IMHIW is now available in France through Volvox, here is a review we received yesterday (can't remember who from) its been very kindly translated for us as we aren't too hot at french.
Good bands out of England have been few and far between recently, don’t you find? Which is why when you find one, you make a lot of noise about them! The Race is one of those groups who created a buzz on the other side of the channel even before their first album was recorded. Barely two years later and the spirits appeased, the group is back with a second album, In My Head It Works, on a par with their reputation.
The group keeps a steady course, offering an album with a long shadow, multi-faceted, with varying rhythms. It was Summer that grabbed most of my attention during the first few listens. Whether in the vocals or the guitars, this song guides us towards the influences that perhaps stayed with us from the 90s (Dinosaur Jr, Afghan Whigs…) . The group’s talent is also equally notable both in the composition of the melodies and the richness of the sound. And they are able to alternate rhythms and atmospheres, to prevent In My Head It Works from becoming an insipid or stodgy album. Racing Car Game or Give Me Your Bible were also good for a few replays, with their noisy, whirling guitars in the style of My Bloody Valentine and the turbulent, mad vocals again.
Pretty damn impressive, all that!Yes, you guessed, it, if there’s one real rock album you should listen to now, then it’s The Race, In My Head It Works !As for me, I’m pretty hard pressed to part with it since a few days ago. It’s a real obsession! Apparently, it’s working on my head as well!Without doubt the finest surprise in this style since the first Bloc Party album.
9/10
Wednesday 6 May 2009
Tuesday 17 March 2009
IMHIW (album) is OUT NOW!
Spring has arrived and so has our second album. Two years of hard work is now available for you to purchase in HMV stores/amazon/iTunes worldwide and directly from our label's shop if you want to help us channel the profits more efficiently...(link at the bottom).
some brand new reviews;
"endearingly awkward... couldn't be more triumphalistic if they soundtracked Brandon Flowers taking a unicorn for a victory lap round a paddock" NME
"the band are definitely firing on all cylinders, get into them now before everybody else does" Clash
"this band delivers. If the Pixies shacked up with The Arcade Fire and then threw in a bit of Bloc Party for good measure, 'In My Head It Works' would be the hybrid love-child. ...twinkling, mesmerising with enough grunge sensibility to give this band the edge." RockSound
"As bold and big-hearted as The Waterboys in the Grand Canyon, it's vaulting ambition meets ruddy big choruses coming the other way. ...roars majestically. Intriguing moments of punk interrupt... it's classy anthems aplenty." Channel 4, Planet Sound
"it's really very good. ...the elegiac nature of the lyrics and the soaring guitars of the del Rios make this a stadium-friendly unit-shifter which owes a debt to many, from Arcade Fire to Simple Minds. If the race is on for successful rock with balls and brains, then it's already been won" AU
"Akin to Editors, Interpol and White Lies....Floor-tom heavy with a rolling bass the guitars are alternatively choppy then floating on a Chameleons-like tide of echoing, chiming, glassy effects." Q
The album is also out in Japan with France to follow with plans for a few more license deals coming in as we continue forward.
Gigs next week include, Lewisham, Guildford, London, Windsor and Harlow. A brand new video for current single Rude Boy is also due to appear in the next couple of days.
dan
www.oxfordmusic.net (our label shop that can ship you a copy of the album worldwide).
Tuesday 17 February 2009
RUDE BOY
We're having a nice week, rude boy is kind of the flagship single for the album at the moment, it seems to be doing a nice job. Its a song inspired by a visit I made to one of my friends who was in Reading Prison at the time. I watched as some of the other prisoners gave it the strut as they entered the visiting room. Its funny how just being in a prison can effect how a dude see's himself.
It was Q track of the day yesterday;
http://news.q4music.com/2009/02/its_something_of_a_challenge.html
and had a nice this is fake diy review this evening;
http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/tracks/the-race-rude-boy
its good to read stuff about you that doesn't just repeat your press release. Next wednesday is going to be a good day, We're getting the rude boy video back from Mark the director dude, we are quietly excited about the results..it could be very special, we're then headlining the 229 club in central London for club fandango in the evening. Do come. Rude boy has now made its way onto the NME Radio A list too.. which is good.
Thats all band stuff and all very nice but the thing I'm most excited about this week is my local library; Palmer Park library in Reading. I haven't had a library card since I was about 14, back then you could borrow 7 books at a time. Yesterday, aged 26 I took my I.D along and asked for a library card at my local library... 20 BOOKS!!! I didn't know where to start, I found myself reverting back to my childhood and heading straight for the sports section again. You can now borrow dvd's too, woop woop. We're hoping to have some more gigs to announce shortly (do i say that every time? -we really mean it this time). We have ants in our pants.
