When Jim Paschall moved back to Seattle recently, he didn't just get Display back together, he also un-dormanted (I swear that's a word. Go ahead and challenge, man, you're just gonna lose a turn.) his other band from the same era, Male/Female. Initially a side project where he could play mainly guitar (he played bass in Display), Male/Female continued after the breakup of Display, and released one (to my knowledge) CD-R EP in 2006, Slow it Down in the Mineral Bath.
Along with Paschall, the art noise kraut groove punk foursome comprised Eric Yates, formerly of Portal and recently of Tit Pig, on synths, bass, and sometimes guitar, Emily Lohuis on drums (now Emily Moore, as she is married to Display's drummer Danny, thus obligating them to regular marital drum-offs), and John from the New Avenues, whose guitar duties have been handed over to Colby Ford for M/F V2.
The way I see it, everything I've posted here has been leading up to this moment. This is my second favorite album of all time (first is Pet Sounds), and over the 9 years since its release, I've come to accept that one of the main reasons I've been put on this earth is to be a Display evangelist. Now, I realize that hyping something makes it more difficult for a new listener to enjoy it, so if all my fawning is sounding like a too good to be true situation, then stop reading and just download the album.
Display were an arty dance-punk (or is it dancey art-punk?) trio out of Everett, formed by bassist Jim Paschall and guitarist Jeremy Cooper of The Past, and Danny Moore on drums. They wrote short, taut songs in Sonic Youth-inspired alternate tunings, anchored by Danny's fast and crisp beats. In contrast to the largely instrumental, slow moodiness of The Past, Display was more poppy and accessible, with Jim and Jeremy trading lead vocal duties, but no less artful and forward-thinking. Display was unlike anything else in town at the time.
Despite frequent positive write-ups in the local music press, a commanding set at the Capitol Hill Block Party, and many shows with other forward thinking bands like Shoplifting and The Gossip, Display never reached the heights they should have. The sad story of why you may not already know this band is that they refused label offers to release their music, opting to self-record and self-release, but doing it all themselves delayed the process, and by the time they finally got it out (packaged beautifully in a thick hinged mirror case they designed and assembled), sudden health problems forced the band to break up within about a week of the album's release. It was only available on consignment in a few shops, at one show, or direct from the band. Only a few dozen copies were made, as far as I know.
I've also just uploaded 11 old videos to Youtube, in this playlist:
Be advised that the video resolution isn't great, but I originally got them in this resolution and don't have the originals.
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