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Avg: 4.0 (16 ratings)
- Date Released: March 18, 1994
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Rock, Pop
- Label: Kill Rock Stars / Redeye
Kevlar-strong, and potent as a tornado.
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We Say...
Though only one year separates Unwound's debut, Fake Train, and its follow-up, New Plastic Ideas, in those 12 months the band grew immeasurably as songwriters and arrangers. In many ways, New Plastic Ideas is the trio's best album: it's concise (only nine tracks), the melodies are Kevlar-strong, a stellar instrumental ("Abstraktions") provides a near-serene respite midway through, and only the see-sawing of opener "Entirely Different Matters" fails to satisfy. The stretch of "What Was Wound," "Envelope" and "Hexenzsene" particularly impresses, as the songs churn, release and repeat with charming imprecision. "All Souls Day" struts to drummer Sara Lund's busy beats (later sampled for Unwound's epic "The Light at the End of the Tunnel Is a Train," included on A Single History) and "Arboretum" explodes with frontman Justin Trosper's screams, hushes for a Tortoise-like chiming bridge (years before Tortoise even existed) and then erupts yet again. New Plastic Ideas closes with Unwound's best track, "Fiction Friction." The song continually spikes with crescendos, but there's a resigned desperation (common among many Northwestern bands of the era; see neighbors Nirvana) that underlies each of Trosper's gauzy yells and pounding down-strokes that still resonates today.
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They Say...
Unwound's second record of noise symphonies contains some more coherently focused attempts at songwriting than their debut effort, and, on a whole, the Fugazi meets Sonic Youth in a dark alley musical theatrics really start to sound polished this time around. Tracks like the opening "Entirely Different Matters" incorporate legitimate song structure into feedback laden chunks of sound, and the more relaxed "Hexenzsene" showcases the band's ability to create and evolve understated crescendos with big time results. Vocalist Justin Trosper's pained yelling and very nearly in-tune singing punctuates the album and works quite well in the overall mix. Drummer Sara Lund also proves her worth on this record, and her pounding contributions add amazing strength to tracks like the album's brilliantly abrasive and fractured centerpiece "All Souls Day." Compared to the more technically adept work the band moved towards on later records, New Plastic Ideas isn't their most groundbreaking, but in the scheme of things it sees the band move towards a darker and more note-oriented structure while still retaining the chugging dissonance that would continue to characterize them for their next few records. After this record, Unwound would move towards some more epic and exploratory compositions, but as far as their efforts at short and sweet noise bursts go, New Plastic Ideas catches them at their nosiest and most unadorned peak.
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| 01. |  |
Entirely Different Matters |
2:04 |
|
| 02. | |
What Was Sound |
2:28 |
|
| 03. | |
Envelope |
3:20 |
|
| 04. | |
Hexenzsene |
4:34 |
|
| 05. | |
Abstraktions |
7:11 |
|
| 06. | |
All Souls Day |
3:12 |
|
| 07. | |
Usual Dosage |
5:14 |
|
| 08. | |
Arboretum |
5:00 |
|
| 09. | |
Fiction Friction |
6:36 |
|
09 Total Tracks, 39:39 Total Length
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Credits
- Steve Fisk - Producer // Steve Fisk - Engineer // Unwound - Producer // Unwound - Main Performer // Stuart Hallerman - Engineer
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