The UV Race Made in China LP
Scratchy feedback and a FALL-esque bass line reintroduce the UV RACE to the world. I’ve missed their off-kilter psych drone punk songs and Marcus’s takedowns of the boring, absurd world we’re all forced to live in. Whose brain isn’t insane from the inane at this point? No one I want to know. Made in China is a great collection of songs that contains the clever lyrics and the well-thought-out variety of instrumentation I’ve come to expect from the UV RACE—bits of saxophone, keyboard, acoustic guitar, harmonica, and assorted vocal effects accent minimal, repetitive punk riffs. The songwriting and recording remain simple and perfectly ragged, still showing elements of the CLEAN, SWELL MAPS and as fore-mentioned the FALL. When Racism came out, I balked at buying it because it’s incredibly rare that a punk band puts out multiple good full-lengths and the UV RACE had already released two great ones. When I finally picked it up and realized it was their best record yet, I felt pretty damn stupid, and Made in China continues to grow on me and challenge my notion that punk bands are lucky to put out more than one good LP (since EPs are the best format for punk, anyway). The UV still know.