Hookworms - Hookworms

Yeeeeah!! Here we have the long-anticipated audio cassette from Leeds's finest psychedelic upstarts, Hookworms, who are full of nice people who've played in other bands as is the Leeds 6 way. Out in an edition of 150 so you'd better make sure you don't sit on it. They've long been a live favourite around Norman Towers. In fact Phil himself said that if he put out records, he'd want to put out theirs. These guys are the real deal, basically. Drawn out psych/stoner jams straight out of the early '90s. There's no denying the debt to the likes of Spacemen 3 here but whatever, this tape fucking rules. Actually, they kind of remind me of Hawkwind's more spaced out and joyous psych moments, too, and I bloody love a bit of Hawkwind. If you've seen them live you'll be happy to hear that it contains "all the hits"...and one song I'm not familiar with that actually has a chorus and sort of sounds like the Doors (in as good a way as a band can sound like the Doors). For the most part they just take a simple bass riff and a motorik drumbeat and rock out. Matt's vocals sound awesome on here too, heavily processed stream-of-consciousness style ranting a la Mark E. that always fits comfortably into the overall aesthetic, and the jams are totally packed with effortless slacker melodies and hypnotic grooves. This is totally absorbing and uplifting and I can't wait to hear what these guys come up with next.