Posts Tagged ‘Teenbeat’
I Think We’re Not in Kansas House Anymore
Over the last 15 years, Kansas House, a tiny four-bedroom home in Arlington, has seen members of bands that recorded for almost every D.C. record label—Dischord, Teenbeat, Slowdime, Simple Machines—crash on its floors, perform in its living room, or be thoroughly revolted by its rat-infested basement.
Kansas House is not a club. Shows happen there once or twice a month. But the experience of seeing a show at Kansas House is different. At the Black Cat, for instance, you buy a ticket and see a band. But anyone who’s crammed into Kansas House’s tiny living room to watch Black Eyes, Q and Not U, or Trans Am could be forgiven for feeling like they were part of a movement.
You can still feel that way, at least for a few more months. On Dec. 1, Kansas House’s epic run will finally come to an end. The building is in the process of being sold to an Arlington development firm. Eventually, the house will be demolished to make way for mixed-use development.
Teenbeat Releases Unrest Live CDs/Reissues Imperial f.f.r.r..
Teenbeat has announced that, for the first time since ’92, the label has re-pressed Unrest’s Imperial f.f.r.r. as a vinyl LP. It’s a nice gesture for those of us who missed it the first time (myself included). There are a few critics out there who imply that Imperial f.f.r.r. was the band’s breakthrough—the moment when scrappy and high-concept indie-rock gave way to blissful minimalist pop. I might be inclined to agree. Then again, I refuse to spend any serious time with the follow up, Perfect Teeth, until I can afford listen to it in the way it was meant to be heard.
What’s more, the Teenbeat Website has made two Unrest live CDs available via mail order—one set recorded in 1993 and another from the label’s 20th anniversary show in 2005.
Track listings for the live stuff after the jump.
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Shudder to Tweet
–pancakes + hummus, sink or swim? let’s go.
–Apparently my big Asian head is stenciled on trash cans up and down U Street. Foreshadowing? http://mypict.me/nqyT
–wish I’d never discovered toaster oven smores. now I’ll eat ‘em all the time… also, the windmill movie was incredible. highly recommended.
–how can they say mark twain was an ENFP? did the myers-Briggs folks hire a psychic & have him take the test from beyond the grave??
–Driving through Montana at night = terrifying. Driving through Montana during the day = exhilarating!
–My favorite part about portland? Burlesque.
–If you ever get to sit next to Tony Maimone, it means you have won at the game of life.
–Tarantino. Please. No speak. Fermez la bouche. Hushy hush for hush time. Shhhh. Listen! Let’s all enjoy the sound of you not talking.
–Enroute to Blakroc session. Your average Black Keys/Mos Def/RZA/Qtip/Joel Hamilton/Pharaohe Monch collaboration. Psyched to work on this!
–Millions of colors in the world and the color experts at Pantone® can only give us 1,089?
Everyone Needs A Little Unrest
In late February, Chunklet revisted D.C. indie pop’s best band Unrest. It had been a while since I had spun Imperial ffrr or its underrated Perfect Teeth. I saw the Arlington band as often as I could, played the hell out of Imperial and wore out my copy of the band’s cover of the Marine Girls’ “Love To Know” single. I wish I could find that freshman-year mixtape that began with “Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl.” Now the band is just a touchstone for my college friends (remember when conversations, that hyped band sounds just like Unrest, etc.) Unrest disbanded. Air Miami formed. Phil Krauth made a soulful string of solo LPs. Jesus, buy their records. Bridget Cross became Maybe It’s Reno.
