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General Discussion => MUSIC => Topic started by: Huell Howser on July 12, 2022, 09:58:11 AM
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post punk/post hardcore/etc gods from the 90's Unwound are getting back together for some reunion shows throughout the US early next year. It probably won't be the same without Vern but I never thought I'd get the chance to see them live. I will most definitely be coppin a ticket!
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/unwound-reunite-first-tour-in-over-20-years-live-leaves-reissue-announced/
(https://townsquare.media/site/838/files/2022/07/attachment-unwound-tour.jpeg?w=1080&h=1080&q=75)
for the uninitiated, some bangers:
https://youtu.be/f1Bi7_Ra7JU
https://youtu.be/lBjz3Kta9ls
https://youtu.be/DvKaqmiNjhA
https://youtu.be/EvB7l9cZCww
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Sick at least there's 2 shows on the east coast
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surprised there isn't a thread already...cheers @Huell Howser ...lots of favorites, but i'll add these to the mix for now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aURQfWy1h1o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uclmv5e8xaM
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i love unwound, wish i could attend one of those shows.
RIP vern rumsey
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@tonitonne did you get tix?
@Deputy Wendell I was surprised there wasn't already a thread either! both those tracks are great. for your entertainment is such a bangin' ender. I wasn't familiar with that first instrumental track. I have jumped around a lot on their releases and didn't listen to them in correct order. I think I started with Repetition then moved to Leaves, then backtracked to Plastic Ideas and the future of what. Still have a lot to dig into which makes me stoked because my appreciation of them has only grown
@frank they're having the bassist from Karp join which is pretty rad. You gotta try to make it to one of the shows !
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Big Unwound fan, bummed that the odds of me making it to one of those shows is slim to none. I'd be interested to see if this leads to any new music. Those Numero reissues undoubtedly introduced them to a wave of new people.
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Another huge Unwound fan here. I saw their farewell tour and figured that'd be the last time I'd ever see them. Looking forward to seeing them again next year. I've "seen" them a few times (one time at the Fireside where they didn't set up on stage so I didn't see shit but the crowd) and on that last tour they were a 5 piece if memory serves. David Stone Scott handled the second guitar and keyboards. It's been really gratifying watching their profile grow over the last few years. I was worried they'd be sorta forgotten. RIP Vern
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-k77QrSVHA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHVyw-vAgdk
Maybe next Sara can go out for a Karp reunion tour!
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i love all the oddball tracks unwound put on their records, all the dubby shit and all that. or like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePX61LpF9fo
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If you guys had to pick a favorite album what would you say? I'd probably go with Fake Train.
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If you guys had to pick a favorite album what would you say? I'd probably go with Fake Train.
i can't decide between the future of what, repetition and leaves cause i had phases thinking one of those was the best
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If you guys had to pick a favorite album what would you say? I'd probably go with Fake Train.
i can't decide between the future of what, repetition and leaves cause i had phases thinking one of those was the best
Fuck repetition is so good. Definitely my other fave.
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As far as faves go, I go back and forth between Repetition & New Plastic Ideas; both heavily sessioned.
Was very stoked on the idea of going to see them this go round, but can’t justify the cost; major bummer.
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I love all the more raw albums too but I'm a big fan of when they started to stretch out and fool around with their arrangements and brought in different instruments. Consequently, Challenge for a Civilized Society is probably my favorite. My friend called it Beatlesesque at the time and now I can't unhear it. I also really like Leaves but it is a bit of a abrupt direction change and I wasn't surprised that fan reaction to it wasn't too hot when it came out.
Anybody get tickets for any of the LA shows? It felt weird dropping a bill to see them but I guess I missed out on general admission tickets yesterday so I had to buy a ticket in the pit. They deserve the money anyway.
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@jakeumms I got tickets for the first LA date. Yeah, regarding the price it definitely feels weird dropping money like that but when I think about how much I've enjoyed they're tunes it sits fine with me hah
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funny, other than maybe the Cocteau Twins, i don't know if there is another band who has me so often thinking when listening to albums--and even if this is a fleeting emotion--that this might be my favorite song ever...does that make sense? case in point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QQmhKvNz_k
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in re the conversation about trying to pick a favorite album--and i know this is an ever-changing thing--but i am definitely in the throes of a Fake Train episode this past couple of weeks...have had a lot going on emotionally and with family, and this album is doing it for me in a serious way throughout
also, hard to play "Kantina" (above) and not follow right into...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZuOXiDKjlw
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Leaves Turn Inside You was always my jam, but isn’t that a big departure from their emo/hardcore shit? I like that shit too but my first unwound experience was LTIY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCHfdPqc-4
Jared on bass is a nice surprise
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Going to hold off on checkin this^ because I got tickets for next week
can’t w8
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCHfdPqc-4
Jared on bass is a nice surprise
So good, I’ll definitely be at the New York date
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Probably my favorite 90s band; a perfect Post-Hardcore SST-cocktail (Black Flag/Sonic Youth/Hüsker Dü/Minutemen all mixed together). I was lucky enough to see them live a couple times and open for them in San Diego on their last tour (Leaves Turn Inside You). I got a couple tickets to the LA Wiltern show (first night, Wednesday, February 15th). Looking forward to seeing them with a second guitarist, although Vern (RIP) seems irreplaceable. I'm sure Jared (Karp, Tight Bros., Melvins) will do just fine though. Never thought they'd tour again, especially after Vern's passing.
