― Lord Custos, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
& "yes she is my skinhead girl" is a great indie pop song.
― fritz, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
But dud, especially for "Isabel".
― Tom, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
And Ms. Bridget Cross STILL needs to get that Panax / what-have-you project off zee ground, please?
― David Raposa, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
Also, Bridget Cross = minimalist bass genius.
I may even like Flin Flon better than Unrest, just on the strength of "Swift Current" and _Boo Boo_ (the first album isn't as good).
― Douglas, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
He does it by listening to a lot of "What Goes On" and '89-90 Wedding Present? j/k
Unrest must haves:
― http://gygax.pitas.com, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
further covered "isabel" on their sometimes chimes 2xLP. really strange evocative version. speeded guitar/sample sounds like a harpsichord.
David is OTM, except I wouldn't really know. Well, I have the experience of sudden shock and joy, dragging myself up those imaginary stairs. The recognition component is high. Tom, in the chapter of your book on the tension between rhythm and recognition, anonymity vs. eye contact, in (not) dance music, you've got to mention Unrest! (The rhythm component isn't bad either, but I suppose glorious=not cool.)
I prefer Perfect Teeth to Imperial f.f.r.r., 'Make Out Club' and 'Six Layer Cake' to 'Suki' and 'Cherry Cherry'. It's better when Bridget sings the songs that are not supposed to be glorious, e.g., 'Light Command'. Her version of 'Winona Ryder' is also better than Mark's.
― youn, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
I have to agree with Douglas on the "imperial f.f.r.r." being the "Another Green World" of indiepop bit. Thankfully, it was this record that got me into indie rock, and not something more uniform and less minimal. My favorite pieces on this album are, as David mentioned, the more warped difficult ones, like "Firecracker" and "Imperial". Tom, "Isabel" and "Cherry Cherry" don't exactly describe this album as a whole. If anything, this record kinda approximates the feel of a Tall Dwarfs record. "Imperial f.f.r.r." is a stunning record.
And over time, so is "Perfect Teeth", though it's more of an indie- pop record. "Angel I Will Walk You Home", "Cath Carroll", "Soon It's Going To Rain", "Food and Drink Synthesizer" (maybe getting the titles wrong here), "Stylized Ampersand" are all amazing songs.
"Malcolm X Park" and "Kustom Karnal Blackxploitation" are amazing in completely different ways. Then, they seem like a band that's sorta poking fun at Dischord while really drunk... though I think they serious... maybe. Is this where the whole punk-embracing-soul thing started? Seriously... the Make*Up must have listened to "Disko Magick" and ran with it, sans humor.
― Brian MacDonald, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― Miranda, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― adam, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― Andy K, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― g, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 19 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
FYI, "Disco Magik" rips off the Red Hot Chili Peppers ("True Men Don't Kill Cayotes"). They staggered around a lot and could be smartass/obscurantist in the worst way--I hate Fuck Pussy Galore, most of Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation, most of Perfect Teeth, and all Air Miami. (I noticed Christgau hates Imperial but he seems to have no facility for trancing.) Unrest influencde much crap, too.
Still, they made a new kind of jam minimalism that built on Sonic Youth without copying. They heard what was beautiful about Beat Happening and applied it to what they took from Joy Division. They had a mystery about them that made mail-order pop seem fun for a couple years.
Classic: "Teenage Suicide" off Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation (cover of the tune from Heathers), Malcolm X Park LP, Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl EP, Cherry Cream On EP, that Sub Pop single of covers, Imperial f.f.r.r. (American version), BPM compilation CD, "Nation Writer" off Isabel Bishop CD, "Where Are All Those Puerto Rican Boys?" off promotional Cath Carroll CD, "Angel I Will Walk You Home" off Perfect Teeth. Also: The Olympic Death Squad CD (Robinson solo) and Flin Flon live.
― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 24 August 2002 20:02 (10 years ago) Permalink
On a side note, what do you all think of the 24 Hour Party People flick?
― Markian Uno, Tuesday, 27 August 2002 03:46 (10 years ago) Permalink
― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 08:55 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 08:59 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 09:02 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 09:05 (10 years ago) Permalink
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 13:57 (10 years ago) Permalink
unrest never did a damn thing for me, except one song off fuck pussy galore that i can barely remember. (i want to say track three, but that'll be some horrible shambling indie pop thing and i will look the fool.)
― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 14:02 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 14:34 (10 years ago) Permalink
― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 15:38 (10 years ago) Permalink
102 Beats that publication date = 26th September by the way, i.e. six months after part 1.
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 15:41 (10 years ago) Permalink
I get the feeling it needs to be thought of somewhat in context to be appreciated. American indie rock coming through into the nineties was pretty much deplorably rock: the 80s models were bands like the Replacements or Fugazi, big shouty crunchy-chord American rock bands, and just before 93 -- when Perfect Teeth was released -- a great grungy shot of even rawkier influence had been injected and toppled the whole thing over toward the mainstream. Meanwhile the UK was seeing stirrings of a less traditionalist indie approach -- Too Pure, roots of post-rock or what-have-you -- but while plenty of American bands were following this, they weren't really impacting the overall course of American indie, and even the American bands flogging that stuff in the UK, like Th Faith Healers, still had heavy doses of very American grit.
Perfect Teeth was not only an antidote to that but an advancement on it. It was entirely clean-lined: Robinson's big guitar blasts pretty much lacked distortion -- in America! in 1993! -- and instead gave us that frantic sped-up jangle that's distinctively his contribution to the lexicon. The record was also spacious, and spacey. At the point Stereolab was still working its wall-of-sound drone, but a lot of the tiny blip-tone melodies Unrest were constructing pointed ahead to the stuff Stereolab would be doing during a much later phase of their career -- the backing vocals at the end of "Angel I Will Walk You Home," for instance, this sort of concrete tone-placement approach that's all over the record. They managed to turn the foreground of their music into something like a Mondrian painting, the clean-lined blocks of particular tones, in a way that seemed to turn away from most of the other things going on at the time, and the sort of techy spaciness of those tones combined with Robinson's vague leaning toward some image of a 50s-style pop combo to create and probably surpass what would, four or five years later, become a major theme in indie internationally, even though no one connected that with anything Unrest had been doing.
It seemed cleaner and spacier and more friendly and cerebral than the highly-emotive rock idiom of the moment, and more bedroomy, and more personal: "Back when I was twenty / I didn't think anyone liked me." And it managed to set all of its most fascinating impulses in context: it functioned terrifically as a rock album, as a pop album, and as an "experimental" album. Which is, I think, a lot of why it gets praised so often, but also a lot of why it gets slated as a run-of-mill record: it certainly seems continuous with most of what else was going on at the time, but really it's quite difficult to come up with anyone else who sounded quite like them, or even anyone else who's particularly followed the techniques that were actually uniquely theirs.
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 16:03 (10 years ago) Permalink
Well, I probably shouldn't have used the term "indie-pop" so loosely, as I meant it colloquially, and not as any sort of "pop" at all. Ooops.
Don't get me wrong. "Make Out Club" and maybe "Cath Carroll" had at least some potential for radio play, IMHO. But as a whole, "Perfect Teeth" is certainly not a 'pop' record.
Nabisco did a GRATE job of his summation of said record. Though, I'll add that since listening to a heavy dose of early Factory record bands since, I can now definitely hear those elements in almost all of Unrest, unique they may be, in the 90s. Mark Robinson would be the first to admit it. (Well, "A Factory record" is pretty much an admission right there)
― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 16:32 (10 years ago) Permalink
Also I think their post-Unrest projects do a good job of pointing up what was uniquely theirs: the minimalist concrete rock of Flin Flon is really quite intriguingly assembled, and deserves credit for feeling more like the propulsion of let's say Gang of Four than most of the bands actually imitating Gang of Four; and I still think the Air Miami record is lovely, a perfect showcase for the side of Robinson that's obsessed with arranging these clean hypnotic tones into breezy beachy pop songs. It also gets at his weird habit of taking Factory-style sounds but swinging them toward punchy major-key pop (the Stockholm Monsters are maybe the only precedent I can find for this, and it's still sort of different) -- as generally "new-wave" as they sound, it's tough to find very good analogies for the approaches of "Sweet Little Heartbreaker" or "Neely."
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 16:52 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Paul (scifisoul), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 16:58 (10 years ago) Permalink
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 18:42 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 18:50 (10 years ago) Permalink
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 28 August 2002 07:10 (10 years ago) Permalink
― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 04:15 (8 years ago) Permalink
I saw them live at Maxwells after Perfect Teeth and they did this long a capella bit that was beyond goofy. Bridgid Cross started to crack up in the middle of it, which was cool.
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 04:34 (8 years ago) Permalink
The bonus tracks aren't hugely revelatory (and fans probably have 'em already, except for the demos), but do buy it for the nice remastering job.
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 04:44 (8 years ago) Permalink
― keith m (keithmcl), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 04:47 (8 years ago) Permalink
this is the truest statement on this thread. as a guitar player, "cath carroll" makes me jealous. as a songwriter, "isabel" makes me jealous. as a grammarian, this paragraph is loaded with problematic sentences, but i'm too lazy to edit it.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 04:50 (8 years ago) Permalink
There are a million things about the album I love, but I particularly love the double-tracked vocals on "Blushing" and how they diverge into non-obvious, amazing harmonies. Or on "June" where Bridget sings a pedal note for the "How did it feel to be 26 degrees?" part along with the main vocal melody.
