Racetrack
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Racetrack

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The best kept secret in music

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""I'm starting to think of Racetrack as the best band of its kind in the whole world.""

"It's so nice to discover that the catchy little Superchunky pop-punk record you liked so much when it came out has not only hung around the top of your CD stack, but revealed layer after layer of emotional depth in the seemingly simple constructions. I heard the title song, "City Lights," on a particularly fraught afternoon recently and had to wipe away tears. Maybe that's just my own fragile psyche talking, but I'm starting to think of Racetrack as the best band of its kind in the whole world." SEAN NELSON - The Stranger (Seattle, WA)


"Slendid E-zine Feature"


First, a disclosure: I hail from Bellingham, birthplace of Racetrack. I worked at KUGS, the Bellingham radio station that first broke the band, and that mentioned them as the top-spinning local band of 2003. Drummer Jackson Long (middle name: Justice. True.) hosts the local show at KUGS, so in a sense I was his boss. I have a vested interest in Racetrack's career and success. Now you know.
Recorded and mixed in eight days by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, City Lights showcases Racetrack's ability to combine blistering rock with superbly written singer/songwriter material; the resulting sound leavens the former and invigorates the latter. Frontwoman Meghan Kessinger deserves much of the credit; her intriguing vocals are equal measures sweet and sardonic. Of course, no three-piece outfit has much room for slackers, and Long's thunderous drumming and bassist Chris Rasmussen's melodic lines add a great deal to the mix.

"Sortie (Come and Gone)" opens City Lights with a squeal of feedback and a few bars of drums, after which Kessinger's guitar lays a soothing balm over everything. By the time her vocals enter the mix, the drums and bass are pushing forward and the guitar is sitting unobtrusively on top. The song ends suddenly, exiting on another short guitar squall before the silence.

It's often difficult to determine precisely which elements a producer brings to an album, but Walla's touch throughout City Lights is unmistakable. On "One Step Forward", the opening guitar lick is hard-panned back and forth, which isn't the subtlest effect, but gives the song a welcome dynamic layer. Elsewhere on the album, Kessinger's voice is higher in the mix, but here she's swimming among the guitars and drums. She has to fight to be heard, like the lone lightweight in a mosh pit. She holds her own, though, and by the time the middle eight arrives, she's punching back with undeniable fury.

The title track is also the album's longest, a slow run up to a crashing climax; the trick illustrates how well the band works together, and epitomizes the grace with which they've created these fine pop songs. In fact, Kessinger gets a few digs in at the expense of that traditional formula: "So who do you think we are?" "Keep on bitching until we're louder, faster, simpler." Bitch? Hell no. It's Racetrack's refusal to be simple, fast and loud that makes them so praiseworthy. You may want to take all of this praise with a pinch of salt, given my relationship with the band, but regardless, if you miss out on City Lights, you're missing out on something very cool. TYSON LYNN (9/17/2005) - Slendid E-Zine


""City Lights is guaranteed to delight the discerning Twin Cities rock connoisseur.""

"They must put something in the water out in Washington State, how else can one explain the inordinate number of Pacific northwestern rockers who rise to prominence on the national indie scene? Next in line appears to be Bellingham, WA’s Racetrack, a power trio with a pint-sized front lady who manage to make quite a large noise. Their full-length debut, City Lights, boasts the ideal pedigree of the moment the album was recorded and mixed by Death Cab for Cutie’s studio maestro Christopher Walla), and feels like the best album Sarge never got around to making back in their heyday. All buzzing guitars, buoyant rhythms and emotional angst, City Lights is guaranteed to delight the discerning Twin Cities rock connoisseur (they even name check Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls on "Fingertips")." NATHAN DEAN - PULSE (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN)


""City Lights undeniably captures the same wall-charging fervor that was best heard in a live club, with you right up against the edge of the stage (and with the scree of distortion sounding just as rebellious as it did in decades past).""

December 1, 2004
by Jennifer Przybylski

There may be some foolish talk about Racetrack's success being hitched to producer Chris Walla's star. Inarguably he does again on City Lights what he has done for Death Cab for Cutie, Velvet Teen and The Thermals. But the Bellingham, Washington band gives Walla much to work with, telegraphing some missed influences not heard from in a while. And, ultimately, the modest success of this album is due to the band, not just their producer.

And why not? Racetrack have caught up with a sound that is as identifiable as anything from the late '70s, yet has gone forgotten in all of the of-the-moment backward glances. Not that restive post-punk isn't great, but what about indie rock during the '90s? If Superchunk isn't the pack leader of those bands who were intelligent and still rocked incredibly hard, I don't know who is. I'll admit that it kind of rubbed me at first. Meghan Kessinger (vocals, guitar), Jackson Long (vocals, drums) and Chris Rasmussen (bass, vocals) don't appear old enough for such name checking. Turns out that Racetrack are too smart for idle weigh-ins though. City Lights undeniably captures the same wall-charging fervor that was best heard in a live club, with you right up against the edge of the stage (and with the scree of distortion sounding just as rebellious as it did in decades past).

