White Car – S/T EP (2010) [Rainbow Body] // Grade: A

It makes so much sense that White Car are from Chicago. Where else? Over 20 years on since Wax Trax! shoved the city (okay, the world) into some of the flat-out best industrial and EBM, and this wicked two-piece are ready to revive the CHI tradition in all its menacing grandeur. Only a pocketful of bands have embraced this surging throwback so well—Passions, //TENSE//, pick your poison—and this debut EP puts White Car right there among them.

Think Front 242 and With Sympathy-era Ministry: undulating EBM with a real creep-funk vibe. And though the four-song EP nails a lot of influences in an itty-bitty time frame, it manages to do so with pretty minimal fanfare; White Car doesn’t teeter on a soapbox screaming HEY GUYS, WE’RE INTO INDUSTRIAL AND STUFF! until you’re forced to pay attention. Each track is its own simmering, smooth burn, from the pulsing arpeggios of “The Bridge” straight through to the full-on smash and crash of “Not Right.” So perfect.

Of course, like any good EP—and this one’s on a limited run, so grab the vinyl fast—White Car leaves you nearly pining for more. Get your fix at Glasslands tonight and hope for a full-length (or at least another EP) ASAP.

- Rue Sauvage