Hood

Hood is a great band. With the same creative flexibility as Labradford and the same awareness of silence and noise and Toby Driver, this band is so easy on the ears that their spot in the music world is unquestionable. With a bit of shoegaze, a bit of electronica, a bit of ambience and a bit of glitch, Hood is one of my newer favourite bands that I was lucky enough to discover through Last.fm (people should start paying me for all this free marketing.) They formed in Leeds, sometime around December 1990, and unfortunately have decided not to bring out any other releases, which isn't surprising since they've been around for a really long time, but have gone pretty much unnoticed. The band is comprised of brothers Richard and Chris Adams, with a large number of other participants dropping in and out over the years. Two of my favourite albums include Home is Where It Hurts, one of their best songs having the same name, and Outside Closer, particularly with a song called Closure. There's a certain soothing nature about their sound that puts you out first listen, sort of like when you've been standing over an open bucket of paint for too long. I was very pleasantly surprised by this band. What these guys do with their instrumentals, which include beautiful melodies on acoustic guitars with a very Elbow-like feel, and the odd female vocal which could pass as a Sonic Youth track, always leaves me wondering what will be next. Very cool, very chilled.

Kyuss

Kyuss...

This band is sex for ears...

And thus, my new favourite.

Kyuss (say KAI-us) is a band out of California, active mostly in the 90's right alongside Yellow No. 5 and Clutch. They started out in the late 80's as Sons of Kyuss but shortened it sometime after their EP release. The band's members aren't just your average stoners either -- their guitarist is none other than Josh Homme, with Alfredo Hernandez replacing Brant Bjork on the drums both a la Queens of the Stone Age. Homme seems to have an unending, insatiable lust for intense and often unpredictably catchy instrumentals, which is evident in ever outfit he's been a pat of, including Desert Sessions where he grouped off with some of the best talents in rock, took over a house in the desert, got incredibly high and created some of the best tracks I've heard. Johnny Garcia did some incredible vocals for Kyuss, showing raspy efforts alongside mellower, sweeter melodies, and finally Scott Reeder doing an amazing job on the bass. Not quite grunge, but seemingly carrying Alice in Chains-like intensity in their instrumentals, this band speaks to my love of the undertones of quiet, stoned men with interesting facial hair and pent-up emotions whose only mode of real communication is through their music, and they do it well. Kyuss has "levels." Their sound is erratic in that some tracks have the basic, yet classic "jar jar jar" technique, while other are sweeter, melodic and gentler on the aesthetics. Gardenia and Whitewater, both off the amazing album Welcome to Sky Valley, are the tightest and best sounding sludge tracks I've heard of late. Space Cadet, Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop are also two of their best, along with Phototropic and Catamaran (warning, addictive). Check them out on Myspace.

I like it.

You might.