...or how they put two instrumentals back to back, as if to say, "These are not throwaways" - and they are indeed essential! (On the other hand, I wouldn't have cared if they had left off "Food & Drink Synthesizer" from Perfect Teeth.) You have the drum machine precision of "Champion Nines" followed by the kinda-sloppy-but-in-a-good-way drumming of "Sugarshack".
Mark's guitar sound is just perfect. I mean, when I listen to the opening notes of "Goodbye," I'm practically in tears.
How does ILX rate the Phil Krauth solo albums? I only have Silver Eyes - it's okay, didn't really inspire me to buy more, though. That Panax song that was on one of the TeenBeat samplers was great. Do they have anything else?
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 05:24 (8 years ago) Permalink
http://64.224.76.125/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=KRAD&Product_Code=KCD016&Category_Code=IJ
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 2 March 2005 15:31 (8 years ago) Permalink
The Panax 7" is so so so so great. Their entire output is that 7" and the comp track which is also great.
― adam (adam), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 16:24 (8 years ago) Permalink
i'm gonna have to top and say completely fucking classic! i love this band so much.
― htshell, Saturday, 15 March 2008 16:49 (5 years ago) Permalink
I totally love their cover of "God Gave Rock and Roll To You". After being blown away by that in the early 90s I picked up Perfect Teeth and never really got into it. But that one cover was amazing.
― Euler, Saturday, 15 March 2008 17:07 (5 years ago) Permalink
And right you are for it! xpost
― mehlt, Saturday, 15 March 2008 17:57 (5 years ago) Permalink
After not listening to them for a year or so I random-shuffled onto "Imperial" the other day and was elated all over again. What a great band.
― Douglas, Sunday, 16 March 2008 15:04 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, to me they are just undeniably fantastic. Its so easy to call them one of my all time favorite bands.
The comparison to "what goes on" way up thread is very otm
― later arpeggiator, Sunday, 16 March 2008 15:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
Was just thinking about them a bit yesterday. Very glad to have caught them twice, both times great.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 16 March 2008 16:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
I saw them the night Bill Clinton was elected! They were great.
Was just reading Matos' "great out-of-print albums" column on Perfect Teeth in Idolator the other day.
― sleeve, Sunday, 16 March 2008 16:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
'I do believe that you are blushing'was always a favourite of mine Beautiful. That album (Imperial...) on the wonderful and badly missed Ajax records for a while?
I have an album by Unrest in my loft that sounds more like I thought Unrest would sound - punk. And it's not the one with the girl on the cover.I've just done a fruitless, probably lazy, google and not found it. Any ideas?
― Fer Ark, Sunday, 16 March 2008 20:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Sorry - talking to myself here - think it was their first album
― Fer Ark, Sunday, 16 March 2008 20:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
Malcolm X Park?
― Mackro Mackro, Sunday, 16 March 2008 22:02 (5 years ago) Permalink
One of my favorite bands of all time.
Fortunately, I was visiting friends in DC and was there for this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQbUIgn7PIs. You find crazy shit on the internets.
― Bill in Chicago, Sunday, 16 March 2008 22:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
Hmmm, I just noticed that the two Air Miami demo cassettes are available from Teenbeat on CDR. I have mp3s of one of them...not bad. May have to place an order.
― dlp9001, Monday, 17 March 2008 00:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
Listening to Imperial F.F.R.R. for the first time in forever (nice remastered LP reissue). Might like it better now than I did then, and that's saying a lot. A lot a lot a lot a lot. Especially digging the more abstract tracks that seemed so much less immediately appealing when I first heard it. Best semi-unheralded U.S. indie rock LP of the early 90s? I dunno. How much competition is there? More than anything, I like how of its time and genre it sounds without sounding like anything else out there. It presents itself superficially as this casually scruffy, almost tossed-off object, very much in the style of the moment, but the arrangement and sequencing are incredibly well integrated. is It doesn't "break barriers" or invent a whole new pop aesthetic, but it hums along with this oddly propulsive slackness and hits it out of the park song after song after song. I can see why some might be annoyed by the sentimental directness of "Isabel", but it's short and sweet enough for me to accept without qualms. In fact, Isabel's only deficiency is its tendency to be held up as the album's avatar (when Imperial & Loyola obviously deserve that honor). Only thing I really miss is "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl", and maybe the 7" version of "Cherry Cherry". "Wednesday and Proud"?
Now I wanna dig out Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation and Perfect Teeth.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 02:28 (3 years ago) Permalink
It's just not Imperail ffrr without Yes She is My Skinhead Girl and Wednesday and Proud.
