Squeezing eight songs into a slender 24-minutes, My Disco's Cancer is a jarring, incredibly noisy record that marries mechanical, angular guitars with a superbly tight rhythm section.
My Disco sound like Shellac, and judging by the "Recorded and mixed in analogue..." on the back of the record, it would seem that they also share similar aesthetics, perhaps even politics. Whichever way (and not making any mention of the fact that they are most probably named after a Big Black song) My Disco do sound like they have borrowed, at the very least, a little of Albini and co.'s taste for clinically precise music. This, I mention, not as a criticism, but rather to give you an idea of the type of sound My Disco have cultivated. Sure, there are musical cues, there is reminiscence, but My Disco are their own band, and, accordingly, they've written a pretty decent batch of songs and collected them into a pretty decent record.
The lyrics - or, rather, the structure of the lyrics - reminds me of The Underclass-era Rudimentary Peni: abstract, and equally grim, especially if one keeps the record's title in mind whilst listening. I don't rightly know whether this is a concept album à la My Chemical Romance or whether, in fact, the lyrics are an honest exploration of something that was actively experienced by a member of the band or someone known to a member of the band. Whatever the source of the narrative, the half-spoken vocals capture the mood perfectly.
Cancer is a pretty good record, and, if you like noisy music, I suggest you pick it up. I am left with the impression, however, that these songs will sound even better live, and I look forward to seeing the band in action in a few weeks time.
your righteous squat's been burned to the ground
Reviewed on Monday, 19 March 2007