So Sick: A Review Of The New 4AD Anniversary Edition Of Perfect Teeth By Unrest And Six Questions With Mark Robinson (Unrest, Air Miami, Olympic Death Squad, Uncomfortable Police, Etc.)

It was like living in a bubble in D.C. in those days. Here we had whatever form harDCore had taken by 1992, and grunge outside the 202 ruling the so-called alternative airwaves across the country. We were literally between a rock and a hard place. What about nuance? What about mood and melody? What about purposeful, artful obfuscation? Someone had an answer.

By 1992, Mark Robinson had built his own world with Teen-Beat, and his band, Unrest. Originally operating out of Northern Virginia, the imprint had drawn in a wildly iconoclastic roster by the early Nineties, even as across the DMV, Mike Schulman's Slumberland Records was cranking out music by lots of young people clearly in debt to C86, Flying Nun Records, and shoegaze pioneers. The scenes were complementary ones, more than rivals, and for a fan, every trip to a record store like Vinyl Ink meant that you'd not only find some new exciting release from one of the labels, but you might be rung up by a person in one of the bands.

Unrest, arty and obstinately outside current trends, got Bridget Cross, former lead singer of Velocity Girl, to join and things progressed quickly. From the airy charms of 1992's Isabel EP, it was apparent that the group's signing to legendary Brit house 4AD had awakened new powers in the trio. Isabel was stubbornly at odds with both the punk and shoegaze output here, but it somehow made perfect sense that it came from this still-stewing DMV-seasoned cauldron-pot of music.

The next year's Perfect Teeth, the sole full-length from the trio on 4AD, perplexed -- "Food & Drink Synthesizer" anyone? -- and pleased in equal measure. With cover star Cath Carroll, the Factory Records obsessions of Mark Robinson were more apparent than ever, and the supple and simple hooks inside the grooves of the record betrayed debts owed to A Certain Ratio formative sides from New Order, and other releases touched by the hand of God (Martin Hannett). That Robinson, Phil Krauth, and Bridget Cross could take all that and make something distinctly American remains impressive. What also pleases still, in this 30th [sic] anniversary edition of Perfect Teeth, is just how much youthful enthusiasm and self-possession the three packed into these songs. More stately and precise than the feedback-caked records dropping from any number of Yank proto-shoegaze outfits, the compositions on Perfect Teeth were still damn catchy, if at odds with so much from their peers at the time.

This new edition offers up a remastered version of this wonderful record. From the obstinately down-tempo opener "Angel I'll Walk You Home", and on to the bright march of "So Sick", and the effervescent strums and coos of the Bridget-sung "Light Command", this album still offers up maximum pleasure. Deceptively austere in their presentation, the uncluttered surfaces of Robinson's pop attack still seem robust and resolutely sharp decades later. "Soon It is Going to Rain" stretches things out with the utmost patience, like numbers of Imperial prior to this, while "West Coast Love Affair" snaps atop the deft rhythmic touches of bassist Cross and drummer Krauth. These numbers, and the Wedding Present-ish "Six Layer Cake" all possess the insouciance of the era.

Mark Robinson, always astride his own aesthethic with a confidence few others of the times had, makes this music seem both of the moment and sort of timeless. There's nothing on Perfect Teeth which betrays the year of its origin, no cloying stylistic affectation designed to appeal to the masses. It stands on its own as a peak of American indie-pop, and I use pop as high praise. Who knew something could be both countercultural and so wildly catchy, fun, and hummable?

This 30th Anniversary Edition, arriving 32 years after the record came out, fills out the picture of the band's work with a wealth of bonus cuts, including EP tracks, rarities, and so on. The tracks further the idea that what's on Perfect Teeth is a sort of summation of the sound of Unrest in 1993; in other words, there's no dud among the extras here. Quality control was -- and remains -- very high at Teen-Beat HQ.

Still, I had a few more questions so I thought it would be cool if Mark Robinson chimed in himself.

Glenn, Kenixfan: How did it feel to be one of the first handful of American bands to sign to 4AD?

