Johnny 9 and the Racers Chin Up LP
Something that’s always struck me about JOHNNY 9 AND THE RACERS is that their vocals are so…nice. Usually, their brother bands in the genre sport voices that sound like they’ve just chugged shards of glass. Davey J.’s clean, lithe voice is just the dust-jacket to the musical product the Racers encompass. Their most recent release, Chin Up, is still filled with the band’s signature composure. Each piece of instrumentation gives the impression that it’s been definitively groomed-a neatness difficult to achieve in six-piece bands. Especially in six-piece, third wave ska bands. But with Chin Up, the Racers have begun to dirty their Sunday suits in other musical stylings. Some of this is subtle, like the darker horns at the end of ‘Fault’ over lagging upstrokes. But ‘Watch Out!’ is a wholly instrumental track, which skims over genres and even incorporates keyboard. All the while, through, the track anchors back to an anthemic horn run. With one foot planted in their roots and the other testing out the waters of exploratory musical style, Chin Up is Johnny 9’s step forward.
– Elise Granatat, Inkwell Press, inkwellpress.blogspot.com/