If you guys had to pick a favorite album what would you say? I'd probably go with Fake Train.
Was super hyped on all their stuff with Sara Lund on drums (not as keen on the early material w/ Brandt Sandeno save for "Caterpillar"), but my favorites have to be New Plastic Ideas, Repetition, the Mile Me Deaf EP, and Leaves Turn Inside You. Can't settle on one.
If anyone plays guitar and is interested, I went a little crazy about 8-9 years ago and added a bunch of guitar tabs of their songs to Ultimate-Guitar.com. Many of them are in slightly alternate tunings too, which I got straight from corresponding with Justin Trosper:
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/artist/unwound_31765
Here's one of my favorites:
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/unwound/look-a-ghost-tabs-1446989
i love all the oddball tracks unwound put on their records, all the dubby shit and all that. or like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePX61LpF9fo
Totally. I also really like "Census", which is from the Negated / Said Serial 7" and A Single History 1991 - 1997. "Sensible" (from Repetition) is its slower, dubbed out sibling.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCHfdPqc-4
Jared on bass is a nice surprise
Watch all hour and forty five minutes and you will, at some point, spot me heading to or from the bathroom.
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Leaves Turn Inside You was always my jam, but isn’t that a big departure from their emo/hardcore shit? I like that shit too but my first unwound experience was LTIY
Yeah, LTIY was a pretty significant departure from everything before it, although their was definitely a gradual progression/evolution with each proceeding album. The main difference is that it was self-produced and took a couple years to make, versus an album nearly every year with Steve Fisk producing (he was a major asset in my opinion and a fourth member more or less). It's also a double album and the most ambitious thing they ever did by a country mile. I had almost the opposite experience where I first heard The Future of What from a friend, then bought Fake Train, New Plastic Ideas, and eventually Repetition. Once the last two albums came around, I gradually lost interest and wasn't as invested (especially LTIY); I started working at a record store and thought I was over that kind of music. Then I reevaluated it ten years later and became obsessed with LTIY. It really is a masterpiece.
I think you'd really like the two preceding albums Challenge for a Civilized Society (1998) and Repetition (1996) because that's where they really started getting kinda psychedelic and expanding their sound, augmenting it with synths, vibes, pianos, etc. All the Kill Rock Stars album have that special something that really elevated them from all their Emo/Post-Hardcore peers though.
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If I really had to choose, New Plastic Ideas is “the one”, with Leaves as a close second, and everything else being equally great after those two (A side of Challenge is actually my favorite material but B side trails off). Superb band. That being said reunion shows, especially without all the original members, are 99.9% illegal.
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Did anyone go to the LA Wiltern shows? What are you thoughts? Any feedback?
I thought the sound was really muddy, but they played really well and it was a good assortment of songs, although too light on Repetition for my taste. I was also getting a cold that night (Wednesday) and my friend had to work super early the next morning, so we couldn’t wait for the encore. It didn’t seem like they were coming back to play, but heard from other friends that they ended up playing for another 30 minutes or more, so I probably missed a lot of great songs. Anyone have set lists?
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Huge unwound fan with „new Plastik ideas“ being my most favorite album.
But I’m not so much into this whole reunion thing that is happening with a lot of punk/hardcore/ post-hardcore bands. Too much nostalgia. I think it’s kind of the antithesis to punk - but I’m happy for everyone, who gets a kick out of it
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Huge unwound fan with „new Plastik ideas“ being my most favorite album.
But I’m not so much into this whole reunion thing that is happening with a lot of punk/hardcore/ post-hardcore bands. Too much nostalgia. I think it’s kind of the antithesis to punk - but I’m happy for everyone, who gets a kick out of it
New Plastic Ideas had always been my favorite as well, although it's been somewhat supplanted by Leaves Turn Inside You and/or Repetition in the past decade or so. You'd would have been somewhat pleased, as their (main) setlist contained a lot of NPI songs (opened with "All Souls Day" and "Envelope", then "Hexenzsene" and "Usual Dosage" later). "Arboretum" has always been my favorite on there, but probably edged out by "Lady Elect" as my all-time favorite Unwound song.
