A three track EP, ‘Little Things’, by Hooka Hey is a swirling miasma of 70s psychedelic, distortion-infused stoner rock and pop sensibility. The result is a twelve minute disc that you’ll want to play again and again and one that leaves you in no doubt that you can’t wait to hear the parent album.
Opening with the smoky riffs and lethargic vocals of ‘hush me’, the band operate in similar territory to Queens of the stone age albeit with an air that is more Western Europe than southern desert, and while the riffs are hewn from strong stuff, the vocals sound more like the singer has ingested a fair amount of mind-altering substances, the result being a song that sounds like a cross between QOTSA’s sun-dried rock and Monster Magnet’s unabashed debauchery. The title track is up next and rather unexpectedly things have taken a Tom Waits direction with Hugo Parish’s vocals mellowed but still filtered through last night’s whiskey and cigarettes whilst the guitars play a beautifully constructed and wonderfully laid-back melody. It’s a sign that the band have far more than just one string to their bow and have plenty of talent to boot not to mention an incipient pop nous that makes the tunes not only invigorating but also memorable. Final Track ‘bad mama’ cements this feeling with howls of feedback leading us into a headlong blast through psychedelic rock n’n roll territory, all guns blazing but the riffs still transmuted through some otherworldly chord scale that makes it all sound utterly unique and yet comfortingly familiar at the same time – think Sonic Youth playing Butthole surfers covers and you’re most of the way there.
This is a beautiful introduction into the world of Hooka hey and if you’re a fan of unconventional, blazing rock ‘n’ roll with balls and attitude by the skip-full then you owe it to yourself to check this out. Of course, if you don’t believe me then check out the band’s official site where you can hear the tracks, but either way make sure that Hooka Hey are on your ‘ones to watch’ list because on this evidence their album is going to rule.
