HOODED FANG with BLONDE ELVIS at Soybomb HQ, Friday, October 19. Rating: NNN
Hooded Fang have been in work mode for the last few weeks, recording a brand new album (and tweeting the progress) before heading out on a tour of the UK and Europe. But before leaving, they treated themselves and their hometown fans to a low-key “peace out” party filled with new material.
Since slimming down to a quartet for their second album, Tosta Mista, Hooded Fang have taken on a harder-edged garage-rock tinge, leaving their former big-band orchestral twee formation behind. Judging from the new material, they’re likely to head further in that direction on the next album.
But that may also have had something to do with the setting Soybomb’s punk-friendly half-pipe stage gave the show a distinct house party vibe. The sound wasn’t pristine and the sightlines weren’t ideal, but the uneven stage setup and three dollar beers presented plenty of entertainment. Nearly every time someone tried to get from side of the half-pipe to the other, they wiped out.
Earlier, opener Blonde Elvis played a taut set of garage-pop. A lighter vehicle for Young Mother’s Jesse James Laderoute (who wore all white, including his shoes, and sipped beer from a snifter while the crowd chugged from red Solo cups), the band trades tightly wound, punk-inflused Krautrock for a hookier set of rock. One to watch.
