Future rock - raw but melodic vocals in a whirlwind of drums and unpredictable guitar noises. Nuanced by atmospheres inspired by Brian Eno and David Bowie.

6 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Progressive Rock, ELECTRONIC: Ambient



Details:
over the course of several tours and record projects as a drummer ( filter, smashing pumpkins, garbage and morrissey of recent ) matt walker worked on his own music, writing in hotel rooms, on ferries, behind stages even on airplanes. in early 05 matt approached vocalist and fellow chicagoan jt mccluskey to help bring a few of his songs to completion. by chance both matt and jt had been recently entranced by the semi- electronic experimental recordings of the late 70's. in particular the partnership between iggy pop and david bowie-- "a blend of brutality and sophistication, alienation and intimacy". ( also, the martin hannett / factory records legacy )

jt's vocals immediately brought a raw energy and new melodic scope to the songs. they both realized they had a powerful, creative chemistry worth pursuing. they began to collaborate on more of matt's catalogue and soon had enough material to justify going into a proper studio. deciding the recordings had to have the feel and energy of a live band, they called upon fellow local musicians steve gerlach and alan berliant to rehearse the material before recording. the electronic element, although an important ingredient, would be secondary, and would stem from the live takes. so rehearsals began, and again the songs reached new dimensions with the chemistry of musicians playing live. the project was named the most dangerous race.

in oct 05, theMDR spent a week at i.v.lab studios in chicago recording with studio owner / engineer manny sanchez. the sessions went from as late as they could stay up to as early as they could wake up. matt also called in some musical favors from close friends scott bennett jonny polonsky and solomon snyder ( as well as his partner from his other project impossible recording machine, jim dinou).

in early '06, just as the i.v.lab recordings were reaching completion, matt took the opportunity to join Morrissey's band and embarked on a year long world tour. so theMDR went virtual, more writing and recording on the road and sending song files back and forth on the internet. but the path for theMDR became even more clear as the year came to a close. in the last few months of the Morrissey tour, matt catalogued all of his demos, which came to a startling count of 130 compositions.

so theMDR crashed into 07 with a new plan. they would begin finishing the demos in groups of 6 songs and self-release them as a series of eps. the only time-line being the speed in which each ep could be completed. ep1, INVENTING SHADOWS, was released in march, and ep2 is in production slated for a june release. theMDR has also just begun to play live, solidifying the lineup with steve gerlach on guitar and larry schroeder on bass.