Let’s all hop in the Groove Machine and head back in time to a killer show at a magical place long gone but forever a part of those that frequented it. Across the red brick streets of Main Street, just down from Texas Tech University, we walk the broken and cracked sidewalk to a local punk rock Mecca, Einstein’s. Part coffee shop, part sandwich shop, part laundromat, part punk rock venue, but every part of it a home away from home. Through the doorway with the heavy glass door propped open with a cord of some sort (maybe an old piece of rope? I don’t know, time is taking a toll on the memories.), past the sandwich counter, and straight back to the washers and dryers stands various groups of friends. Most everyone is dressed in leather, spikes, chains, and worn out tees of local punk bands or bands that had passed through town by happenstance needing gas money so they could make it to their next actual gig. A mass coming-of-age laced with the aroma of espresso shakes, grilling sourdough, roast beef, muenster cheese, cheap cigarettes and full ashtrays, and body odor.
This night is different though. Tonight, I am just here to hang. I don’t really have a core group of friends in this scene yet. I’ve only been coming around here for six months or so and am still quite firmly lodged between grunge and alt rock, still a bit of an outsider. There is an Unwound show tonight with a $3 cover, and although I am not familiar with Unwound, Scrappy Doo is opening. I certainly don’t want to miss that. Once they finish their set, I move a bit closer to the front hoping to land somewhere in the middle. Once Unwound is set up and ready, the feedback begins and the band launches into an assault of grinding guitar, pulsating bass, and heavy handed yet fluid drums. The crowd, an undulating wave (not a mosh pit) that you can just float in as it moves. Once the vocals come in, I feel a stirring inside that I can really only compare to the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit. Something unexpected inside is waking up for the first time, punk rock, and it has me. I’m not saying this music is as groundbreaking as Nirvana, but it has an equally impactful moment that changed the course of everything. From this day forth, I am a punk rocker. As they play, each song is as good or better than the last. By night’s end, they have played New Plastic Ideas in its entirety, two months after its release, and my life is changed forever.
New Plastic Ideas is the sophomore album from post-hardcore, noise rock band Unwound. It was released in March of 1994 on Kill Rock Stars. Even though it is punk adjacent, punk zine Maximum Rocknroll infamously refused to review it because it wasn’t punk enough. It is regarded as highly influential on many bands from the 90s and beyond, including Sleater-Kinney, Blonde Redhead, and even Modest Mouse. This album is the reason I went on to love bands like Slint and METZ. Fans and critics alike agree that it serves as a bridge between where Unwound began and what they would become. While it still brings the feedback and noise of their debut album Fake Train, it also displays their evolution into a sound that is more melodic at times, ebbing and flowing between the two versions of themselves. Vocals, no longer mostly screamed, now often droning. Walls of sound pulsing from light to heavy and back again.
New Plastic Ideas isn’t just a harsher-until-it’s-not sophomore effort—it’s a crucible. It forged melody from chaos, groove from distortion, and identity from alienation. It feels like 1994.
HIGHLIGHTS
Entirely Different Matters: intro track, opens with signature feedback, mathy, grinding, hypnotic
What Was Wound: short, explosive blast pointing toward melodic promises, peace then chaos yet all as one
Envelope: droning of teenage angst turns to controlled rage, discordant yet harmonious, pop melody turned dark and unresolved
Abstraktions: chill instrumental, drifting between shifts in mood, dynamic restraint
Fiction Friction: dreamy and rhythmic, highly influential across indie rock and post-rock scenes that followed
“She won’t miss you, if you let her.”
-“Envelope”, Unwound (1994)
Pairs well with:
Cheap cigarettes, espresso shakes, the best damn sandwiches in the history of sandwiches, leather jackets, spikes, Manic Panic, coming of age, and teenage angst (Gen X edition)
Groove Rituals 