5 out of 5

Label: Southern

Producer: Racebannon, Bob Weston

Yes, it lost me when I first got it, which I did ASAP, because I had been patiently waiting for a proper Racebannon release for years at that point.  The cover was a little obvious for the sort of obliqueness I’d gotten used to from the band (and lead Mike Anderson), but I was floored to see Bob Weston’s production credits on there, thinking that his harder edge would be a better fit for the band than the sort of wash of sound Mike Mogis gave the 2 Secretly Canadian albums… though frequent re-listens of those proved it to be a good match.

The opening track here gets off to a good start, a sort of Shellac-y guitar groove and some pared down vocals that eventually burst into Racebannon style manicness, tried and true.  The next track follows a similar suit… but… but I got lost.  Weston did his job, he solidified the sound a bit, and maybe Anderson stopped doing the same type of drugs, I don’t know, but the album just wasn’t the mess of noise I’d come to expect.

So let’s let some time pass.  And I put the album in (uh, “on,” in MP3 form BUT I OWN IT OKAY), and it’s been literal years since I’ve listened to Racebannon.  Similar to my reawakening to These Arms Are Snakes (which I expected to sound too much like all the involveds previous bands on my first listen), suddenly I was hearing the album in a new way – it’s more complete than their previous work, and is still identifiable as a unique, Racebannon sound, it’s just been drilled down a bit better.  These are better songs, overall, and though it’s thus not as ‘what the eff am i listening to’ as “In The Grips…” it has more lasting value both musically and lyrically because it doesn’t feel like the band is just trying to pummel you with guitar and drums and stream-of-consciousness lyrics.  Even the ambient sections are strengthened here because they function as properly sequenced tracks, not just questionable buzzing bleeping and silence that I don’t think Mogis knew how to package in to the band’s mixed sound at their earlier point.

I’ll have to revisit this.  I’ve been queueing it up a bit lately, so it’s possible the buzz will wear off.  But without any expectations, “Acid” is a great hardcore album, mixing a bit of the ol’ Racebannon crazy with just enough clarity to make it stick.