Bowing out at their creative peak, Perfect Teeth is the wonderful final album by American 90s indie rock greats Unrest. Having just clocked 30 years, 4AD and the band are revisiting it to present the limited, celebratory double album Perfect Teeth / Extra Teeth; the album remastered plus a bonus album of EP tracks, singles and rarities, out on 28 March.
Borrowing their name from a Henry Cow record, Unrest formed in 1983 at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia (just outside of Washington, D.C.). Beginning as an improv instrumental band, they were soon perfecting genre-hopping eclecticism and issuing recordings (often in cassette form) via frontman Mark Robinson‘s DIY label TeenBeat, as well as on notable labels such as 4AD, Caroline, and Matador.
Their last album, Perfect Teeth features the latter year classic line-up of founding members Mark Robinson and Phil Krauth plus bassist Bridget Cross (the original lead singer of Velocity Girl) and was recorded at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, in early 1993, mere days after Nirvana completed In Utero in the very same space. Brian Paulson, who had produced Slint’s seminal Spiderland album, was asked to record the album and he chose the rural studio setting. Simon Le Bon, who was recently awarded an MBE, produced the record.
For this reissue, the album and bonus tracks have all been remastered – most from their original analogue tapes – and are sounding as great as ever. Working again with original designer Chris Bigg, he’s kept the original album cover as is (complete with Robert Mapplethorpe’s portrait of former Miaow singer/songwriter Cath Carroll) but has created an all-new back cover and inner-sleeve, as well as the Extra Teeth album, visually re-mixing the components of the original release. This one-time release sees the two albums bundled together with an exclusive 16-page art catalogue that includes liner notes by the band as well as 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russel and Chris Bigg.
Unrest’s Perfect Teeth 30th Anniversary edition will be available March 28 on all digital platforms, as well as in the following physical formats:
2xLP (Dinked edition, UK only) on Bone White Vinyl – bonus LP Extra Teeth + Chris Bigg-designed fanzine
2xLP (TeenBeat & 4AD webstore) on Crystal Clear Vinyl – bonus LP Extra Teeth
LP on Black Vinyl w/ no bonus tracks (available everywhere)
2xCD w/ Extra Teeth bonus disc (available everywhere)
28 March 2025
Formats: 2xLP, LP, 2xCD, and Digital
Perfect Teeth
- Angel I’ll Walk You Home
- Cath Carroll
- So Sick
- Light Command
- Food and Drink Synthesizer
- Soon It Is Going to Rain
- Make Out Club
- Breather X.O.X.O.
- West Coast Love Affair
- Six Layer Cake
- Stylized Ampersand
Extra Teeth
- Vibe Out!
Teenbeat 7” single (Teenbeat, 1993), a free record given to attendees at Unrest concerts from Aug-Sept 1993 tour with Blast Off Country Style
- So So Sick
Cath Carroll 7” Single (Teenbeat, 1993)
- Goodbye
CCEP EP (Teenbeat/4AD, 1993)
- Where Are All Those Puerto Rican Boys?
Split 7” single with Stereolab, sold exclusively on Unrest and Stereolab’s Oct-Nov 1993 US tour (Teenbeat, 1993)
- Capezio Bowler
Cath Carroll 7” Single (Teenbeat, 1993)
- Hey Hey Halifax
Animal Park 7” Single (Teenbeat, 1993)
- Folklore
Promo-only split 7” single with Heidi Berry (Soil Samples series from Warner/Reprise – US Only, 1993)
- Plastic Film
‘Make Out Club’ 7” single, exclusive to Perfect Teeth 7” single boxed set (Teenbeat, 1993)
- Isabel
Isabel Bishop 7” single (Teenbeat, 1992), a re-recording of the song from Imperial f.f.r.r.
- Teenage Suicide
Isabel Bishop EP (Teenbeat/4AD, 1993., a re-recording of the song from Kustom Karnal Blackxploitation
- Love to Know
Isabel Bishop 7” single (Teenbeat, 1992)
- Nation Writer
Isabel Bishop EP (Teenbeat/4AD, 1993)
ABOUT UNREST
Unrest was a towering pillar of the American indie rock community throughout the early ’90s — from the tongue-in-cheek garage noise of their earliest efforts to the shimmering, manic pop thrills of their later, most enduring work, the band was a paragon of DIY virtue, perfecting a genre-hopping eclecticism and knowing, ironic lyrical outlook that virtually defined the sound and feel of college rock in the pre-grunge era. Mark Robinson, Tim Moran, and Phil Krauth formed Unrest while students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. The most popular line-up featured Bridget Cross with Mark and Phil.
PRAISE FOR UNREST
“A pop enigma, pristine and disturbing.” – New York Times
“In this world, there exist precious few bands, past or present, that are as fearlessly experimental as Unrest.” – Pitchfork
“Back in the early ’90s, they were indie rock’s most indomitable pinball — a band perpetually bouncing between weirdo love songs and lovely weirdo songs, delivering a gust of fresh air to the American underground.” – Washington Post
UNREST ONLINE
