Audio CD review:
Unrest - Perfect Teeth

Unrest - Perfect Teeth

Band: Unrest Title: Perfect Teeth Rating: Release Date: 03 July, 1998 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Angel I'll Walk You Home 2: Cath Carroll 3: So Sick 4: Light Command 5: Food & Drink Synthesizer 6: Soon It Is Going To Rain 7: Make Out Club 8: Breather X.O.X.O 9: West Coast Love Afair 10: Six Layer Cake 11: Stylized Ampersand

Customer Reviews will rot your teeth Unrest's biggest seller "Perfect Teeth" brings Teen Beat founder Mark Robinson's affection for Factory Records and 4AD full circle: it was released on 4AD with the same beautiful packaging that label is known for, and has a lush pop vibe throughout, taking threads from post-Velvets Nico, blending it with the headlong rush of the Pixies, and stirring in some of the sort of uplifting cinematic dreampop the Cocteau Twins specialized in and weaving it all into a superb record. my favorite Unrest I am a bit biased. . I've listened to "Imperial" only half as many times as I have listened to this. And I do think "Imperial" and some of their earlier stuff is great, but "Perfect Teeth" is. . . perfect. At first, I didn't like it much. A general feeling of "this is a bit too redundant" occured about halfway through the record. I turned the CD player off and didn't listen to it for awhile. Then I randomly played it one day almost a year ago. There was SOMETHING about it -- something that was so incredibly compelling. At first, my favorite song was the hopelessly beautiful "Breather X. O. X. O. ," but now it is the more sublime attack of the heartbreaking "Six Layer Cake. " Every song on here fits so well, and the entire album sounds like it was recorded in the cleanest, clearest way possible. Which in turn makes all of the emotions put forth from both the music and the lyrics more relatable. . . it's like a direct connection to your heart. Seriously underrated. Should be held in the same regard as "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" by Pavement. Pretty good release....it's a shame they broke up after this On this one, the pop song structures and the experimentalism of the band blend together perfectly. Perfect Teeth was the last album that indie-pop heroes Unrest released during their brief lifetime. Unrest goes in many different directions here, from the speedy pop-punk of "Cath Carroll" (a tribute to one of Mark Robinson's favorite singers) to the smooth, seductive "Make Out Club. " Bridget Cross sings backing vocals more frequently than on the past couple of albums, which adds a lot of necessary atmosphere to those songs. She even gets two songs on this album as opposed to just the one on Imperial. Her "Light Command" is one of the best and most immediate songs on this album. The closing track, "Stylized Ampersand," really took a while for me to warm up to, but that was before I realized that it is all about atmosphere. It has a near-gothic ambience to it, but after listening a few times, I grew to like this song. Drummer Phil Krauth even gets to stand out on his own composition, "West Coast Love Affair," which is quite good. The best songs here are good as anything Unrest ever did. I have to admit that it took me a little bit longer to get into this album than Imperial and the Isabel E. P. due to the fact that Perfect Teeth doesn't quite have the fluid consistency of those two albums, and the perfect blend of pop and experimentation at first seemed a bit too perfect, so much so that I mistook many of these tracks to be weaker than Unrest's past work. But after an intent listen, I realized that this effort is meant to stand on its own two legs, and that Unrest were trying to broaden their horizons here. By and large, I think they succeded. A couple of tracks are retreads of ideas already explored on Imperial F. F. R. R. , but overall, they've added a lot more subtleties to their sound. It's such a shame they called it quits after this one, though. If you're looking to get into Unrest, I would actually recommend buying Imperial F. F. R. R. first, because, as I said, this one does take some patience to get into at first. But there is absolutely no reason for you to skip this release altogether. This is an essential peek inside the creative minds that are Unrest. Top cuts: Cath Carroll So Sick Light Command Make Out Club Breather X. O. X. O West Coast Love Affair Stylized Ampersand. . You can see a complete list of all Unrest discography, or go back to the Unrest tabs