Liminal Minded

It all begins with the shock of recognition. Perhaps you notice some gateway records from your past on sale for an exorbitant sum of money, or maybe you come across someone who once scared you sheetless aw-shucking on Fresh Air. All of a sudden, you are older. Just a bit. Friends start having kids, parents and grandparents are calling in sick and accidental exposure to bands that have long since retired and bought season tickets - the band that prompted you to wonder what you would be doing when you were their age - possesses you like cookies. Just a thought.

I once had an intellectual interest in this band Unrest. I was reminded of their existence the other day at the radio station. Unrest was every adjective an indie band from the 1990s should have been: choppy, jangly, shambolic, poppy, dreamy, label-owning, design-obsessive, etc. To make up for their shortcomings (doughy frontman Mark Robinson's elastic-in-a-bad-way voice, a permanent attachment to the Factory jock) they had a way of tugging, forcing and willing their best songs into shape. All sawdust and spelling lessons, this little dynamo is "Cath Carroll" and it is from their 1993 Perfect Teeth record. If you're curious what they were going for, more or less, this is "Did She" by Cath Carroll herself, from the 1987 Miaow single, "When it All Comes Down."

Posted by Hua at January 11, 2005 12:50 AM