FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

Imperial f.f.r.r. is maybe a little more "difficult" than "Perfect Teeth" - more minimalist, and with abrupt detours that reflect the schizoid relationship the band maintained between pop sweetness and avant-garde science experiment. I mean, this is a band that put test tones on their records. Imperial, the title track and centerpiece, builds a simple descending guitar-picked melody into a classicist pop refrain that then devolves into a shimmering haze of what sounds like someone playing champagne glasses/musical bells/windchimes. This band loved space.

am I the only person who prefers side 1 of ritual? granted, 'three days' is absolutely amazing and untouchable, but it tapers off severely after that. the A-side cartoon rock shapes are pleasing though.

(do people know disco volante has appeared twice? should I mention that?)

another conceit/in-joke I loved about this band was their way with credits - the liner notes read like they were written by engineers in white coats who felt compelled to specify the bpm and location of recording of every track. and every track was credited to BPM (i.e, Bridget, Paul, and Mark).

xp

So... guys, the only Unrest songs I know are "Cherry Cherry" and "Suki" and both songs kind of annoy me, so I've never bothered checking them out any further... but I guess I'm missing something.

i always get unrest and unwound confused.

i also made a hilarious mistake once where i bought an unrest (or unwound) record thinking i was buying an unsane record. figured that one out pretty quickly.

three days is easily the greatest thing on that album, but then it would dwarf most albums (including nothing's shocking which i'd rate more highly, a little less ambitious but more successful overall)

like with spiderland i'm surprised this wasn't in the original poll, maybe people assumed they were and went off in search of lesser-known albums

but I guess I'm missing something.

eh I dunno, it's possible this band is not for you... both those songs are emblematic of their fast-forward jangle-pop angle, which is one of the cornerstones of their style.

Yeah I have some kind of temperamental disinclination for super fast strummy/jangly stuff. Feelies, Wedding Present. My inner tempo for jangle and strum tops out around something like the Fall's 'Fantastic Life'.

this poll is weird. i've never even heard of unrest before... but listening to Perfect teeth now and liking it. they also kinda sound like unwound, which is extra confusing

the feelies at their best have a clarity of sound and purpose that recalls (if not matches) television, their first album is one of my favourite recent discoveries

in general i agree with u tho (xp)

definitely some Feelies action in Unrest

the feelies at their best have a clarity of sound and purpose that recalls (if not matches) television

Dammit you are making me have to listen to Feelies again, I am like bloody mary whenever someone makes a Television comparison.

just as long as you remember my caveat....

it should have been a caveat, anyway

Ha TWO Unrest albums while I was away! oh gosh Mark Robinson's guitar sound. I think I meant to vote for Imperial ffrr. Though I am some kind of nutbag cz I put the Air Miami album on more often these days. And then take it off again halfway through, but the good bits are good.

I've probably listened to Air Miami more than Unrest recently as well, mainly because my wife really likes the Air Miami album and puts it on a lot.

i always get unrest and unwound confused.

lol I also do this, frequently (for example, while reading these poll results)

i included imperial in my ballot, but with 0 points, just to indicate that i was in a hurry and too much great stuff was slipping through the cracks. some days i'd call it my favorite album of the 90s, some days not, but i figured it'd have enough support w/out me anyway. and it did. glad to see it here and above the likes of janes, who irritate me to no end. and as a fan of both burzum and unrest, i'd be happy to explain either to the part of myself that digs the other.

Looks like my number two isn't going to make it now. [censored] fans I know you're out there?

hate the dude obv, but that burzum album is just unquestionably amazing

If I have my way, I will never hear that album for as long as I live.

Would like to see Unwound place but I'll be surprised if they make it. I already helped the American indie rockist cause with votes for the Grifters, Slint and Unrest (ffrr, not Perfect Teeth).

in defense of SUPERCONDUCTOR and their HIT SONGS FOR GIRLS

http://useless.ngoo-fi.com/images/blog_121209.jpg

this seems to be an album that no one else gives a shit about. i've played it for friends a number of times over the years, and no one's ever been as crazy about it as i am. and i don't like the follow-up (bastardsong), and i don't like the goddam new pornographers. i just like HIT SONGS FOR GIRLS. the basic gist is ridiculously catchy pop/metal/prog tunes with nerd-shouted nonsense strewn overtop, played blown-out style by a standard rock combo augmented w five extra guitars. in that sense, it's the anti-unrest, relative to nabisco's brilliant defense of that band: splattery, aggro and and artlessly maximalist to the core. thing is, in spite of all those sightline-obscuring piles of hairball guitar, it's a pop at heart, albeit of a hypercaffeinated, buzz-bombing variety (hallo super furry animals!). though it's far more noisy and chaotic, it often anticipates weezer's blue album, taking the bulk of its cues from 70s & 80s power pop & cheeze metal hitmakers and running them through the indie ironizer. i guess i'm avoiding the g-word here. i don't want to call it a grunge record cuz it's so unlike any other grunge record i can think of, but i've gotta admit that the basic sonic template (popped-out NOISE RAWK) does seem to place somewhere it in that camp. superconductor reedem themselves, though, by never trying to convince you that the angst and aggression are "authentic". the album's got a giant smirk on its face the whole way through, and that makes the paint-peeling histrionics infinitely more palatable.