It was Q track of the day yesterday;
http://news.q4music.com/2009/02/its_something_of_a_challenge.html
and had a nice this is fake diy review this evening;
http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/tracks/the-race-rude-boy
its good to read stuff about you that doesn't just repeat your press release. Next wednesday is going to be a good day, We're getting the rude boy video back from Mark the director dude, we are quietly excited about the results..it could be very special, we're then headlining the 229 club in central London for club fandango in the evening. Do come. Rude boy has now made its way onto the NME Radio A list too.. which is good.
Thats all band stuff and all very nice but the thing I'm most excited about this week is my local library; Palmer Park library in Reading. I haven't had a library card since I was about 14, back then you could borrow 7 books at a time. Yesterday, aged 26 I took my I.D along and asked for a library card at my local library... 20 BOOKS!!! I didn't know where to start, I found myself reverting back to my childhood and heading straight for the sports section again. You can now borrow dvd's too, woop woop. We're hoping to have some more gigs to announce shortly (do i say that every time? -we really mean it this time). We have ants in our pants.
Monday 2 February 2009
Snowy.
Its very snowy today here in Reading, there is a skip outside my house and it has been hit several times today by cars coming around the corner, thankfully my car has survived unscathed.
Having spent several months waiting for this new album and its singles to be released its been wonderful having people hear it (journalists/stake holders) and to get some feedback. We are really pleased with the songs and their recordings.
'Rude Boy' shall be the next single (February 23rd) and has two of my favourite b-sides to date. It also has some lovely artwork from our friend Tom Derret (morning runner) which makes it extra special. We begin work on the video tomorrow. We heard today that its made its way onto the NME radio playlist which is good. Meanwhile 'I Get it Wrong' is being beautifully serviced over in America and has had a whole bunch of plays on different stations around the country thanks to our newest team member Liz.
In My Head It Works (the album) is set for a full release on Mrch the 9th although it can be downloaded from iTunes already if you like your music downloaded. We're just trying to sort our some dates around its release more to follow.
Thats about all I can think of for now. We hope all you stakeholders have received your singles and albums safely and have been studying them carefully. dan x
Having spent several months waiting for this new album and its singles to be released its been wonderful having people hear it (journalists/stake holders) and to get some feedback. We are really pleased with the songs and their recordings.
'Rude Boy' shall be the next single (February 23rd) and has two of my favourite b-sides to date. It also has some lovely artwork from our friend Tom Derret (morning runner) which makes it extra special. We begin work on the video tomorrow. We heard today that its made its way onto the NME radio playlist which is good. Meanwhile 'I Get it Wrong' is being beautifully serviced over in America and has had a whole bunch of plays on different stations around the country thanks to our newest team member Liz.
In My Head It Works (the album) is set for a full release on Mrch the 9th although it can be downloaded from iTunes already if you like your music downloaded. We're just trying to sort our some dates around its release more to follow.
Thats about all I can think of for now. We hope all you stakeholders have received your singles and albums safely and have been studying them carefully. dan x
Wednesday 14 January 2009
artrocker/south st/album/single stuff.
Thankyou so much to those of you that came on Saturday to the Reading gig. What an awesome start to the year..sorry to those who couldn't get in (actually we're not sorry at all).
This months Artrocker magazine have just published the first album review, they don't mince their words. This is what they said;
THE RACE. In my head it works.
I wasn't a fan of this band, to be honest (until now). Their anthemic indie harmonisations are excellently executed,but still managing to teeter dangerously close to the Razorshite category, although managing to outshine other bands involved in the self-admiring indie stifle. 'I Get It Wrong' showcases the bands willingness to down tune the guitars and make riff's more akin to Interpol than the Zutons, a blatant improvement from the last album 'Be Your Alibi' subsequently showing that the band have somewhat matured from obvious pop structures and hooks. Dirty, subdued riffs, spindly chords and key tonal changes on tracks like 'Rude Boy', 'Better ship away' and 'Racing Car Game' further proved me wrong as I listened in awe to the transformation- from an underachieving 'comic' sponsored mob to something that may actually be interesting live, its lighter holding, stadium rock contains a dirty penchant for the extrovert and out of tune. Joe Gamp.
You stakeholders got a mention in the NME today, your 'rude boy' singles should be on their way and the albums are being manufactured as we speak although i think you've already been told that.
There's a gig in Aldershot on Friday and we're just waiting to here back on a last minute gig in London next Thursday too. Things are warming up.
dan
This months Artrocker magazine have just published the first album review, they don't mince their words. This is what they said;
THE RACE. In my head it works.
