This LP was the bonus album you could buy when ordering the Unwound Rat Conspiracy box set direct from Numero. It contains the original demos for what would eventually become Unwound's debut full length Fake Train. With the description of the LP on the Numero website referring to this as demos, I was kind of surprised to find out that all of the songs on this are without vocals. They're all instrumentals, though I'm sure vocals were slated for these tracks before they were abandoned. I can kind of see why they shelved these versions. everything sounds really muddy and claustrophobic. The songs lack any of the crispness and urgency of their final versions. Maybe a little more than half of the songs on this album ended up on Fake Train, others eventually were farmed out to compilation albums like the Smitten Love Song comp or the Multi-Vitamin comp on Punk In My Vitamins. Faked Train isn't essential. It's an interesting listen, but I can't really fathom ever getting the urge to put it on the turntable again.