Believe that the diminutive Kessinger is nothing less than a forcible wallop, calling-out self-important music writers and thick-headed boys who arrive at the show plus-one. She appears to be a big fan of Elizabeth Elmore (Sarge/ The Reputation), who was so able to enfold personal matters into melodic. Singing of "letters never sent" and "the ugliest traits that hide in our most deserving friends," Kessinger echoes Elmore's soft/ hard delivery. Sleater-Kinney — at least the ideals and pointed guitar work of Dig Me Out — are another reference point (that record pitched you back and forth between shining minor chords, driving percussion and Corin Tucker's punk tremolo). Kessinger's vocals are not as powerful, but she wrings them for all they're worth, kind of a leveling sweetness that abides handclapping before the chorus (but not pretentious musicians).

"One Step Forward" borrows from the meshing of guitars that worked so well on Dig Me Out, entering with a slim guitar line and aligning from there. Kessinger bridles with frustration over not being taken seriously: "Because 'battle of the sexes' never broke through our defenses/ When you think you're smug inside their head/ Do they just want your ass in bed?" "Do Your Homework" trades a little more on the punk-pop dynamic, with a rumbling bass line and a guitar crescendo that sounds like the "Big Close" that has been heard on singles from The Ramones to the current Lookout roster. It still works, though. Kessinger manages to sound almost sneering with her response to a know-nothing scenester: "I will not be affected by your negativity/ When you'll never be part of my scene/ And you run a shitty magazine / And now you're in a movie/ Don't get too excited, you just don't move me."

The biggest deal here, however, is the title track "City Lights." Distortion giving way to guitars mimicking first raindrops trailing down the windshield, and then an interstate car keeping pace. The energy lulls into a music box-like interlude with feathery piano chords, only to have the band ramp it up once more with cymbals splashing. Wait for it, especially that last line: "I can't find the cliché/ To get me going/ To keep me knowing / That I could do better."

Racetrack played out a lot before recording City Lights, and it's all over this record. Wanting to be in your own bed at night. Feeling like just another no one passing through. Even Kerouac scores a line in "Fingertips." Few debuts are this straight-ahead and sincere. Bristling with moments and guitar, Racetrack are slow and then not, with the requisite muscle (and caretaking).

You should hear it. - Neumu.net


"Summer Pop Perfection"

June 16, 2005
by Brian Evertstine

Bellingham, Wash., has become an incubator for the new wave of pop sounds that are currently taking the nation by storm -- sounds spearheaded by giants Death Cab for Cutie and followed by up-and-comers like Idiot Pilot. This small city has become notorious for producing acts that are accessible, that you cannot help but smile while listening to. Racetrack, one of the newest pop trios to come out of this Northwest locale, is following in the footsteps of their predecessors while making a few prints of their own. Spokane audiences will be able to bear witness to the rise of Racetrack on Friday night at the B-Side.

This forceful power-pop trio is made up of Meghan Kessinger (vocals, guitar), Jackson Long (drums, vocals) and Chris Rasmussen (bass, vocals). Long and Rasmussen's rhythm section provide the powerful background beat, which allows Kessinger to bring crunchy, overdriven guitars as a perfect companion to the genuine and sweet vocal crooning exhibited in every song. Overall, the sonic style that comes through is much like a softer version of the Thermals with the female-dominated vocal style of Rilo Kiley.

For Racetrack's first full-length, City Lights, the band enlisted the help of Chris Walla, guitarist for Death Cab and the production master responsible for engineering albums by the Postal Service, the Velvet Teen and Nada Surf, among others. The result of the band's eight-day recording odyssey is a sincere 10-track debut full-length album, which neatly captures the group's fresh, upbeat sound.

The album, released on Bellingham label Skrocki Records, has received widespread acceptance from like-minded listeners and has climbed charts on college radio stations nationwide. The two strongest tracks, the irresistibly catchy "One Step Forward" and "City Lights," have the potential for success on the commercial airwaves as well.

Though the band has only been together a short time, Racetrack has toured extensively, building a resume and achieving positive word of mouth by sharing the stage with acts such as Built To Spill, the Posies, Carissa's Weird and Aveo. Also, through relentless touring, they have played in such rock 'n' roll temples as the Fireside Bowl in Chicago, the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, the Hotel Utah in San Francisco and basically every venue in Western Washington. - The Inlander (Spokane, WA)


""The first six tracks of the band's debut cements (Racetrack's) status as not only a first-rate rock band but also as introspective literary pop.""