Yeah. It felt weird, especially since I'm lucky enough (and old enough) to have seen them during their original run. The nostalgia was there, but it didn't really hit at all. Plus, they were always a small club band, so it was odd seeing/hearing them in a huge theatre. Definitely wasn't the same without Vern; Jared used a Fender Jazz bass, but he didn't have that same sharp, aggressive, defined, near-lead bass tone. To be fair, everything sounded muddy though, not just the bass.
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Huge unwound fan with „new Plastik ideas“ being my most favorite album.
But I’m not so much into this whole reunion thing that is happening with a lot of punk/hardcore/ post-hardcore bands. Too much nostalgia. I think it’s kind of the antithesis to punk - but I’m happy for everyone, who gets a kick out of it
New Plastic Ideas had always been my favorite as well, although it's been somewhat supplanted by Leaves Turn Inside You and/or Repetition in the past decade or so. You'd would have been somewhat pleased, as their (main) setlist contained a lot of NPI songs (opened with "All Souls Day" and "Envelope", then "Hexenzsene" and "Usual Dosage" later). "Arboretum" has always been my favorite on there, but probably edged out by "Lady Elect" as my all-time favorite Unwound song.
Yeah. It felt weird, especially since I'm lucky enough (and old enough) to have seen them during their original run. The nostalgia was there, but it didn't really hit at all. Plus, they were always a small club band, so it was odd seeing/hearing them in a huge theatre. Definitely wasn't the same without Vern; Jared used a Fender Jazz bass, but he didn't have that same sharp, aggressive, defined, near-lead bass tone. To be fair, everything sounded muddy though, not just the bass.
Hearing songs from NPI loud sounds tempting - I must say. But i still don’t get, what makes a band play reunion shows - especially with no new material. Is it just for the sake of good old times?
But back on topic. Even though NPI is my favorite(maybe because it was my first unwound record), it is hard to not be totally hyped, no matter what unwound record I play. My common reaction usually is: this got to be my most favorite unwound record. They are all so extremely good. I don’t have that with many bands. With most other bands it is way easier to choose a favorite
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Hearing songs from NPI loud sounds tempting - I must say. But i still don’t get, what makes a band play reunion shows - especially with no new material. Is it just for the sake of good old times?
But back on topic. Even though NPI is my favorite(maybe because it was my first unwound record), it is hard to not be totally hyped, no matter what unwound record I play. My common reaction usually is: this got to be my most favorite unwound record. They are all so extremely good. I don’t have that with many bands. With most other bands it is way easier to choose a favorite
Yeah. I guess it's to give a younger generation of fans, or old fans who never saw them live, a chance to see them play highlights from their discography live? Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Yep. That's why I can't say NPI without mentioning Repetition and LTIY, then feeling a little guilty for leaving out awesome albums like Future of What or Challenge for a Civilized Society (I don't think Fake Train, as a whole, is a fan favorite, although side one is pretty flawless/classic. "Ratbite" and "Star Spangled Hell" sound like leftovers from their pre-Sara Lund phase). I've said many times that they're my favorite 90's band and have a damn near flawless track record. Thankfully, they never signed to a major and put out an expensive disappointment (or two) that ended their run a la The Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys, etc.
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Hearing songs from NPI loud sounds tempting - I must say. But i still don’t get, what makes a band play reunion shows - especially with no new material. Is it just for the sake of good old times?
But back on topic. Even though NPI is my favorite(maybe because it was my first unwound record), it is hard to not be totally hyped, no matter what unwound record I play. My common reaction usually is: this got to be my most favorite unwound record. They are all so extremely good. I don’t have that with many bands. With most other bands it is way easier to choose a favorite
Yeah. I guess it's to give a younger generation of fans, or old fans who never saw them live, a chance to see them play highlights from their discography live? Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Yep. That's why I can't say NPI without mentioning Repetition and LTIY, then feeling a little guilty for leaving out awesome albums like Future of What or Challenge for a Civilized Society (I don't think Fake Train, as a whole, is a fan favorite, although side one is pretty flawless/classic. "Ratbite" and "Star Spangled Hell" sound like leftovers from their pre-Sara Lund phase). I've said many times that they're my favorite 90's band and have a damn near flawless track record. Thankfully, they never signed to a major and put out an expensive disappointment (or two) that ended their run a la The Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys, etc.