― EDB, Sunday, 11 October 2009 12:57 (3 years ago) Permalink
Must be a UK v. US thing - I don't associate those songs with Imperial f.f.r.r. at all. Good songs, but in my mind would tip the album toward a poppier vibe than it should be.
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 11 October 2009 13:03 (3 years ago) Permalink
I'm North American but have a UK version. Those are two of the best songs on the album, and I couldn't live without them (I guess US distributers were a bit sketched out about songs about fucking skinhead girls on sandy beaches?)
Also I was shocked to find out how bored I was by Perfect Teeth about a month ago. I spent a long time looking for a copy, and now aside from utter classics like Angel I'll walk you home, Breather xoxo and six layer cake, I can barely be bothered. Not a criticism, per se, as much as a personal feeling of disappointment.
― EDB, Sunday, 11 October 2009 14:45 (3 years ago) Permalink
Don't think US distribs were sketched about anything. It's just that the UK version tacked on a few contemporaneous singles that might have been hard to track down outside the States. I.e., those songs really don't properly belong on Imperial F.F.R.R. Sort of standard practice for US vs. UK releases. Most of the US Fall LPs include singles not on the original UK versions.
And, yeah, I always saw Perfect Teeth as a disappointment in the wake of Imperial. Decent record on its own merits, just a bit of a let-down in comparison.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 16:17 (3 years ago) Permalink
perfect teeth is great!
― scott seward, Sunday, 11 October 2009 16:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
so, is it weird that i LOVE almost everything i've heard from mark robinson since 1991 (cherry cherry single), but that i've heard very little before 1991? i mean, i just never sought it out. i love unrest, i love mark solo, i love flin flon, i love air miami, i like (maybe not love) grenadine. i think maybe i'm afraid i won't like the earlier stuff as much. or maybe i'm just a weirdo. and i still need a copy of origami and urbanism.
― scott seward, Sunday, 11 October 2009 16:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
Early stuff is very different, so your trepidation makes a kind of sense. Prior to Imperial, I don't think they really knew what they wanted to do or be, so they sort of bounced around through their influences. Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation seems like the epitome of this. Slots in with the loud guitars, funk-metal tendencies and dangerous/transgressive fascinations of early 90s indie/avant culture, but the band doesn't seem to feel terribly comfortable in that clothing. Skinhead Girl single seemed like the breakthrough at the time, the point at which they became themselves (kicking off a rush of great material on the run-up to Imperial: Factory EP, Bavarian Mods, Cherry Cherry).
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 17:02 (3 years ago) Permalink
Don't think US distribs were sketched about anything. Since they were on the label they ran I would say no, too. Also noteworthy that they didn't tack those on to the remaster.
Scott -The further back you go the less pop and more post-punk Mark's work is; if that's your thing, it's worth exploring. I have copies of some of the early cassette stuff but never dif out anything pre-Imperial.
x-post
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 11 October 2009 17:05 (3 years ago) Permalink
Picked up a copy of the Isabel Bishop EP at the shoppe this morning - after trying and failing to find the "Skinhead Girl" 45 (where do things go when you aren't looking at them?). So great, and it's especially interesting to hear Teenage Suicide and Nation Writer in the context of this discussion. They seem like the bridge between Kustom Karnal and Imperial, along with She Makes Me Shake Like a Soul Machine, which sounds totally out of place on KK.
Now I gotta track down BPM and the Cath Carrol EP...
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:15 (3 years ago) Permalink
As far as I know, the two older tracks that fans of late Unrest need to hear are, "She Makes Me Shake Like a Soul Machine" and "Can't Sit Still." Not to say that the other stuff isn't worth hearing. My favorite song of theirs is still "Vibe Out!" Completists shouldn't forget the Mod Fuck Explosion soundtrack, only one song of which is on CD to my knowledge.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:28 (3 years ago) Permalink
2nd Can't Sit Still - that was the song that first caught my attention, twenty goddam years ago. Would add Christina to the S list, also from Malcolm X Park.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 20:43 (3 years ago) Permalink
"Vibe Out" is one of my favorites also, so good.
also search "Headringer" from the Magic Flowers 7" box and the acoustic "Cath Carroll".
― sleeve, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:18 (3 years ago) Permalink
Forgot about Headringer! Box was called Magic Ribbons, irc. A lot of it was crap, but that's a great Unrest song it also had a whole bunch of early Sebadoh tracks, including Cyster, which I liked a lot. Plus I loved the shit out of Mystery Tramps' The Trip, though I don't think I ever heard anything else by the band. Kind of CVB-esque.
The label, Leopard Gecko put out some early Seaweed stuff, a Treehouse single that I remember half liking, cool stuff by an Melvins-y Oly band called Dangermouse and a Barbed Wire Dolls 45 that's still a guilty pleasure (vaguely reminiscent of The Cult).
