Ace City Racers came onto my radar in 2021, thanks to the release of the album Citalodisco on Last Night From Glasgow.
They describe themselves as a post-punk, new wave, art pop band from Glasgow, which certainly ticks many of my boxes.
The group cut their first record in 2012. It came about after James Barker (guitars) and Mark Daniels (bass) had seen their previous electro-pop outfit disband back in 2009. Deciding to now go down a guitar pop/rock road, they sent a demo to uber-producer Stephen Street who invited them into his London studio where the track Waiting was recorded and later released. This was all before they had played any live gigs.
Although Street was keen to work further with the band, they retreated a bit and indeed it took until 2017 before they released they self-released their debut album, Take It, It’s Yours by which time Andrew Campbell was on drums.
Looking back at some of the things written about the debut, I’m a bit annoyed at myself for missing out, but it is impossible to keep up with everything that’s going on, even in my home city. It might have been different if I’d caught them live.
The 2021 album has some fine moments on it. One of our locally based websites and magazines said of Citalodisco:-
…..elements of no wave, art-rock and post-disco can be found all over Citalodisco. Ace City Racers at times bringing to mind the likes of Devo, A Certain Ratio, 80s New Yorkers’ ESG and Liquid Liquid, and, from a bit closer to home, Franz Ferdinand. Across its ten tracks, it rarely lets up and is awash with pleasing electronics, an abundance of disco drums, cowbells aplenty, and has us pining for an indie disco.
I wasn’t quite so much in awe of the album, but there was more to enjoy about than simply endure. This one was a highlight:-
mp3: Ace City Racers – Gideon Takes The Train
I really must stick this, or perhaps one of the other tracks, on one of the monthly compilation efforts.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 