| Fake Train | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 7, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | February 13–March 3, 1993 | |||
| Studio | Avast! (Seattle, Washington) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:56 | |||
| Label | Kill Rock Stars | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Unwound chronology | ||||
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Fake Train is the debut studio album by the American post-hardcore band Unwound, released on July 7, 1993, by Kill Rock Stars. [1]
While being the first studio album in the band's catalog to be released, and the first LP on Kill Rock Stars, it is actually the second album by the group to be recorded. Their first full-length was recorded in 1992 with drummer Brandt Sandeno, who left the group shortly after recording. [2] That album was shelved and was not released until 1995, after the group already released 3 full-lengths via Kill Rock Stars. As suggested by Sandeno, Sara Lund was chosen as his replacement. Her drumming style would shape the band from their initial rugged hardcore punk sound to the more post-hardcore style that is presented on this album. The album was under the working title of " Rat Conspiracy ," which would go on to become the name of the box-set that Fake Train would appear on in 2014. [3]
Fake Train was recorded and mixed during 2 weekends. [4] In retrospect, Sara Lund expressed her distaste for her performance on the album, for she believed she performed very poorly on it. [4] [5] The entire first side of the record was overdubbed with amplifier feedback. The album was released as the band's full-length debut on Kill Rock Stars on CD, LP, and cassette formats. They would continue to release most of their recordings through Kill Rock Stars until their break-up in 2001. Fake Train was also the first music-only recording released by Kill Rock Stars; releases made before Fake Train on the label were spoken word pieces. [6]
The cover art is a vandalized copy of Tom Jones' 1970 album Tom which frontman Justin Trosper had hanging in his home.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
Michael Azzerad and Ira Robbins of Trouser Press were more positive, writing that the album "boasts a formidable dynamic range, from the meditative instrumental "Were, Are and Was or Is," which pours sublimely chirping feedback over dappled guitar arpeggios, through the pile-driving "Pure Pain Sugar" and up to the apoplectic heights of "Lucky Acid" and the schizo noise bursts of the aptly named "Nervous Energy"". Despite criticizing Justin Trosper's vocals as "generic indie-rock holler" and the album's general lack of hooks, they found them to be "more than compensated for by the band's inventive attack (especially by Lund) and the sheer number of cool sounds and textures that festoon every track." [8] The Fort Worth Star-Telegram included the album on its list of the ten best of 1993, praising the "pure ugliness." [9]
AllMusic's Keith Farley wrote that it "bursts out of the gate with the opener 'Dragnalus' and tears through a dozen songs of prime indie-grindcore, including 'Star Spangled Hell' and 'Pure Pain Sugar'." [7]
The album received a lot more critical attention upon its re-release through the Rat Conspiracy box-set (which also included the follow-up New Plastic Ideas alongside other material recorded by the band during that time period) in 2014. [3] Jason Heller of Pitchfork wrote that the album "lurches, twists, and turns in on itself, as if manifesting some perverse, extended metaphor for the feedback that laces nearly ever track" in his review of the box-set. The tracks “Valentine Card”, “Kantina”, and “Were, Are and Was or Is” were compared to the trilogy consisting of the tracks “The Wonder”, “Hyperstation”, and “Eliminator Jr.” off Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation . "Fake Train and New Plastic Ideas " he writes towards the end of the review, "hold important places in the history of 90s music, not to mention those of punk and indie as a whole [...] [T]hose two albums [...] transcend time, place, attitude, and even the sprawling continuum of influence. More than any other records of their generation, they embody a paradox that disaffected youth has been stabbing at since the advent of rock ’n’ roll: how it feels to be cocooned among strangers in utter alienation, yet stand as one." [10] The A.V. Club , in an article suggesting that Unwound were one of the best bands of the '90s, noted "a layer of grunge grime on Unwound’s early records, conceived at the same time Nirvana was kicking around in Unwound’s backyard—and Trosper has admitted the inspiration. That might have gone both ways, though; listening to the strangled, wiry riffage of In Utero , it’s not hard to imagine it as a companion piece to Fake Train." [11] Treble gave the album an 8.4 out of 10, writing that "no song on Fake Train is so abrasive as to be inaccessible, but it’s certainly one of the loudest and most chaotic of the band’s records, Trosper rarely singing in a register that isn’t a strained yelp. And he is, to his credit, particularly adept at yelping. There aren’t many moments on the album that allow breathing room [...] But by and large, the attractions are the direct, dissonant punk tracks like opener “Dragnalus,” which, in simple arrangements and progressions, show just how peculiar—and awesome—the Washingtonian band's take on post-hardcore really was." [12]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dragnalus" | 3:29 |
| 2. | "Lucky Acid" | 1:43 |
| 3. | "Nervous Energy" | 4:50 |
| 4. | "Valentine Card" | 3:25 |
| 5. | "Kantina" | 4:44 |
| 6. | "Were, Are and Was or Is" | 5:45 |
| 7. | "Honourosis" | 4:45 |
| 8. | "Pure Pain Sugar" | 2:35 |
| 9. | "Gravity Slips" | 1:44 |
| 10. | "Star Spangled Hell" | 3:52 |
| 11. | "Ratbite" | 2:44 |
| 12. | "Feeling$ Real" | 5:15 |
| Total length: | 44:56 | |
Unwound
Technical
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known for its commitment to underground punk rock bands and the Olympia area music scene.