[/waybackmachine]
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
Apologize for the terrible prose/grammar there. And elsewhere.
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:34 (3 years ago) Permalink
the 'fuck pussy galore' cd has at least five tracks that would appeal to fans of the imperial-era stuff. i think it's pretty easy to find cheap secondhand
i just remembered that courtney love did a cover of 'skinhead girl' that i don't think i've ever heard, i should seek it out for laffs
― sound of contusion (electricsound), Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:37 (3 years ago) Permalink
those Sebadoh tracks are now on the Domino reissue of Freed Weed (xpost)
― sleeve, Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:44 (3 years ago) Permalink
Picked up a copy of the Isabel Bishop EP at the shoppe this morning- - love love love this version of the song & also the Marine Girls cover. I wish I had access to it right now, actually, but it is buried in a box somewhere..
― cervix-a-lot (Pillbox), Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:54 (3 years ago) Permalink
Aaaaand this afternoon I picked up BPM, just to get full coverage of the circa-Imperial singles & cetera (OCD kicking in hard). Nice that this stuff is so easily available used in indie shops. Again, the entire whoosh of songs they released between late 1990 and early '93 is just incredible. Sudden outpourings of all-genius material in otherwise uneven careers are strange. Welcome, but strange...
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Monday, 12 October 2009 01:12 (3 years ago) Permalink
Why why why hasn't some aspiring rapper sampled "Champion Nines" (off Imperial)?????
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 12 October 2009 01:22 (3 years ago) Permalink
[nabisco]=Nabisco? Why do you hide under a different name? What's the point if everyone recognizes you anyway? Is this a quiz show?― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:42 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban PermalinkN****h has googling fears, Alex -- it's to do with a thread he posted on that his mother found, but the thread itself wasn't the type of thing you'd necessarily talk to your mother about. ;-)― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:50 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:42 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban PermalinkN****h has googling fears, Alex -- it's to do with a thread he posted on that his mother found, but the thread itself wasn't the type of thing you'd necessarily talk to your mother about. ;-)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:50 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Ha ha old ILM.
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 12 October 2009 01:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
Ha ha also on the new ILX automatically substituting nabisco's real name on the quote.
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 12 October 2009 01:24 (3 years ago) Permalink
Every time an Unrest thread pops up, I go to the teenbeat site and find out that there's new product. No exception now: two live shows now available. May have to investigate...
― dlp9001, Monday, 12 October 2009 02:25 (3 years ago) Permalink
Hey, just noticed that the copy of B.P.M. I picked up the other day tacks on three bonus tracks at the end: a three-minute version of "Make-Out Club", a short acoustic tune with Bridget singing, and a very brief instrumental version of Styx's "Sailing Away" (more a quote than a proper cover, but whatever). These songs aren't mentioned on the packaging or on Allmusic/Amazon/Discogs, so I'm wondering what the Bridget song is. Anyone know?
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 19:49 (3 years ago) Permalink
keep repeating keep repeating
― cutty, Wednesday, 14 October 2009 20:03 (3 years ago) Permalink
Turns out it's an acoustic version of Light Command, another Perfect Teeth track. Dunno where it comes from, or if it appears anwhere else but on BPM.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 20:12 (3 years ago) Permalink
― scott seward, Sunday, October 11, 2009 12:31 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 21:08 (3 years ago) Permalink
everything post KK Blaxploitation through to the end is near flawless, inc Perfect Teeth
― Remove This Vile Tweet (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 21:15 (3 years ago) Permalink
one of my favorite bands ever, so creative
― Remove This Vile Tweet (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 21:16 (3 years ago) Permalink
Light Command is a great song. Haven't heard that acoustic version tho.
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 14 October 2009 21:20 (3 years ago) Permalink
Wanna pick up a copy of Perfect Teeth now, as I haven't heard it in ages and the PT-era stuff on BPM is just as good as Imperial etc. I have a tendency to fall hard for a certain record and to look askance at whatever comes next simply because it isn't that thing. Years later I'll hear the follow-up record I once denounced and be completely shocked by how RONG I was. Perhaps this is one of those...
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 21:21 (3 years ago) Permalink
I just noticed that a kind of ok Unrest track that's not so easily found has turned up on one of them there blog things. Song is "House Proud" on the soundtrack to Hippy Porn from 1991, which was supposed to come out on Matador, but never did. It sounds a bit like one of their Air Miami demos. I like it, even if it is pretty short. I've had it on cassette for a while but could never manage to transfer to digital.
