Premier Rock Forum

Wood Goblin wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:21 pm

Vibracobra wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:45 am Heard they were hit or miss live, though

Saw Unsane once and Unwound twice, and to be honest, neither band was good live on those occasions. I’m convinced I just happened to catch a couple dud shows by Unwound.

Saw Unwound twice and Unsane many times. Unsane were really good live. I wouldn't think twice about going to see them if the chance came up again. The last time I saw them was in 2010 at the old Hi-Tone in Memphis. I think Chris Spencer must have just picked up an old Super Reverb in town and was playing it for the first time that night. He was loving it. I don't think I ever saw them sound better. They were tight, high energy and a load of fun.

Unwound on the other hand were not great live and their shows pretty much killed my enthusiasm for the band. I saw them first in Denver after Repetition came out. As much I liked the album, the show just put into perspective for me how much of my enjoyment of that album came from the production. The samey drumming and angular-by-the-numbers guitar wore thin in person. I tried one more time a couple of years later and it was the same deal so I wrote them off as a live band.

Y’all musta seen a different unwound than I did. The Leaves show I saw was a top 5 live experience, might be higher than that depending on the day you ask. They were always great when I saw them, but that particular show was stellar.

penningtron wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:36 pm RyanZ nailed it word for word. I don't care about '90s rock' in the slightest these days but I still listen to Unwound.

As far as videos just stumbled on their last show, I don't think I've watched this so 'bookmarked':

It’s a really great show. Vern plays very well for this performance

Unsane may be a one trick pony, but that trick is awesome and scratches my itchy spot. I always said I wanted to be the second guitar player in that band.

Every Unwound album builds upon the previous one and ending with Leaves is one hell of a finale. I love Unsane, but Unwound by a mile.

losthighway wrote: Fun fact: Brooklyn studio engineer, Joel Hamilton (who used to hang out on the Tape Op message board where he mentioned this) recorded/mixed Unsane's Blood Run. He used it as an experiment in making a record using absolutely no eq.

He later expressed regret, thinking it would have sounded more visceral if he'd used those tools to shape the sound. It's been a while, but I remember it sounding pretty awesome.

I remember reading what Joel said about this session. My favorite record of theirs musically and tone-wise. It's raw, but somehow still has this full sounding depth to it. The drums sound killer.

It's Unwound for me. I saw Unsane a couple of times. they are a great live band. it's just not so much the music I want to listen to at home.
I saw Unwound once, great show. and I do love their records! been listening a lot to "the future of what" lately.

Never clicked w/ Unwound (is there any consensus on what their best record is?) but I think there's more interesting material across a wider range. I say that as a non-fan who doesn't really get it.

My 20 yr old self would disown me if he heard this, but these days I think Unsane are very dull, esp from Scattered... onwards.

Unwound.

M.H wrote: Never clicked w/ Unwound (is there any consensus on what their best record is?)

My perception when I started looking for info about them on the internet 20 years ago was that "New plastic ideas" was the best regarded LP. Therefore that's the one I bought first. Still my fave. But I LOVE them all. Their evolution makes perfect sense. Even the B sides comp is killer.

Both bands getting their reissues out there.

Unsane finally getting around to #2:

Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

"Unsane has just been informed by the pressing plant that due to August heat waves forcing slowdowns there will be 1-2 week delay on vinyl. Vinyl will be complete in early October"