It has been quite a while since I last updated this blog. Yeah, yeah I know I promised to update more often after the last sabbatical, but I got sidetracked. For a while. A looooooooong while. Anyways, the band that I think you have to check out the most during the downtime I've had has to be We All Have Hooks for Hands. I'm going to dive into real blogger territory here and hype this band like the other bloggers would. This shit is the second coming. Forget Voxtrot, forget the Arcade Fire. Forget that Wolf Parade has an album on the way this year. Forget that CYHSY dropped another nugget of joy this year. The one you need to get. the only album you need to hear this year is The Pretender by the aforementioned We All Have Hooks for Hands. Hopefully I'll get some emails about my hyperbole on this one :-D. But I swear, there's not been one release this year that I have listened to as much as this one (and its only April, bear in mind). I've complained in the past about bloggers who've compared bands to Neutral Milk Hotel. To me NMH is the holy grail. It doesn't get much better than them. Pure and simple. But honestly. I really feel this band is the 21st century equivalent. No, they don't sound like Jeff Mangum and friends, but they give you that same feeling you get while listening to Neutral Milk Hotel. Take the members of Broken Social Scene, add in a more acoustic-based sound with hand claps and multiple singers and you get We All Have Hooks for Hands. Yeah yeah, I know its dumb to throw BSS into the whole what-do-they-sound-like shizz, but I could definitely see BSS having taken this direction as much as the one they did.
Hailing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this band's debut album (while only a scant 26 minutes long) has brought to the table of indie-rock a sound that you are not likely to find anywhere else. But I promise you these twelve songs will sound familiar yet new all at one. This band's sound is poppy and upbeat, sloppy and perfectly crafted all at once, sort of like if We're From Barcelona listened to nothing but Guided By Voices all day then got really stoned with the Flaming Lips and made an album. Yes, it sounds nothing like any of those bands. But the picture it conjures, and the hard work that obviously went into making this album are what I am trying to get across to you.
Their Myspace.
Afternoon Records.
MP3: We All Have Hooks For Hands - Ghost and Strangers
MP3: We All Have Hooks For Hands - Elvis 'Mf' Christ