The soundtrack has a number of other big names on it (Unsane, Frogs, Cop Shoot Cop, Thurston Moore) and a very unessential Dustdevils instrumental. Googling the pertinent bits of this post will turn it up.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 15 November 2009 03:44 (3 years ago) Permalink
can someone tell me the name of that Mark Robinson solo album that's all cutup voice and sine waves?
― sleeve, Sunday, 6 December 2009 01:48 (3 years ago) Permalink
I believe you're thinking about the *Taste* EP: http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Mark-Robinson/dp/B00004TJZ1/
― ernestp, Sunday, 6 December 2009 02:02 (3 years ago) Permalink
Those early Unrest cassettes are available on CD from Teenbeat's site now. I'm guessing they're made to order CD-R's but I may be wrong. But to finally hear Twister and Lisa Carol Freemont after all these years of wondering.
― Sock Puppet Queso Con Concentrate, Sunday, 6 December 2009 02:10 (3 years ago) Permalink
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2010/05/04/three-unrest-lineups-to-headline-teenbeat-26th-anniversary-shows-in-july/
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 15:14 (3 years ago) Permalink
I've got to find a way to get to one of those shows.
― kate78, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 18:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
bummed, no west coast dates!
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 May 2010 18:38 (3 years ago) Permalink
I think the Black Cat show in DC is on sale now.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 18:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
DC area local me should get a ticket before it sells it.
Some of you might find this article that discusses the old Teenbeat house in Arlington, VA., to be of interest
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/38231/the-orange-line-revolution-the-year-that-punk-rock-left
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 18:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
Wow Ropers opening in Hoboken SO FUCKING EXCITED!!!
― Evan, Thursday, 6 May 2010 01:18 (3 years ago) Permalink
great article, thanks! xp
― bug holocaust (sleeve), Thursday, 6 May 2010 01:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
I love this band so much.
― bug holocaust (sleeve), Thursday, 6 May 2010 01:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
I saw them 3-4 times back in the day & once as Air Miami. They are an absolutely terrific live band! Such simple arrangements & yet such lockstep rhythm b/w the guitars & drums - Mark R has such a huge voice too. Hopefully it has aged well?
I might have to make my way east this July.
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Thursday, 6 May 2010 01:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
I saw them the night Clinton was elected. All I remember is them playing "Hydroplane" for 8-10 minutes and Bridget resting her head on Mark's shoulder while they effortlessly jammed out.
― bug holocaust (sleeve), Thursday, 6 May 2010 01:50 (3 years ago) Permalink
One of the best double-bills I've ever attended: Unrest & Stereolab in '93 @ St. Andrews Hall in Detroit - touring for Perfect Teeth & TRNBWA respectively.
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Thursday, 6 May 2010 02:29 (3 years ago) Permalink
^^^ was at that same show...awesome
― henry s, Thursday, 6 May 2010 02:39 (3 years ago) Permalink
One of the best triple bills I ever saw: Unrest, Volcano Suns, Wesding Present at the 9:30, 20 years ago. Anyone else going to the Cambridge show?
― dad a, Thursday, 6 May 2010 02:43 (3 years ago) Permalink
Suki is pretty catchy. I've seen a couple lists that rank Imperial ffras the number one indie album of all time - DO NOT AGREE. But I can't deny it's a pretty attractive album, all the songs are very well done. But holy shit, talk about iconoclasm. I'm sure people have seen the list I'm talking about.
― kelpolaris, Thursday, 6 May 2010 02:47 (3 years ago) Permalink
xxp - have we been through this before, henry s? I think we were probably at a lot of the same shows.
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Thursday, 6 May 2010 02:48 (3 years ago) Permalink
Caught that bill out here at UC Irvine, with Idaho opening. Hell of a triple bill.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 6 May 2010 02:52 (3 years ago) Permalink
idaho, unrest and stereolab in one concert? why wasn't i there?
― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 6 May 2010 10:26 (3 years ago) Permalink
I think we both piled on some thread about Detroit venues, or St. Andrews Hall, or something like that...(I live in Boston now, but am from the D, and went to a ton of shows there in the 80's and 90's)...
― henry s, Thursday, 6 May 2010 11:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
Got my tickets to the NYC show!
― kate78, Thursday, 6 May 2010 23:37 (3 years ago) Permalink
^^^jealous
one of the few bands I would be excited to see a reunion performance by (the other one was Camper Van Beethoven)
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 6 May 2010 23:38 (3 years ago) Permalink
Gotta buy my plane tickets next!
― kate78, Thursday, 6 May 2010 23:43 (3 years ago) Permalink
Would killllllllllllllll to see that.
― Tonight I Dine on Turtle Soup (EDB), Friday, 7 May 2010 00:04 (3 years ago) Permalink
Brooklyn show sold out!
― kate78, Friday, 7 May 2010 05:40 (3 years ago) Permalink
Come to Hoboken, people.
― Evan, Friday, 7 May 2010 13:09 (3 years ago) Permalink
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/07/02/mark_robinson_and_his_little_teenbeat_label_celebrate_a_big_legacy_and_a_26th_anniversary/
― curmudgeon, Friday, 2 July 2010 19:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
huh, a designer for Houghton Mifflin
― has arlen specter never heard clarence thomas's laugh? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 2 July 2010 19:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
I love that he writes hand-written notes for mail orders (I got one for that Maybe It's Reno CD)
will anyone be at the Friday 7/9 show in Brooklyn?
― kate78, Friday, 2 July 2010 20:21 (2 years ago) Permalink
man i was so disappointed at that maybe it's reno album :\
― 69, Friday, 2 July 2010 20:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
really? I thought a lot of it was very much of a piece with Perfect Teeth
― has arlen specter never heard clarence thomas's laugh? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 2 July 2010 20:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, maybe it's reno is great. Takes a few listens to kick in.
― dlp9001, Saturday, 3 July 2010 01:04 (2 years ago) Permalink
I love that he writes hand-written notes for mail orders
Hah, yeah! I only ever ordered from Teenbeat once, got Vomit Launch & No Trend CDs because they were impossible to find here, and got a note from "Mark" I did wonder if it was really him ; )
― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 3 July 2010 01:13 (2 years ago) Permalink
3 versions of Unrest were great in DC tonight ( Versus were as well; and Rondelles weren't bad....Missed the first band...Jonny Cohen in between band was well Jonny). Unrest did "Cath Carroll", "Teenage Suicide," "Suki," "Makeout Club" and many more. Mark's got that wonderful boyish grin as he strums away and sings.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 11 July 2010 06:22 (2 years ago) Permalink
Unrest were great in Hoboken.
― Evan, Sunday, 11 July 2010 06:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
a crucial influence on the transition of american indie aesthetics from B&W photocopies of skulls to colour photocopies of 70's airport lounges.
― fritz, Monday, February 18, 2002 5:00 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark
all time 2nd response HOF
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Sunday, 11 July 2010 06:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
Pals of mine who dj'd at the University of Maryland's WMUC and who hung out with Robinson in the mid to late 80s and early 90s shared Mark's interest in Factory Records. While such interest may not have been prominent as a musical theme in America at the time, it was not necessarily unusual.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 11 July 2010 16:00 (2 years ago) Permalink
Mark's lost a ton of weight.
― kate78, Monday, 12 July 2010 02:43 (2 years ago) Permalink
I had not seen him in so long, I missed the heavy phase.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 12 July 2010 13:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
I was trying to determine the best Unrest record.
the first one a little too juvenalia for my tastes, and perfect teeth never did it for me. a noble failure.
that leaves malcolm x park, kustom karnal, imperial. kustom karnal is great, but a little too genre-bound. imperial has their best songs, but
malcolm x park is their best record.
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 16:10 (2 years ago) Permalink
the pre-Imperial stuff I've heard seems half-formed to me. don't think I've ever listened to Malcolm X Park tho
― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 16:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
you should check it out.
"pop" song highlights-- redo of can't sit still from their first lp. ]Christina, which is a tribute to lawrence hayward vox.
other highlights-- lucifer rising not sure if this references beausoleil/jimmy page origins, but it is fab. raucous cover of kiss' Strutter. Elvis Presley cover. Cramps-informed rockabilly workout. eloquent piano instrumental, recalling vin guaraldi high on lucy shwag, mondrian.
a brilliant mix of self-indulgence and hitting just the right notes for the crowd at each prompting to change over the record. i think large part involved regurgitating influences in a compelling way and not being confined by genre.
one of the best shows i ever saw involved a capella rendition of lord shiva from kustom karnal with his bandmates looking on like "ugh, i'm so embarrassed"
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 16:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
a brilliant mix of self-indulgence and hitting just the right notes for the crowd at each prompting to change over the record.
funny, i can't parse that sentence either.
what i mean, is after each song when you might be tempted to be "ugh", the next track totally switches gears.
i think their eclecticism played a large part in their genius. other big names falling under indie rock from that period, pavement, superchunk, whatever seem so stifled in comparison
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 16:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
can't get past how ugly the sleeve is tbh. from Imperial on all their stuff looks SO great.
― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 16:41 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah, maybe not the best artwork choice ever. i try not to pay too much attention to that stuff. i mean, "unrest" is sort of a ridiculous name for a band.
i agree, though. imperial + the singles around that time, bavarian mods, skinhead girl, etc., are perfect-looking
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 16:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
also, you should check out "headringer" from twister cassette. great early unrest song, man
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 18:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
if you like stuttering epiphones
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 18:57 (2 years ago) Permalink
Drummer Phil Krauth is now my son's English teacher. They had some tough essays on Crime & Punishment.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:19 (2 years ago) Permalink
!!
that's so cool
― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
yes!
