Review – The Hammonds ‘Roadworthy
Pt1’
EP on Stunt Pram / Troy Horse
through mds
Another quality release from the good folk at Troy Horse / Stunt Pram comes in the shape of The Hammonds’ third venture onto record shop shelves with “Roadworthy Pt1,” a 4-track EP that sounds very Dinosaur Jr in the vocal- and guitar-department, lasts less than 10 minutes (would it then be a single, not an EP?) and jumps from complete tunes to those that seem yet-to-be-finished.
Wrong Way is the opener and the one that hounded me the most – I can’t count the number of listens it took before I was able to identify that sound without being a boring and tired critic insistent on pigeon-holing everything. Track two, and Complicate follows the J.Mascis trend but it seems to end just when they’re getting on with it. Packet has a familiar but entirely original hook, complete with the aforementioned Dino-sound and this time the ending is more or less expected. Magic Tree winds the record up whilst creating a Hammonds sound and feel.
It would be good to get a hold of
the back-catalog to see from whence The Hammonds come, if not to whence
they head. But the brevity of the tracks on “Roadworthy Pt1” makes for radio friendliness on the less-than-adventurous
stations and programmes – here’s to Pt2!