Racebannon preview

Racebannon
Beat Kitchen, Chicago
Friday, August 15, 2008

The rise of MP3s has precipitated the demise of album artwork. Rebelling against thumbnail incarceration, Kanye West’s Graduation used anime to hint at its electro contents, and Miley Cyrus’ Breakout distilled the oppression felt by teenage multi-millionaires. But rarely do you see anything as iconic as, say, the fist to the jaw on Pantera’s Vulgar Display Of Power.

Racebannon overshoot their mark on Acid Or Blood (Southern). For some, a sharp stick in the eye might be preferred over their ricocheting sludge metal, but the precision and terror involved in eye surgery hardly equates to this violent rupture. Though imbued with hardcore’s energy, its discipline is shattered in an orgy of detuned riffs, feedback skree, and Michael Anderson’s torture-chamber howls.

Opener “Translucent Lifeforce” constantly bargains with inner demons, just as “Sister Fucker” tries in vain to keep James Bauman’s guitar from being swallowed in a vortex. Like Pinebender, Racebannon have mastered moving beats so slowly you think they’ll stop and fall over, only to be swallowed by a phantom twister — wait! There’s your album cover!

Quatre Tete and Nonagon open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to download “Sister Fucker.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly