Hood @ The Drake
16 March 2005, lunch time
I had read many a good thing about Hood prior to seeing them last night. Now Magazine, in a very short review of Hood’s new CD, had compared their last album to something Zero 7 may offer up, high praise in my books. Other reviews of Hood compared them to Radiohead. They are apparently looked upon quite favourably by music critics.
I met Steph around 9:30, and the two of us headed off to the Drake, where we would meet up with Tyler and two of his friends. When we arrived there was already a band playing. The group played very experimental progressive rock music. The lead singer sounded like his microphone was being played through a flanger. I think the band would have been alright, had they hired a good drummer. Everyone else had lower opinions of the band. All of us hoped that the band playing wasn’t Hood.
Thankfully, they packed up a half hour later an announced Hood would be on shortly.
Hood are a quartet. For the most part everyone would take turns playing different instruments. Each song usually featured a keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums. Occasionally they would throw other instruments into the mix. They are in some ways similar to Radiohead, but I don’t think similar enough to warrant comparisons.
I liked them more honestly.
The band’s drummer was amazing. His performance was phenomenal. I remember being quite impressed when I read that Breakbeat Era had live drummers playing the beats when they toured. Now Hood don’t sound like Breakbeat Era, they have a more heavy, pounding, off-tempo sound to their drum line. My point is simply that I was impressed the drum line wasn’t programmed into a machine. The energy from the drummer was intense. The second last song of the night had a drum line that would make the most avid electronic music fan smile.
I bought their new CD and am listening to it now. It’s very mellow. It’s a shame you can package up the energy from a show into a small plastic disk.