous punk rock, totally unlike Bright Eyes’ confessional, spare sound. Recorded in a single week - the same week of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon - the album follows a cohesive theme attacking runaway American consumerism, greed and class mobility.
The timing was lousy, and the band considered not releasing the album at all, or holding it back, but ultimately put it out as planned. It didn’t sell, further cementing Oberst’s decision to focus on Bright Eyes. However, in the years since Desaparecidos’ have gained a significant cult following as more and more people discovered Read Music/Speak Spanish, blown away by this obscure but vital project.
They’ve since reformed to release 2015’s Payola, another brilliant set that this time benefited from the notoriety that Desaparecidos had received in the intervening decade and change.