Melvins, Jawbox, Tad, Seaweed, Shudder to Think, Urge Overkill...even those last couple Dinosaur records before the OG lineup reformed are really bad. It's interesting that at the time you could pick the fall off record but, with the benefit of hindsight, it seems like Indie Rock was more trend focused than I thought at the time. Of course some of those records are pretty unlistenable and people like what they like but watching Jesus Lizard fall out of fashion while living in Chicago was definitely weird and seemed like the hate wave started before they put out any bad records. The same hate wave hit LTIY hard and that record was in the used bin for cheap for a long time before any kind of reassessment started to tick it's reputation up.
I was just happy to give a band that I still put on a couple dozen times a year one big payday. I'm sure any money they made off of their material is long gone and was probably spent on keeping the whole thing going in the original run.
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Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Don’t jinx it
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Hearing songs from NPI loud sounds tempting - I must say. But i still don’t get, what makes a band play reunion shows - especially with no new material. Is it just for the sake of good old times?
But back on topic. Even though NPI is my favorite(maybe because it was my first unwound record), it is hard to not be totally hyped, no matter what unwound record I play. My common reaction usually is: this got to be my most favorite unwound record. They are all so extremely good. I don’t have that with many bands. With most other bands it is way easier to choose a favorite
Yeah. I guess it's to give a younger generation of fans, or old fans who never saw them live, a chance to see them play highlights from their discography live? Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Yep. That's why I can't say NPI without mentioning Repetition and LTIY, then feeling a little guilty for leaving out awesome albums like Future of What or Challenge for a Civilized Society (I don't think Fake Train, as a whole, is a fan favorite, although side one is pretty flawless/classic. "Ratbite" and "Star Spangled Hell" sound like leftovers from their pre-Sara Lund phase). I've said many times that they're my favorite 90's band and have a damn near flawless track record. Thankfully, they never signed to a major and put out an expensive disappointment (or two) that ended their run a la The Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys, etc.
I was just happy to give a band that I still put on a couple dozen times a year one big payday. I'm sure any money they made off of their material is long gone and was probably spent on keeping the whole thing going in the original run.
Yeah, I was gonna mention Shudder to Think and Jawbox, but both of their major label debuts were as good or arguably better than their Dischord output. (I really like most of Pony Express Record to this day and they were great live during their major label run. It can definitely hang with Get Your Goat and Funeral at the Movies. They were such a weird band.) I wouldn't add Melvins into that because many fans seem to think Houdini and Stoner Witch are their best albums and they kept going strong, regardless of their major jump. Dinosaur Jr's major label output is weird because they sounded good at the time and some of the singles still sound good, but due to the OG lineup reformation and the perspective of time, they really don't hold up very well, at least for me. I'll always be stuck on the first three albums.
RE: Jesus Lizard falling out of favor in Chicago, yeah, that must've been odd since they were the kings of that scene for the first half of the 90's. Maybe it was their Lollapalooza stint? Shot is actually pretty decent, but Blue sucked.
RE: LTIY, I didn't realize Unwound faced a backlash at the time. I just thought I'd kinda moved on from noise-rock/post-hardcore at the time. I was 21, playing in a band, working in a record store, going to bars, getting stoned 24/7 and getting exposed to obscure Post-Punk, Krautrock, Experimental music, etc. so I thought I was over all that. I guess I was more in tune with the zeitgeist than I realized and we were all getting a bit worn out on mature Unwound at the time. Felt the same about Fugazi's Argument; thought they were too po-faced and serious. Once I was 30 I had a way more open, chill and able to re-access the music from my teens. That's when I really listened to LTIY and "got it."
RE: Unwound's lack of earnings, yeah, for sure. All the Kill Rock Stars material was long out of print and they stopped making money during and after LTIY. They were totally broke. I think the Numero reissue campaign must've helped them out a bit, but this tour is probably going to help them the most, financially speaking.
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Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Don’t jinx it
Haha. Can you imagine a pushin' 50 Guy Picciotto doing his crazy Gumby antics? When I saw them for the last time in 2002 and saw Guy fall onto his back in one of his guitar spazz fits and not immediately bounce right back up, I knew it was over. The last time I'd seen him before that was maybe a year earlier in Adams Morgan, D.C. he was with his wife, pushing their baby around in a stroller, so that was another sign that the end was nigh for everyone's favorite post-hardcore/emo monks.
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Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Don’t jinx it
Haha. Can you imagine a pushin' 50 Guy Picciotto doing his crazy Gumby antics? When I saw them for the last time in 2002 and saw Guy fall onto his back in one of his guitar spazz fits and not immediately bounce right back up, I knew it was over. The last time I'd seen him before that was maybe a year earlier in Adams Morgan, D.C. he was with his wife, pushing their baby around in a stroller, so that was another sign that the end was nigh for everyone's favorite post-hardcore/emo monks.
Yeah, The writing is on the wall.
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I actually didn't know about unwound until I saw this thread yesterday. Glad I did as I've been having a lot of fun listening to them