MARK ROBINSON: We liked the label a lot, and a lot of the bands. I remember we were all fans of Lush. I was partial to In Camera and Bauhaus. I don't think we felt like we were among the first American 4AD bands since The Pixies and Throwing Muses were there five or six years before us, but we were certainly in the minority amongst the Brits.

Glenn, Kenixfan: How much did Simon Le Bon really have to do with Perfect Teeth?

MARK ROBINSON: Great question. He's listed as "Producer" in the credits. Of course, that can mean a variety of things and almost anything. For example, Rick Rubin and Brian Eno are record producers and yet they never touch the recording equipment. Producers like Martin Hannett and Giorgio Moroder are all about the equipment and both produce and engineer the records they record. I would classify Simon as someone who leans more to the former.

Glenn, Kenixfan: In what ways did the songwriting process, or sound of Unrest change when Bridget Cross joined the band?

MARK ROBINSON: I'm not sure it changed much. Before that, I would bring a song to the group and we'd play it and figure out bass and drum parts, or Phil or Dave [Park] or Tim [Moran] would bring something in. Bridget brought the song "June" to rehearsal and the rest is history.

The Bridget version of the band toured much more than we did before that, so we became super familiar with each other musically and were a pretty tight unit. Songs like "Nation Writer" were composed primarily from playing together in our rehearsal room in the basement of the Teen-Beat house in Arlington, Virginia. Bridget brought in that primary bass line and we just went to town. We also improv'd a lot at our live shows. It was a lot of fun.

Glenn, Kenixfan: This is an album that sounds wonderfully natural, as if you three just went into the studio and played live. How did you get that vibe with this record in terms of recording, producing, and mixing?

MARK ROBINSON: That's pretty much how we recorded all the Unrest albums. We were well rehearsed and tight from touring, so we would just go into the studio and bang things out in one or two takes. Part of that was financial as we couldn't afford to fool around in the studio! Also, speaking of natural, the studio was in a remote place in rural Minnesota and the studio had these gigantic windows where we looked out onto the snowy woods and creek below.

Glenn, Kenixfan: Perfect Teeth was one of the rare releases where the presentation fit both the Teen-Beat aesthetic and the 4AD one. How much input did you and the band have in the packaging and design choices?

MARK ROBINSON: We were pretty involved with it. I got along well with our 4AD / v23 designer, Chris Bigg (who worked in tandem with [the late] Vaughan Oliver). I had designed every other Unrest sleeve up to our meeting the 4AD people, so it was a little hard for me to let go. Chris was a good sport about it and we collaborated. I would give him images and type and he whipped up something very cool. For the re-issue he did it again and made it all different. Ivo [Russell], the founder of 4AD and head at the time, had remembered seeing a photo of Cath Carroll that had been taken by Robert Mapplethorpe. He knew someone at his estate and acquired the cover rights. I provided the band name type on the front and Chris put it all together. We provided the rest of the photographs and Phil Krauth (our drummer) got his dental x-rays from his dentist.

Glenn, Kenixfan: Of the bonus tracks on this reissue, any particular fave, or one you hadn't played in ages?

MARK ROBINSON: Probably a couple that I wish we had included on the album: "Vibe Out!" and "Where Are All Those Puerto Rican Boys?" The former wasn't considered because of its eight-minute length, unfortunately. The latter would have been good because the album is a little light on instrumentals, which we had a few of around that time. While we were finding the original tapes, 4AD came across a version of "Hey Hey Halifax" with vocals which I probably hadn't heard in eons. But alas, that version didn't make it to the reissue, [and] I wasn't sure I could live with the vocal performance being out there in the wild!

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Big thanks to Mark Robinson for sharing his memories and thoughts on this classic Unrest record!

You can order this new edition of Unrest's Perfect Teeth on vinyl, CD, or digital via 4AD.

You can order the digital via Bandcamp too.

Details on Mark Robinson's projects, including his new record with Trevor Kampmann from hollAnd as Uncomfortable Police is available via Teen-Beat.

[Band Photo: Erin Smith]