Unrest is an indie rock band from the Washington DC area. It was one of Mark Robinson's projects for what would eventually become the TeenBeat label, also created by Mark while in high school. Developing from an experimental approach of never playing the same song twice, earlier material seemed to be influenced by everything from punk to funk to Ennio Morricone. Original members Mark (guitar) and drummer Phil Krauth were joined by Bridget Cross on bass in 1990 and their sound evolved into a minimalist but lively kind of brit pop. The two full length albums released with this line up, 1992's Imperial ffrr and 1993's Perfect Teeth (distributed by the influential British label 4AD ) featured finely crafted pop songs interspersed with strange avant-garde percussive and sonic tracks (sometimes featuring nothing but white noise, beeps or sirens). EPs released around the same time period reveal an even a more pronounced gap between the pop sensibilities and the experimental nature that defines the band. The group broke up in 1994 with Phil pursuing a solo career and Mark and Bridget continued for a time as Air Miami, which released one album, me me me. Since Air Miami's demise in the mid '90s, Mark has continued to release various solo projects and run TeenBeat as well.
The band's original sound was jarring guitar post punk. After a few records, Robinson's love of pop music and layered textures began to erupt from the noise. By Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation, the band was mixing the two with a high degree of muscianship. When they finally threw in the towel, Unrest's sound would be almost unrecognizable from its first recordings. Despite their change in sound, they were able to retain their fan base.
