Kevin Bronson on July 7th, 2011

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Faster than you can say “Maybe ‘Black Jesus’ isn’t such a great band name,” Los Angeles sextet Races are signing to Frenchkiss Records, the New York City-based imprint that has been home to bands such as Local Natives, the Dodos, the Hold Steady and Passion Pit. A formal announcement is expected today.

With one 7-inch release to their credit – “Big Broom” (Jaxart Records), which we liked a lot – the indie-rockers recently completed a full-length album, “Year of the Witch,” tentatively planned for a fall release. The sound fashioned by singer-guitarist Wade Ryff and bandmates Garth Herberg, Devon Lee, Breanna Wood, Oliver Hild and Lucas Ventura melds charismatic indie-pop highlighted by the boy/girl vocals of Ryff and Wood, jammier psych-rock built around by guitarist’s Herberg’s textures and the revivalesque energy meted out by bands such as Arcade Fire.

Races, which changed its name from Black Jesus earlier this year, plays three weeks of free Mondays starting next week at the Bootleg Theater.