VILE CHERUBIC UNREST

Maybe the worst thing about the musically dire mid/late 80's isn't so much the stuff that sucked (which was about 99% of what was going on), but the stuff that was good back then but led to stuff that sucked. Let's, just for the heck of it, look at some DC area bands I was into at the time... I loved Fugazi when they started out, but what did their type of angular-punk-meets-singalong-rock lead to? To the plodding PC pomposity of Pearl Jam (the worst band of the 90's), and in particular their monster hit "Alive" (the worst song of the 90's, and basically Fugazi's "Suggestion" with the chords reversed). When it came out in '86, the Bad Brains' I Against I was a great comeback record fusing their early HC style with metal and funk; the next decade, 50,000 dreary "crossover" clowns doing the same thing, only badly. Rites Of Spring: brilliant, but unintentionally causing, gulp, Emo to happen.

It's the more obscure DC bands that seem the most untainted by the passing of time. Unrest put out their first LP in 1987; according to zine ads of the time it was called Tink Of SE, but my copy has "KILL 23 SHEEP" stenciled on its cover. Apparently, every record cover was a hand-made piece of art; I think 20 DC artists did 50 covers each (could be the other way 'round). I bought the LP because of the DC/Dischord connection, but it turned out to be a wholly different, and very tasty, kettle of fish. While Unrest also presaged a lot of stuff that was to happen, in their case it's actually all cool stuff. Their whole lo-fi anything-goes approach clearly influenced the likes of Pavement, and the muddy catchiness of "Die Grunen" has Guided By Voices written all over it. There's even a prophetic White Stripes-type of feel to it; just listen to the (almost) bass-less one-two beat and mock-upper-class English singing in "91st Century Schizoid Man"! "Laughter" sounds relatively dated, but I'll still include it because it was a mix-tape-for-girls-I-fancied staple of mine back then (along with the Descendents - carefully avoiding "Pervert" though!).

Another "different" DC band were the Vile Cherubs, who I knew nothing about until I picked up their posthumous LP, recorded in 1988. Post-Humorous Relief is actually one of the last of the illustrious Dischord-joint releases that were given half or even quarter catalogue numbers; this one's no. 33-and-a-third! I guess it's another limited edition; it's on coloured silkscreened vinyl and the sleeve is also silkscreened (printed over a stock sleeve design a la the original Flex Your Heads; Must be Jeff Nelson at work here...). I remembered this being sort of 60's/garagey, but on hearing it back I think it sounds a lot like Boston bands of the era, that typical neo-Burma sound. I also found out my copy is badly scratched; must be because at one point I had it hanging on my wall. Not the sleeve, the actual record! Well, it did get me cool points when around '91 Nation of Ulysses crashed at our place, and their guitar player Tim Green shouted "hey, that's my old band!" For your aural pleasure, I've obtained some scratch-free mp3s from soulseek (thanks, you know who you are!).

Unrest - Can't Sit Still
Unrest - Die Grunen
Unrest - 91st Century Schizoid Man
Unrest - Laughter
Vile Cherubs - The Man with the Photograph
Vile Cherubs - Broke My Heart In Three