I wasn't a fan of this band, to be honest (until now). Their anthemic indie harmonisations are excellently executed,but still managing to teeter dangerously close to the Razorshite category, although managing to outshine other bands involved in the self-admiring indie stifle. 'I Get It Wrong' showcases the bands willingness to down tune the guitars and make riff's more akin to Interpol than the Zutons, a blatant improvement from the last album 'Be Your Alibi' subsequently showing that the band have somewhat matured from obvious pop structures and hooks. Dirty, subdued riffs, spindly chords and key tonal changes on tracks like 'Rude Boy', 'Better ship away' and 'Racing Car Game' further proved me wrong as I listened in awe to the transformation- from an underachieving 'comic' sponsored mob to something that may actually be interesting live, its lighter holding, stadium rock contains a dirty penchant for the extrovert and out of tune. Joe Gamp.
You stakeholders got a mention in the NME today, your 'rude boy' singles should be on their way and the albums are being manufactured as we speak although i think you've already been told that.
There's a gig in Aldershot on Friday and we're just waiting to here back on a last minute gig in London next Thursday too. Things are warming up.
dan
Tuesday 6 January 2009
Happy New Year and all that jazz.
Woo Woo yeah yeah.. good. Lets get back to being in a band again, I spent the past three weeks waiting for everyone to get back to work. We have some music to release and I'd like to get cracking. This New Years eve I was in bed by 11pm (new baby blah blah) and it was probably my best yet as I have grown tired of the usual fake excitement with a room full of strangers.
The others are back rehearsing today and trying to figure out how to play the whole of Killer live,turning my casiotone into a huge church organ using james' guitar pedals..I have had to stay home. My head is throbbing and it looks like I may have suddenly become prone to migraines, will see what the doctor says later...i tried the nhs direct website but it told me to ring 999 which worried me greatly.
Apparently mr lamacq thinks that shoegaze might make a comeback this year, I spent yesterday doing a japanese interview that wanted to know what we thought about 'shoegazer' and our fellow Reading band Slowdive....???????????????????????? I don't know????!! Maybe i should have a listen to their stuff as similar questions keep coming. Cue a whole load of reviews comparing us to shoegaze bands. Hype/press/buzz/labels are funny old things. We continue to make music we like and remain ignorant of half the bands we get compared too. Sometimes its nice to not be too knowledgable, we shall leave that to others. France are now releasing the album which is good, Tom Robinson played IGIW yesterday and reviews continue to pour in, Rude Boy should be back from the manufacturers this week and we are really excited about this huge Reading gig coming up on Saturday, its set to be busy. Also keep your eyes peeled for some of the COOTMP gigs that are starting to come together, happy new year, i hope it has brought you fresh optimism in whatever you are getting up to,
dan.
ps//having said all of that, I'm going to bite the bullet and listen to some slowdive right now(!)
The others are back rehearsing today and trying to figure out how to play the whole of Killer live,turning my casiotone into a huge church organ using james' guitar pedals..I have had to stay home. My head is throbbing and it looks like I may have suddenly become prone to migraines, will see what the doctor says later...i tried the nhs direct website but it told me to ring 999 which worried me greatly.
Apparently mr lamacq thinks that shoegaze might make a comeback this year, I spent yesterday doing a japanese interview that wanted to know what we thought about 'shoegazer' and our fellow Reading band Slowdive....???????????????????????? I don't know????!! Maybe i should have a listen to their stuff as similar questions keep coming. Cue a whole load of reviews comparing us to shoegaze bands. Hype/press/buzz/labels are funny old things. We continue to make music we like and remain ignorant of half the bands we get compared too. Sometimes its nice to not be too knowledgable, we shall leave that to others. France are now releasing the album which is good, Tom Robinson played IGIW yesterday and reviews continue to pour in, Rude Boy should be back from the manufacturers this week and we are really excited about this huge Reading gig coming up on Saturday, its set to be busy. Also keep your eyes peeled for some of the COOTMP gigs that are starting to come together, happy new year, i hope it has brought you fresh optimism in whatever you are getting up to,
dan.
ps//having said all of that, I'm going to bite the bullet and listen to some slowdive right now(!)
Sunday 14 December 2008
**MOORFOGG- Christmas Single!**
If we were to release a Christmas single this could well be it. Screw everyone else!!
Mr Fogg sent us through a remix of our song Moorwood late last week and on a cold, damp, flu riddled day I had a bit of a moment. Have a listen, if you like it pass it on to your friends..we will make it available to download from our website between Christmas day and New Years day, some kind of virtual stocking filler I guess. We're also working on the 'Race Christmas Message 2008'..more of that to come.
Now please go and check out Mr Fogg.
www.myspace.com/mrfoggisapopstar
Mr Fogg sent us through a remix of our song Moorwood late last week and on a cold, damp, flu riddled day I had a bit of a moment. Have a listen, if you like it pass it on to your friends..we will make it available to download from our website between Christmas day and New Years day, some kind of virtual stocking filler I guess. We're also working on the 'Race Christmas Message 2008'..more of that to come.
Now please go and check out Mr Fogg.
www.myspace.com/mrfoggisapopstar
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