in the end, i love this record mostly because it's an unbroken wall of absolutely fantastic pop songs, each one its own little wall of hooks. as cartoonish heavy pop, i think it's every bit as consistent as the best of cheap trick, redd kross or weezer. and it's a goddam crime that almost no one's ever heard it [shakes withered fist at the uncaring heavens]. most of the problem, i think, is that it's loud as unholy hell and came out on boner records. it was therefore never gonna sell outside a tiny, bong-damaged punk & metal niche that it didn't really belong in. i mean, it may have seemed to belong there, and i can see why it might appeal to pop-friendly melvins and steel pole bath tub fans. the crucial difference is that, in superconductor's case, the heavy gnarly shit isn't the primary point. instead, it's a kind of theatrical disguise, but to my mind, it's a disguise that enhances rather than diminishing the pop underneath. like, i dunno, like kiss. like the knights in satan's service. and i maybe i said this before, but i love this record to death. i've worn out two copies over the years, and haven't yet got tired of it.

INDIE ROCKIST CAUSE UNITE

...well, it is "a pop at heart," but it's also a pop record. in case u wonder.

Filosofem got 2 votes, 76 points, and I gave it 75. I can listen to this album forever. I can't really explain why it's so amazing, but the insistent repetition of the fuzzy drudging guitar riffs, the production, and even Varg's singing, make me take pause in my life, reconsider, "Am I black metal enough?" and I quit crying about girls and school, become resolute, and raise the sign:

\m/

xp I at least am intrigued by the superconductor based on your advocacy. haven't heard any, but from what you've said it has some of the hallmarks of what was so great about, say, toenut.

Lets all buy one record we haven't heard based on this thread - would that be cool? I think that would be cool.

Many of them can be had for 99 cents or less at your local used cd retailer (if you still have a local used cd retailer).

not if that record is Burzum (xp)

in the case of burzum, I hear stealing is a popular and morally sound alternative these days.

more on SUPERCONDUTOR

the songwriting and arrangements of the flaming lips circatelepathic surgery and priest driven ambulance = another obvious touchstone for HIT SONGS FOR GIRLS, as there's a touch of neil young's damaged yearning to a lot of the songwriting. plus the mad scientist pop/noise layering. i mean, if you dig the early flaming lips, the beatnik filmstars, weezer or even super furry animals, i should think you'd be able to find a place in your life for EXOCITAS POR LOS CHICAS LISTAS.

i say this because i have no idea what "toenut" means. it sounds gross.

make that LAS CHICAS, plus fix other things

so that i sound less retarded (this one directed more at God)

toenut were a spiffy and short-lived band from atlanta that recorded two great albums then disappeared. based on the touchstones you cite, I think you'd like. grab hold of 'two in the pinata' if you can.

(again, the 99c bin is your friend here.)

Ha, that's where I bought my Toenut cds. In the 99c bin. (Agreed on their goodness, though!)

i think i was the other burzum voter?

i also made a hilarious mistake once where i bought an unrest (or unwound) record thinking i was buying an unsane record. figured that one out pretty quickly.

I voted for Unsane and Unwound and you fucks voted unrest by mistake?

pretty sure jjjusten and I didn't vote

Just listening to Unrest for the first time. A great band I might not have heard if it wasn't for this poll.

so young gods or front line assembly aren't going to make the poll then?

sadly no

i voted for them but only 1 point each

I want a full debrief of your nite out, lj

watched Spurs with Spurs-supporting friend, ate burger

so I'm 2/4 for now, pretty sure that at least one of my other choices has no chance in hell of appearing but... my other choice I thought at least Louis would vote for! :(

The SECOND album by the band you're thinking of would have been in an LJ top 50. That album in an LJ top 100.

It's OK, I'm gonna vote for their 4th album when we do the 00's poll. You and me versus the world, Shakey :D

yeh that one is mad underrated

Good discussion since I last posted, btw. I approve. Keep it up, fellas. The more you can defend your daft choices the better! Ha, just kidding.