Covers Project: The FMTana-"I Do Believe You Are Blushing"

And the cover....

I've been holding onto this one for a while, but you get away from it for too long and you forget how much you initially liked it. The song is completely held together by "The Doctor", my Boss DR-660 AKA Dr. Rhythm (pictured here.) It's a pretty simple drum machine that has a very simple way of creating songs with some very simple sounds. Anyway, this version of what is probably my favorite Unrest song is probably the first and last time I'll ever channel my inner Sam Prekop. I'm just not that jazzy. But it works here I think. To quote the great Chicago aluminum guitar rawk gods Tar, "Good part wrong band."

Hopefully this won't be my only post of the month, but it's possible with my upcoming sked.



Download file here:

The FMTana-"I Do Believe You Are Blushing"

Things I Think About When I Think About Unrest

That Mark E. Robinson is a tough cat to figure out>
Listen to Malcolm X Park from 1988 and then listen to Perfect Teeth, their virtually perfect pop swan song, and you would be hard pressed to not text a friend "WTF?!?!?" As the founder of Teenbeat Records and the driving force behind Unrest, Mark E. is an eclectic man. His fixations range from Blaxploitation to Winona Ryder to Sammy Davis Jr. to obscure British musician Cath Carroll. They took their name from 60s avant rockers Henry Cow. They have an album called F*** Pussy Galore and All Her Friends, either a reference to the Bond Girl or Jon Spencer's DC noise rock band. Dealer's choice. It's his diversity that seems to fuel the vast voyage the band makes over its tenure. And it somehow makes the simple pop that the band ultimately arrives at seem completely natural.

Enter Bridgit>
Of course, Unrest probably doesn't make that final leap from messy, genre-blending, sort-of punk band to pop perfection without adding Bridgit Cross on bass and sometimes vocals. Certainly from her joining in 1990, you can immediately hear the difference, especially in what would be considered Unrest's seminal albums Imperial f.f.r.r. and Perfect Teeth. She has one of the sweetest voices of 90s indie pop.

See If the Shoe Fits After the Acappella>
One thing I think singers have to develop is confidence in their vox. I'm not sure that was ever a problem for Mark E. as he'll just pull the faders on everything except the vocals and let it rip. One track "Full Frequency" is just a stripped down version of their amazing song "Imperial" where the first 4 1/2 minutes are just the vocals of the song before the beautiful guitar progression comes in and plays out the rest of the way. The songs that blend his trance-like repetitive guitar progressions and his and/or Bridgit's vocals are some of their best.

Don't do it (YES I CAN!)>
So it's not the song from Heathers, but it is the song from Heathers... Either way, Unrest's "Teenage Suicide" is a fantastic song. A catchy, darkly comedic song. I would even say it's better than "Suicide Is Painless" from M*A*S*H, the other hilarious song about suicide. Although the fact that "Suicide Is Painless" was co-written by Robert Altman's 14 year old son makes that number a little bit stranger. Certainly the strangest tune to ever be the theme to one of the most watched TV shows in history.

T-shirt retirement>
I had a lot of old indie rock t-shirts. Old t-shirts that developed severe holes. Probably the most drastic hole vs. its level of favoritism was my Teenbeat Records shirt. It said Teenbeat on the front and had a list of the label's bands on the back (See above.) By the end, there was a hole big enough to expose my right nipple. The only humane thing to do really was to put it out to pasture.

Click the pic Up and to the Right for some premium Unrest cuts.