12.9-12.16.2004
by Vince Darcangelo

"The post-punk paradigm of early Beach Boys, garage-fermented, cutesy, female-fronted indie pop can grow soft pretty quick. True, but somebody forgot to tell Bellingham, Wash.'s, Racetrack, a red-hot three-piece of alternative, punk and, yes, cutesy, female-fronted indie pop. And with a commitment to the 4/4 eighth-note stomp (all downstrokes, of course) not seen since the Kicks' self-titled release in 2002, this is a band best suited for grungy urban hideaways, where canned beer is kitschy, thick-rimmed glasses are a timeless affectation and underground punk flyers double as wallpaper.

At the risk of sounding coy, Racetrack run laps around their pretentious, indie-record-store competition. The first six tracks of the band's debut, City Lights, cement Racetrack's status as not only a first-rate rock band but also as introspective literary pop. Just check out the disc's most visceral track, "Fingertips": "She waited there in the parking lot reading Kerouac with yellowed pages, bent at the corners/ She didn't make the trip because the wheel to drive away from this transition was beyond her fingertips."

City Lights also stands out on the anti-critic "Do Your Homework," "Our Favorite Day" (which plays like a lost track from the recording session of Superdrag's Regretfully Yours) and the pain-laden "Epitaph," for which heartbreaking is too polite a word. It's more like heart-stomping. If you can make it through this pop anthem without raising a lighter and shedding a tear, then you are a bigger man than this wet-faced, pyromaniac reporter." - Boulder Weekly (Boulder, CO)


""In the long run, City Lights simply works it out time and time again, proving to be something that needs to be heard.""

October 2004
by Kyle Undem

Hooray for indie pop - yes, not all the time, but damnit, hooray for it anyway. Three cheers for exceptional indie pop - yes, makes sense, right? Kudos to female-fronted indie pop - never hurts, eh? Hurrah for three-piece indie pop - the way indie pop was meant to be played. In case you’re wondering, we’re talking about Bellingham, Washington’s Racetrack here and they are all these things and more. Their disc, which is filled with all kinds of this goodness, is called City Lights and holy smokes is it addictively cutesy, fun indie pop - an exuberant ten-track juggernaut, to say the least.

So, what the hell makes Racetrack that much smoother than the other indie popsters trying to pull of this style? Well, how ‘bout really good, playful lyrics about long-distance relationships, racing raindrops, and stage settings? Or a perfectly fitting sounding recording (thanks to Chris Walla - more on this later)? Maybe it’s the phenomenal bass playing? Or the precisely used backup vocals? Could very well be any of these aspects, however for the not-so-analytical types, it’s simply just really freaking good.

From the guitar/bass teaser intro on “One Step Forward” (easily the album’s finest cut), to the handclaps on the title track, to the American Football-esque closer, “Our Favorite Day,” City Lights keeps you intact throughout and really makes you want to put it on repeat, repeatedly. It’s never stale and never clings to the same tried and true formula. There are big breakdowns, acoustic-based tracks, and a plethora of other fine tunings you will begin to warm up to after you helplessly listen repetitively.

A very important aspect of City Lights is Chris Walla’s production magic - definitely a high point on the disc as it fits Racetrack’s sound like a glove. Absolutely nothing is overproduced, yet the instruments and vocals all have such a shine about them. It just goes to show that Walla has that internal aptitude to make a band sound the way they should sound. Very nicely done.

In the long run, City Lights simply works it out time and time again, proving to be something that needs to be heard. Yes, even if you’re up to your knees in overly crappy indie pop discs, check this out. Hooray for City Lights. - 30 Music.com


""It's a string tied to your fist and pumping it in the air for 37 minutes.""

October 28, 2004
by Tony Stasiek

James Brown used to say that he included a clunker on his records to make the rest of his songs sound better by comparison. That's seen as less of a marketing tactic than a waste of three minutes these days. Or at least since Racetrack's full-length, debut CD for Seattle's Skrocki Records.

Following two hesitant EPs, the Bellingham trio posits that there ain't no party like an indie-rock party, cuz an indie-rock party don't stop. It's Sleater-Kinney's "All Hands on the Bad One" with memorable hooks. It's every Superchunk record without the slow parts. It's a string tied to your fist and pumping it in the air for 37 minutes.

