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The first full length album and follow up to Wake Up, Wake Up from D.C. foursome Red Racer covers a wide spectrum of sounds from early '80s ballads and '90s tunes of Tom Petty to radio-friendly post-punk outfits like Interpol. Front man Tom Townshend is a dead ringer for Paul Banks, and his unique and unusual vocals contribute to making this self-titled disc a complete polished pop package with no skipping necessary.
The album kicks off with the melodic and powerful opening track, “Wasted Days”. The song recalls '80s power pop and builds up to an emotional chorus. Red Racer makes use of the familiar to initially draw in the listener and then hook you into their own style of rock. The following track “Petty Tom” is exactly what the title implies, playing off the artist's familiar guitar riffs while incorporating Red Racer’s own modern sound.
The disc also includes several slow acoustic tracks which best support Townshend’s voice. Both “Man of Stone” and “Lies Money Lies” are more down tempo and best match his melancholy vocals. “Break the Believers”, another slow track in the set, sounds like it could have been pulled from a Bright Eyes album. The song is a simple acoustic arrangement that includes some piano and string accompaniments, and stands out as one of the most memorable singles of the set.
While these tracks do suit Townshend, layering the same vocals over more upbeat tracks also proves to be an interesting combination. “The Professional” is the most Interpol-esque, and “Say Something” utilizes classic ‘90s rock riffs. “Medecine Man” is one of the weaker additions, but only in that it doesn’t have any particular characteristic that distinguishes it from the rest. While sparking many comparisons and drawing upon multiple influences, it is a well packaged first album by a local pop band who knows what sells without selling out.
You can buy the album here, or catch Red Racer live, July 24, at the Rock and Roll Hotel. 8:30 p.m., $10.
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I was disappointed with this album. I first stumbled upon Red Racer when checking out local shows. At the time, they had a a few songs from their EP posted on their MySpace, which in my opinion were awesome. They kind of sounded like a toned down Weezer sans Rivers Cuomo's over-rated pseudo ironic lyrics.
Then I heard their new songs, from their recently released album, and I wondered what in the hell happened. Wasted Days is hands down the best track on the album because of, first, the vast difference musically compared with the other songs on the album (a bit progressive/experimental with the guitar and piano combination), and second, the vocal arrangement being well pieced together. The rest of the songs basically sound the same respectively (the fast songs sound the same, the slow songs...). In short, the album lacks variance.
I hate to rag on local bands because I'm all about supporting the DC music scene, but this one bummed me out.
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