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October 02, 2006
...and Here's to You, Mark E. Robinson
I promised on Friday that I would make up for cruelly abandoning Mark Robinson's Flin Flon by posting some of his earlier work. Always a man of my word, I start with the Teenbeat Records founder's first band. It was started, like the label, as an uber D.I.Y. project in 1985.
Unrest - "Teenage Suicide"
Unrest version 1 took a little time to find its feet. Five years in, from 1990's otherwise pretty atrocious Karnal Kustom Blackxplotation album, comes this stone classic. A re-imagining/response to the anti-suicide anthem of the same name from fictional Heathers teen sensations Big Fun. So that's awesome just in theory, but the ragged execution takes it high above the on-paper potential. With heavy guitar pound, Mark smartly takes the film song's chorus "Teenage Suicide/ Don't Do It" and adds the nihilistic rejoinder "Yes I Can!" So defiant it's almost chipper, the track is an ultimate, "You are NOT telling me what to do!" moment that fits the jet black tone of its film inspiration more than the ironic goofball track it cops (although in the movie's context, that's totally the point).
Unrest - "Cherry Cream On"
The addition of bassist Bridget Cross before 1992's Imperial f.f.r.r., the band's indie-rock classic, was the key to consistency. Alot of Imperial best songs are more sprawling regal numbers, taking their time to build up the gorgeous quotient. This one, however, is one of the super bouncy power pop numbers that the band is better known for in retrospect (among people who know them at all). Also, it's totally filthy, and a complete rebuttal to folks who claim that indie pop is always de-sexed. "I just wanna see your insides!" Yikes.
Unrest - "Make Out Club"
Another in the super-pop string, this time from Imperial's 1994 follow-up Perfect Teeth which is sadly still out of print (it's predecessor was recently re-issued in expanded fashion). A relentlessly bouncy song about the giddiness of your very first hook up, it's a sweeter and faster version of "Cherry Cream On", more convicted in its energy and definitely a shade less lascivious. In a hilarious move, the band credited the production job to paunchy Duran Duran'er Simon LeBon in the liner notes.
Air Miami - "Neely"
Following the sad disbanding of Unrest, Robinson roped secret weapon Cross into a new band with even more emphasis on pop, and a diminishment of the choppy guitar attack. "Neely" from their only full length Me, Me, Me, is catchy to the extreme, but featuring the kind of appealing lyrical dark streak that marked the earlier material. "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey/ I'm Gonna Get Fucked Up Today!/ Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey/ I'm Gonna Fuck You Up Today!" That's an anthem we can all get behind.
So, there you have it Mark, hopefully my apology is accepted. All I know about Flin Flon is that A: they are beloved of Anderson Cooper, and B: Supposedly the material takes a darker, more post-punk inspired direction. Any track suggestions from the MS reader pool will be gladly investigated.
Tags:Mark Robinson, Unrest, Air Miami, Flin Flon, Teenbeat Records, the Ballet
Posted by Jeff Klingman at October 2, 2006 05:30 PM
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