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:23 (2 years ago) Permalink
Just realized after 15 years of looking at them that the sleeve photos of B.P.M (1991-1994) are Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls (I've hung out on that overhang!), where Simon Le Bon stopped by and passively watched the band recording long enough to get a joke "producer" credit on Perfect Teeth. That album's first two songs sure stand up as something else (and very Duran Duran), I gotta say.
― Pete Scholtes, Monday, 20 September 2010 21:25 (2 years ago) Permalink
have always wondered about that LeBon credit
― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 21:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah, me too!!
man "angel i will walk you home" is one hell of a song. the fast-strummy stuff is pretty obv the (deserving) focus of their late-oeuvre, but i looooove the slow pretty stuff a lot, too.
― 69, Monday, 20 September 2010 21:41 (2 years ago) Permalink
^^
never got all that much into malcolm x, but when i first heard it i was a huge imperial head so maybe i'd feel differently about it now
― the groin transfer (electricsound), Monday, 20 September 2010 22:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
from imperial on their stuff looks great. and uptight, anal, entirely defined by conventional (mid-to-late 20th century) thinking about "good design" and "good taste".
malcolm X park cover art seems to come from a mirror universe wr2 those buttoned-down aesthetics. raw, sloppy, deliberately ugly, crude, badly designed. somewhat appealing on that level, and representative of the messy, homemade, splattery music within.
― having taken an actual journalism class (contenderizer), Monday, 20 September 2010 22:44 (2 years ago) Permalink
as a record, i can't go with malcolm x park as their best. think they were still defining themselves at that point, working to find an individual voice within a whirl of then-current punk, post-punk, art & indie influences. the follow-up, kustom karnal blaxploitation, seemed like an attempt to align themselves with the likes of sonic youth (creepy tunings, "rock" posturing, dark subject matter), and a triumph within the band of their prog over their pop tendencies, but it's a failure, and a brilliant one in that they were so quickly able to learn from it. boring as it may be to say, imperial still stands as their masterpiece. it's their sound, not an approximation of anyone else's, and it never falters, doubts itself, breaks stride.
― having taken an actual journalism class (contenderizer), Monday, 20 September 2010 22:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
great post. let me think about this.
yeah, i think kustom karnal is brilliant, defiantly so, maybe
as i said above, i think imperial is the best song-wise. during that time i was blown away by their singles run of cherry, skinhead girl, factory tribute, bavarian mods. maybe i'm just a sucker for contrarianism, but i loved that they went directly from kustom karnal to jangly pop songs. kinda like writing a sparkly almost radio-ready song like skinhead girl but dousing it in four-letter words, provocative subject matter
think i like mxp so much b/c it is brash in a clueless first album sort of way...enthusiasm trumping everything. lots of confidence, too many ideas. i realize it's not their first lp, but it has that vibe almost. and i feel like it's aged really well. 'fuck pussy galore' or whatever it's called is something of a mess, kustom feels strangulated somehow and maybe too much of a pose, imperial for all of its greatness sounds thin to me sometimes, and i never really got into p. teeth.
― dude (del), Monday, 20 September 2010 23:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
entirely defined by conventional (mid-to-late 20th century) thinking about "good design" and "good taste".
yeah, especially the cover of the animal park 7"!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 00:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
well, almost entirely ;D
― having taken an actual journalism class (contenderizer), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 16:18 (2 years ago) Permalink
imperial ffrr is nice for a hot summer day
― van ingalls wilder (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 19:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yes.
― curmudgeon, Monday, September 20, 2010 7:19 PM
He was a hard but fair 11th grade English teacher. A "B" for the year in an IB English class is not bad. I do not know if Mr. Krauth finds any time to drum these days.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 20 July 2011 20:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
I hope so! love his drumming
― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 20:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
love everything about this band, really
did you lot hear the version of hydroplane that was on the recent codeine box?
― acid in the style of tenpole tudor (NickB), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 23:01 (3 months ago) Permalink
actually i'm making the assumption here that hydroplane was an unrest original or am i wrong?
― acid in the style of tenpole tudor (NickB), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 23:09 (3 months ago) Permalink
indeed it is
― prissy relay switches (electricsound), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 23:11 (3 months ago) Permalink
phew! far too good a song to waste on a b-side imo
― acid in the style of tenpole tudor (NickB), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 23:14 (3 months ago) Permalink
I jammed the 33-minute "Hydro" the other day, it RULED. Love this band so much, I kinda want to be a completist but it is expen$$$ive.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 27 February 2013 23:46 (3 months ago) Permalink