The Race & The New Mastersounds preview
The Race
Wicker Park Fest, Chicago
Sunday, July 29, 2007
In mid 2004, Chicago Reader columnist Bob Mehr wrote an article on The Race, subtitled “finally starting to get somewhere.” Rather amusingly, it has been attached to the press kit for the Chicago band’s fourth album, Ice Station (Flameshovel).
The piece was advance hype for the band’s third record, If You Can, and chronicled their difficulty in pulling a rock career together and how everything was beginning to jell. As you might have guessed, one painstaking step forward for The Race equaled five steps back. Reduced to Craig Klein after a series of arguments, he gently nursed the band back to health with the help of “former” bandmates Jeremy Parker and Kevin Duneman, as well as friend Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv.
One wonders what all the hubbub was about. Ice Station — so named for Klein’s obsession with Siberia as well as his temporary isolation — might finally help The Race shed those deadweight Radiohead comparisons, though it’s not quite the departure such a band shakeup would suggest. Ice is very much a mood piece, where the songs rely heavily upon each other. This time, however, they’re on the very edge of industrial. “Ice Station” rides a hellbent Joy Division bassline, “Odessa” could be Al Jourgensen revisiting his earlier indiscretions, while the nervous “Crack Goes The Lake” anxiously recalls either PiL or Low Pop Suicide, depending on what time of day you woke up.
Off of the retro-industrial line, “Walls” taps into the dark alley sexuality Greg Dulli explores, while “A Kind Of Solution” begins an epic journey into a blackened heart before quickly snuffing the candelabra. It’s dark, menacing stuff for sure, but still of a body. Whatever it is, this ain’t no indie “darling,” and it certainly isn’t Radiohead. It could be The Race, but for how long?
The New Mastersounds’ set, who play at 6 p.m. on Saturday, represents the rare Stateside foray for this British funk band. You read that right. Guitarist Eddie Roberts and organist Bob Birch guide the quartet through 102% (One Note), an ass-shakin’ ride that pays heed to everyone from the JBs to Phish, and even nods at grime pioneer Roots Manuva with a cover of “Witness (1 Hope).”
The Race perform at 4:30 p.m. Other Wicker Park Fest bands on the 29th include JJ Grey & Mofro, High On Fire, Russian Circles, Pit Er Pat, Sybris, Don Caballero, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Oh My God. For a full schedule as well as bands for Saturday the 28th, click here.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “Walls.”
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
