Snappy Little Numbers (2013)
My favorite thing about doing this website is the thought that somewhere there is someone buying a record by a band they hadn't heard of previously because I said it was good. I just love listening to new music and sharing it with people. I don't always think that I write well enough to really articulate how good a record is to someone that hasn't already heard it, but I do my best to convey the feelings I have about the record. Allow me to convey; this Hooper record is flat out great.
I had picked up a 7" by them on a lark a while back. Padding out a distro order to qualify for free shipping. It was a good 7" and I have been waiting to hear more from them. They delivered and then some with their debut full length. How To Become A Ghost is steeped in the 90's, rolling together influences of some of my favorite sounds of that era.
Musically you get the guitar work and song structure of a Tugboat Annie, but with a much crunchier sound reminding me of maybe a less polished Fig Dish. Vocally, I'm very much reminded of poppier punk bands like Zoinks!, but with a ton more emphasis on backing vocals and harmonies. This doesn't sound like a throwback to the 90's, it sounds like it could be one of the better records that was actually released in that decade. Don't take that as if I'm saying this record sounds dated, as I still think that there are 20 year old records that sound as fresh and exciting as the first time I listened to them.
I'm just extremely impressed by Hooper, a band that probably doesn't have the noteriety of a lot of the bands I tend to write about, but a band that really deserves to have a few more people check them out. I do wish the whole album was streaming somewhere as I don't feel the one song the band has up on their site really conveys just how great the record is as a whole. But it's still a snappy little number. Go check it out.
***Update - The whole album is available to stream, go listen!***
Hooper - How To Become A Ghost:
http://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/how-to-become-a-ghost
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