2003 saw Boyracer, who are eternally tied with Guided by Voices as MY FAVORITE BAND IN THE UNIVERSE, in a state of hardship and flux. Boyracer head honcho Stewart Anderson saw his record label 555 slowly lose financial and distribution support. Flaky band members disappeared in mid-tour with neither reason nor explanation. Anderson has vented in numerous forums about these things, from the Indiepop List to this very website to Boyracer's own liner notes. Even the people who sympathize with him (at this point, who wouldn't?) have got to admit, though, that Stewart should be used to it by now. Boyracer's ALWAYS been in a state of hardship a flux. Over forty members have passed through the lineup in the last fifteen years, and the band's never released an album on a label that didn't go under shortly afterwards. Hope still remains, though, because even in the midst of constant trials, the music keeps getting better. At the end of 2003, Boyracer raised its collective fist once again to fight the good fight, and released a double whammy of minor releases to tide fans over until they could find a label brave enough to put out their next full-length.
The Boyracer discography is filled with EPs that serve as between-album bookends and compilations that serve as a clearinghouse for rare older material, and the band's two newest releases don't buck the trend. Check Your Fucking Hi$tory is Boyracer's first real EP since 1996's Racer 100 (both versions of which rank among the band's best material). From the first few seconds of opening track "You've Squandered Your Talents," Hi$tory boasts the cleanest production that the band's ever had, as well as unusually strong and assertive musicianship. Both of these things are remarkable when you consider that at this point, Boyracer is basically Stewart, his wife Jen Turrell and their 8-track. As befits an EP with such a profane title, the songs on this EPare full of reflection, spite and speed.
"Talents" is self-explanatory, with Stewart chastising a potentially brilliant person who's settled for a life of mediocrity. It's even faster than the mp3 version originally posted on the 555 site, and it proves once and for all that Stewart is really the best drummer Boyracer's ever had. (For more proof, listen to their 1994 EP Pure Hatred 96.) His wife Jen backs his crooning up with exquisite "ba-ba-ba"s, and the swells of feedback in the chorus are
perfectly timed. This song ranks as one of Boyracer's best ever. "New Plastic" quickly matches it by pairing the spastically strummed guitars of the Wedding Present with the lopsided chord progressions and androgynous vocal harmonies of the Swirlies. In this song, Stewart is forced to make the difficult choice between burning out and fading away. "A History of Snakes" has the galloping tempo of an Irish jig, and manages to cram two verses, two choruses, and two full-fledged (if barely audible) guitar solos into a mere sixty-two seconds. ("Talents" and "Plastic" don't reach the two-minute mark either!)
The final two songs on Hi$tory are surprisingly self-indulgent oddities. "Nature Boy" is one of the few Boyracer songs that Stewart had nothing to do with. The music is performed entirely by part-time band member Ara, and two members of a band called Bears and Satellite sing the vocals in Japanese. The song epitomizes almost everything that's bad about current indie-pop. Poorly recorded, sung, and played, it's much more concerned with being cute than being listenable. Nonetheless, the song gets by on its charm and by sticking out like a sore thumb. After a couple of listens, you'll have it stuck in your head FOREVER. "When I Was Blonde and You a Brunette" is arguably weirder, building a great seven-minute song out of little more than guitar harmonics and a killer chorus. Instead of letting the song end at the 7:00 mark, though, Boyracer tack on an extra TWENTY-ONE FRICKING MINUTES OF FEEDBACK. It's harder to listen to than the last Dead C and Sightings albums COMBINED. I managed to get through it, though, and discovered low-quality recordings of two extra Boyracer songs buried beneath the feedback. My ears are still ringing from the treasure hunt.
On to the old stuff, then: Acoustically Yours is a 22-song cassette that lives up to its title by taking a much mellower route than standard Boyracer fare. By forsaking feedback and distorted guitars, Stewart attempts to prove what most of his fans already knew: he's a fantastic songwriter. As much as I want to applaud him for pulling a "punk rock" move by releasing a full-length album on a nearly-outmoded format, Acoustically Yours really deserves to be pressed on CD and given better treatment. Opener "On Bleached Grass" has "stupid chord changes," according to Stewart in the liner notes, but I beg to differ. The frequent key changes add tension to what could have been just another slice of nostalgic melancholy. "Vinegar Evenings" is a choppy ditty that Bob Pollard would have killed to write; "I Thought Even More of You When You Told Me You Wanted Me Dead" is an even choppier ditty that David Gedge would have sold his soul to write. Of course, not everything on the cassette is golden. One song uses the same distorted drumbeat from "Present Tense" that the band have utilized on seemingly a thousand boring out-takes, and the 4-track demos of older Boyracer songs are clumsy and leaden. However, the best tracks from Acoustically Yours (and there are at least ten) could have been bundled together with Hi$tory to make a killer full-length. The cassette's REAL revelation is the last four songs, which were recorded live on the radio during the band's brief time span as a quintet, with electric guitars and drums blazing. This lineup's renditions of classics like "Doorframe" are faster, noisier, and (in the case of "False Economy") sloppier than the recorded versions. Although the genius of the songs is far from lost in the translation, the performances go a long way toward explaining why Stewart felt it necessary to release a tape of acoustic material.
Regardless of the motives, every Boyracer release is a cause for celebration, as they are all necessary reminders of Anderson's unstoppable commitment and unquestionable talent. No one does noisy melodic punk for bitter people with short attention spans better than Boyracer, and at their current rate of productivity and quality, no one ever will.
---Sean Padilla
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