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LP
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FAUX 015LP
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2018 repress; Long-awaited repress on black-and-white splatter vinyl; Edition of 500. The debut vinyl release of Leeds's Hookworms. The Hookworms 12" features four songs, clocks in at around 27 minutes. The release was previously only available on tape via Sun Araw's Sun Ark label and that sold out in a matter of weeks. Hookworms formed in late 2009 at a time when most of the group's members were also playing together in a snappy punk group. The punk and garage background is important, because it has a lot to do with the energy that makes Hookworms so noticeable. Many groups think they can make good on psych-rock by just wigging out to their own ends, during interminable jam sessions that only come to a halt when someone decides "That's long enough." Most of Hookworms' songs are around the six-minute mark, which isn't long at all, and each one is constantly doing something. The singer and keyboard player delivers his vocals like The Gun Club's Jeffery Lee Pierce on Fire of Love -- frantic and impassioned. The guitars color in and around the lines, informed just as much by Flipper's Ted Falconi as "Sister Ray." Bass grooves lead the way, sage in their wisdom over which path to take. This is tidy stuff, a purposeful and fully conscious journey into the realms of Zoss. It's also a journey taking place on increasingly large stages, where they're just as confident at filling the sonic space as at the small venues where they started out.
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LP
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WAAT 051LP
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LP version. Repress; Green and white splatter on clear vinyl. Originally released in 2013. For a while now Leeds five-piece Hookworms have been terrorizing headlining bands across northern England and beyond, not through histrionics or gimmick, but through sheer sonic velocity and emotive intent. Often bracketed among the latest wave of psychedelic rock currently appearing in pockets around the UK, this tag is somewhat of a misnomer for a band whose use of repetition and reverb is not to open the third dimension or for some sort of flower-power escapism. Pearl Mystic is an absolutely thunderous statement of intent for Hookworms after a portentous couple of years of live shows and limited releases. The album's themes focus on a deeply personal narrative surrounding a lost relationship and a battle with depression that at its worst brought about, as the group's vocalist MJ puts it "a half-hearted suicide attempt". Thus songs like "Away/Towards" possess a gargantuan build-and-release infectious energy that juxtaposes with a subtext of a bi-polar approach to coping with loss. "Preservation", too, is in keeping with the group's live shows, though deals with existentialism, whilst several Raymond Carver influences are scattered in and among the bold textures of sound. "In Our Time" is perhaps the closest thing to escapism on the album, about a hill MJ would cycle up near Otley in Yorkshire after the end of his relationship, because it possessed his favorite view in the world. "Since We Had Changed" meanwhile is almost mantra-like in its constancy, new percussive elements joining those already on the record, whilst "What We Talk About" returns full circle to the first track's themes of depression, and emerges from mixed field recordings including a backwards taping of a Hare Krishna lecture played down the studio corridor. Certainly the production is lush, erring on the lo-fi side but contrasting that with a sense that every element has been pored over and deeply considered. Indeed, the most impressive thing about Hookworms is that, through this torrent of emotion, through their wild motorik and their thick slabs of noise that threaten to spill over, there's always the sense that they're in control of it all, so committed are they to this catharsis that they refuse to throw any of it to chance. Recorded and produced in MJ's own Suburban Studios.
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CD
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WAAT 051CD
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Originally released in 2013. For a while now Leeds five-piece Hookworms have been terrorizing headlining bands across northern England and beyond, not through histrionics or gimmick, but through sheer sonic velocity and emotive intent. Often bracketed among the latest wave of psychedelic rock currently appearing in pockets around the UK, this tag is somewhat of a misnomer for a band whose use of repetition and reverb is not to open the third dimension or for some sort of flower-power escapism. Pearl Mystic is an absolutely thunderous statement of intent for Hookworms after a portentous couple of years of live shows and limited releases. The album's themes focus on a deeply personal narrative surrounding a lost relationship and a battle with depression that at its worst brought about, as the group's vocalist MJ puts it "a half-hearted suicide attempt". Thus songs like "Away/Towards" possess a gargantuan build-and-release infectious energy that juxtaposes with a subtext of a bi-polar approach to coping with loss. "Preservation", too, is in keeping with the group's live shows, though deals with existentialism, whilst several Raymond Carver influences are scattered in and among the bold textures of sound. "In Our Time" is perhaps the closest thing to escapism on the album, about a hill MJ would cycle up near Otley in Yorkshire after the end of his relationship, because it possessed his favorite view in the world. "Since We Had Changed" meanwhile is almost mantra-like in its constancy, new percussive elements joining those already on the record, whilst "What We Talk About" returns full circle to the first track's themes of depression, and emerges from mixed field recordings including a backwards taping of a Hare Krishna lecture played down the studio corridor. Certainly the production is lush, erring on the lo-fi side but contrasting that with a sense that every element has been pored over and deeply considered. Indeed, the most impressive thing about Hookworms is that, through this torrent of emotion, through their wild motorik and their thick slabs of noise that threaten to spill over, there's always the sense that they're in control of it all, so committed are they to this catharsis that they refuse to throw any of it to chance. Recorded and produced in MJ's own Suburban Studios.
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CD
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WAAT 059CD
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Expanded reissue of Hookworms' 2011 debut, first released as a limited cassette, reissued on vinyl (FAUX 015LP), and now available on CD for the first time. This edition follows the band's acclaimed albums Pearl Mystic (Gringo Records, 2013) and The Hum (Domino sublabel Weird World Record Co., 2014). Hookworms documents the Leeds five-piece's starting point while proving that they've never wavered in their undeniable character, even as everything around them has changed. "It was a very exciting time for us," bassist MB recalls. "MJ having his first studio meant we'd gone from practicing in a tiny basement and receiving noise complaints to having a place where we could do what we wanted. We played with Sun Araw just as we were finishing the EP and Cameron Stallones enjoyed our set and asked to hear any recordings -- then subsequently released it on cassette." Hookworms have since evolved into a mighty beast, able to fill cavernous warehouses with a vitriolic form of kosmische (as they did when they headlined the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, and when they supported fuzzy legends Slowdive during their 2014 comeback). Hookworms showcases many of the traits for which the band has become known -- the strutting bass and four-note repetition of "Teen Dreams" is pure Modern Lovers, mining the group's '60s garage and proto-punk influences and mixing them with a caustic modernity. Another highlight is the rolling bass thunder of "I Have Some Business Out West," which crackles with the energy of an approaching storm. "Our gear wasn't as good back then so we did quite a bit of re-amping and post-production," MB comments. "The EP was basically a playground for experimentation with a bunch of new guitar pedals we'd recently acquired." This edition also presents rare early recordings, including the initial drone-heavy version of "Form and Function," which would appear on a split 7" alongside Nottingham-based peers Kogumaza, plus the swaggering rumbles of "The Correspondent," which appeared on Sonic Cathedral's 2013 Psych For Sore Eyes compilation. The former is a premonition of phase two of the band, foreshadowing the heavier, dense sound of Pearl Mystic, while the latter is a wonderful outlier -- which says something for a band whose boundaries have forever stretched toward the horizon.
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