At Every SXSW, there seems to be one band that you can’t stop hearing about, and that honor goes to Hoops—it feels like everyone I’ve run into has listed them among their favorite sets. The band performed at Cheer Up Charlie’s. The indie-pop four-piece didn’t disappoint, serving up slick guitar lines and a welcome reminder as to why their self-titled EP was among our list of last year’s best. Their full-length debut, Routines, was released in May of last year.
Hoops’ full-length debut, Routines is a bittersweet and honest record that sounds both warmly familiar and jarringly distinctive. Whereas their previous releases were recorded on four-track tape machines in living rooms and basements (both their own and their parents’), Routines marks the band’s first sessions in an actual studio – namely, Rear House Recording in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with Jarvis Taveniere (Widowspeak, Quilt). Those sessions, however, were just one step in the band’s careful creative process. After a few months of touring, they returned to Indiana to set up their gear in Krauter’s parents’ basement and began experimenting with the studio-recorded tracks. Some songs they only tinkered with, others they scrapped completely and rebuilt from the ground up. They were determined to make a record that sounded like Hoops. The result is Routines, the sharpest and clearest delineation of the band’s sound thus far, drawing from and emphasizing each members’ distinctive influences and personal styles: four guys making music that is larger than themselves.
Tracklisting :
SUN’S OUT 0:00 RULES 2:50 ON TOP 5:02 BENJALS 8:47 BURDEN 11:07 ON LETTING GO 14:14 THE WAY LUV IS 17:40 MANAGEMENT 19:40 ALL MY LIFE 23:18 UNDERWATER THEME 26:00 WORRY 28:22
The Fat Angel Sings 