The Ache is the follow-up to the 1997 album
Suicide Sound System, a fuzzy little thing of much popularity in
We Ragazzi's hometown Chicago no wave scene. Since then the band has broken up, re-formed with a new drummer (Timothy McConville), and set about on a more moody, late-
Blonde Redhead-informed sound.
The Ache also owes something to the New York City's 2002 electro revival with driving keyboards, sneering vocals, and utterly danceable beats. Lead singer Tony Rolando's nasal
Jagger is overbearing on songs like "Forever Surrender 2 U" and "The Ache," where gallop drums and a churned piano try hard, but fail to compete. Later in the album, with "Sickest Thoughts I Ever Had" and "Burn 4 U," the fuzzed-out keys form a thicker support for Rolando and the whole thing rocks together with the power of a band making exactly the music it ought to be. If the keys weren't so over-simplified and Rolando would let off a bit of mojo,
We Ragazzi could be darlings once again. ~ Daphne Carr