And it's likely the best pop-chorus/furious-guitar CD this town has produced, as Racetrack has mastered the art of anthem-writing. Wee singer Meghan Kessinger benefits from Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla's recording, and her shouts-not-screams are engineered to inspire similarly intoned singalongs. Kessinger's lyrics don't always lend themselves to universal appeal, as six out of 10 tracks are very much about being in a band; "You're to blame when / I'm not just a musician," Kessinger sings on the Sleater-Kinney-sounding "One Step Forward." When drummer Jackson Long contributes on the vaguer "The Way Things Are Here," though, it's the kind of stuff conducive to wailing down Interstate 5. Speeding, of course. - Bellingham Herald/Take Five (Bellingham, WA)


""City Lights is roughly 40 minutes of fuzzy pop rock, squelching and coarse, melodic and upbeat, and most of the time, simple and fun.""

December 2004
by David Spain

A brief chord and the squeal of feedback and I’m off, as Racetrack’s City Lights smatters itself about in my eardrums; I’m whisked away to better times. I remember a time when music didn’t have to be new or original to be enjoyable, complex or inaccessible to hold my interest - when being part of the musical elite involved a full collection of punk rock and some patches on my jacket. Racetrack manages to capture some of the joyful simplicity of my earlier tastes, and does so consistently throughout their first full length.

I’m in the passenger seat of my friend’s shitty Ford Probe, the sun roof is cracked and the windows are down. I’m trying to fight back the air as my hand wavers outside the window - blooming from fist to outstretched, my fingers seemingly built to feel the wind trickle along my knuckles, wondering what would happen we swerved too close to a sign, and the consequences of having one arm due to poor judgment… and even worse, driving. It’s tapes stacked in shoe boxes in the back seat, then CDs in 200 case holders on the dash – it’s upbeat, ska, punk; it’s music for driving, for singing along, for summer break and the absence of responsibility.

City Lights is roughly 40 minutes of fuzzy pop rock, squelching and coarse, melodic and upbeat, and most of the time, simple and fun. Singer Meghan Kessinger’s voice rarely wavers in its aural frequency, maximizing melodious monotone, leading me to believe she has a relatively pleasant speaking tone, and drummer Jackson Long and bassist Chris Rasmussen offer contrast with dual backing vocals, and the mid 90s seem closer than ever.

Racetrack’s strengths lie decidedly in utilizing the wheel rather than reinventing it. The song topics are personal in nature, relationships and reminiscing, and the structure straightforward, but catchy. Whether Racetrack’s City Lights is imbued with nostalgia, or whether I’m merely displacing emotion isn’t important, rather, the fact they’ve managed to enhance my mood, if only for a moment, is. - Lost at Sea


"SW PICK"

December 2003

"The Bellingham threesome known as Racetrack puts the "pop" into pop-rock while rocking at the same time. One moment they are adorably adorable, and then the next moment the feedback and drum attack strikes." - Seattle Weekly (Seattle, WA)


Discography

City Lights LP.
Released in 2004 on Skrocki Records (Death Cab For Cutie, So Many Dynamos). Recorded by Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie.
Nationally supported with Revolver Distribution and Team Clermont radio promotion.

Distance EP.
Released in 2003 on West of January Records (Asahi, the Drama).

Frequent airplay on KEXP 90.3 (Seattle, WA): June 2003-present (including a live on-air performance and interview, May 2004).

Featured on 107.7 The End's Northwest Underground.

KUGS 89.3 (Bellingham, WA): Local Artist of the Year, 2004. Frequent airplay, May 2001-present (including live on-air performances with interview: January 2002, August 2002, August 2003, August 2004).

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

One thing is for sure: you don't record with Chris Walla and do three national tours without A LOT of work.

Racetrack is a three piece power-pop band from Bellingham, WA. Meghan Kessinger (vocals, guitar) and Jackson Long (drums, vocals) started the band around 2000, went through a couple bass players and relocations across the northern United States, until they were both settled in Bellingham in early 2002. They then also settled upon Chris Rasmussen (bass, vocals) for their bass player.

In September of 2004, Racetrack released their first full length, "City Lights", on Seattle's Skrocki Records (Death Cab For Cutie, So Many Dynamos). It was recorded and mixed by Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, who's other recording credits include Death Cab, the Decemberists, Hot Hot Heat, the Postal Service, the Velvet Teen, and the Thermals.

In three short years, Racetrack has done three national tours, two west coast tours, and have made numerous regional trips across the northwest. They've played with bands such as Built to Spill, Aqueduct, the Long Winters, the Posies, Harvey Danger, the Reputation (Lookout Records), Smoosh, Headphones (Pedro the Lion), the Prom (Barsuk Records), Palomar, Aveo (Barsuk Records), the Epoxies (Fat Wreck Chords), Mary Timony (Lookout/Matador Records), Carissa's Wierd (Band of Horses), and the Pale Pacific, and in the summer of 2005 they were handpicked for both the Capitol Hill Block Party and Harvey Danger's sold out cd release show at the Vera Project.

Currently, Racetrack are preparing material to record their second full length with Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla, before heading out on their fourth nationwide tour in September 2006.