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K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music" since the 1980s.
Brian Baker is an American punk rock musician. He is best known as one of the founding members of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat, and as a guitarist in Bad Religion since 1994. In Minor Threat, he originally played bass guitar before switching to guitar in 1982 when Steve Hansgen joined the band, and then moved back to bass after Hansgen's departure. He also founded Dag Nasty in 1985, was part of the original line-up of Samhain, and has had stints in Doggy Style, The Meatmen, Government Issue, and Junkyard.
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term "post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. Initially taking inspiration from post-punk and noise rock, post-hardcore began in the 1980s with bands like Hüsker Dü and Minutemen. The genre expanded in the 1980s and 1990s with releases by bands from cities that had established hardcore scenes, such as Fugazi from Washington, D.C. as well as groups such as Big Black, Jawbox, Quicksand, and Shellac that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. Dischord Records became a major nexus of post-hardcore during this period.
The port city of Olympia, Washington, has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since the late 1970s. Before this period, Olympia's The Fleetwoods had several Billboard chart successes between 1959 and 1963. Olympia saw a rise in feminism in the music industry, where artists commonly addressed rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, and female empowerment in their songs. It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.
Unwound is an American post-hardcore band. Formed in 1988 in Tumwater and Olympia, Washington, the band currently consists of Justin Trosper, Jared Warren, Sara Lund (drums), and Scott Seckington (guitar).
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Repetition is the fifth studio album by the American post-hardcore band Unwound, released on April 9, 1996 by Kill Rock Stars. It was recorded in January 1996 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington and produced by Steve Fisk and John Goodmanson. The album has been hailed as a masterpiece among those in the punk rock scene.
New Plastic Ideas is the second studio album by the American post-hardcore band Unwound, released on March 21, 1994 by Kill Rock Stars.
A Single History: 1991–1997 is a compilation album by Unwound released on Kill Rock Stars. It contains tracks previously released on various 7-inch singles and multiple-artist compilations. "Crab Nebula" and "Stumbling Block" originally appeared on the band's 1991 demo tape. The fourth song is a reference to the U.S. government's secret MKUltra brainwashing program. The "Negated"/ "Said Serial"/ "Census" 7-inch was the first-ever release on Troubleman Unlimited Records. "Plight" is a cover of a Minutemen song, from the tribute disc Our Band Could Be Your Life. "Seen Not Heard" is from a split 7-inch with Steel Pole Bath Tub; the song comes from the Repetition album sessions. Following an extended drum and bass-style intro, "The Light At The End..." features odd vocal snippets from a man trying to persuade some band to make upbeat, "tribal-sounding" aerobics music.
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Justin Trosper is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, born in Olympia, Washington. He fronted the post-hardcore band Unwound from 1991 to 2002 and again from 2022 to present day. He has also been a member of bands such as Replikants, The Young Ginns, and Worst Case Scenario. Most of his work has been released on the independent record label Kill Rock Stars.
Vernon Emmry Aldo Rumsey was an American musician. He is best known for his work as the bassist of the post-hardcore band Unwound, in which he was a co-founding member. He was also in the bands Long Hind Legs, Oslo, Fitz of Depression, and Witchypoo, and was playing in the band Flora v. Fauna.
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The discography of American post-hardcore band Unwound consists of eight studio albums, three live albums, five EPs, ten singles, three music videos, and eight compilation albums.
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