Honey Claws
Houston, Texas, United States
Music
Press
As most of the music world heads to Austin, Texas this week for the annual South By South West music festival I'm stuck here in my front bedroom doing the virtual bar crawl hunting for something new to listen to and re-living past SXSWs. Honey Claws is just the sort of thing I'd hope to run into at 1 A.M. my feet weary from the walking, my head hurting from all the rocking, but these grooves would buoy me up for another couple hours. These two tracks sound a bit like Nine Inch Nails tempered and mellowed through Beck's beatbox and microphone. The rest of the album will take you on a wild bounce deep into the heart of Austin's freak-hop-tronic scene. Sure, that may just be the Honey Claws' garage but bigger things have blossomed from humbler origins.
http://www.3hive.com/2008/03/honey_claws.php - 3Hive.com
Honey Claws is a band I discovered while listening through a bunch of unknown bands in my preparation for SXSW. I really don't know much about them, except that they're from Austin and there's not that much info about them available. The few songs that I've heard (the song "Shout Out" SXSW gave out as well as the rest of their MySpace songs) all fall under the "experimental" umbrella, as wide as that is, with a dose of electronic backbeats to anchor it all. Think, to an extent, Animal Collective if they used more synths and such. Upbeat, charming and different enough to keep you on your toes and expecting to hear more from this band in the future, Honey Claws are just the kind of band that I was hoping to catch during SXSW (although, unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to their show).
http://www.hatesomethingbeautiful.com/?p=1438
- Hatesomethingbeautiful.com
Check out the review:
"With enough influences to drive a music critic insane, Honey Claws have similar creative range as Danger Mouse and the Beastie Boys. With help from their self-made DJ machine (called the “Junkbox”), they’re skilled at mashing up songs, as well as introducing a new sound with their original party cuts. Download free MP3 now!"
Here's the link:
http://music.download.com/8301-5_32-10140931-13.html?tag=blogFeed - cnet download.com
Villains hits #4 on the New Zealand charts. Has been at #4 for 2 weeks. Check out the photos section for a screenshot. Check out the link here...
http://www.95bfm.com/default,top10.sm - Self
Discography
Honey Claws LP
Giant Town (45 Tribute)
Brutality (Prztz Rmx, Fabric)
Photos
Bio
In a book of photos put together after the band’s debut record was finished, Honey Claws member Traey Hatch wrote a hyper-excited, love-filled intro, saying, “Ninjas. Pimps. Crash Cymbals. Couch trips. Bus rides. A hot studio. Yelling, screaming, laughing. Too much beer, too little sleep. Overtime, overworked, overcoming adversity. Racquetball, running and Honey, claws that is. Hyena Scowl, yeah clowns, that's right. Fuck it, we had fun and made some killer music!”
And therein lies the essence of the Austin-based band’s self-titled debut record. Its 14 tracks are based on that brand of playful, creative, wild-eyed, stream-of-consciousness energy. Multi-instrumentalists every one, the four-piece group moves through 49 minutes of innovative experimental hip-hop psychedelia that’s equal parts Panda Bear as it is Madlib.
The record is, at its very heart, an electronic animal, and when its heart beats you feel the floor shaking from sixty-six blocks away. Sexed-up beats pulse thick with electro bass while a whole pile of robotic trippiness blankets the sound in a way that recalls likeminded souls Daft Punk, Odelay-era Beck, and Kraftwerk. Still, the sound is all their own. Without Honey Claws there would be no Honey Claws music. Without Honey Claws music there would be no Honey Claws. They are a unique and new creature unto themselves. American musical evolution incarnate.
According to a recent 3hive.com write-up, “Honey Claws is just the sort of thing I’d hope to run into at 1 am, my feet weary from the walking, my head hurting from all the rocking, but these grooves would buoy me up for another couple hours.”
Put on Honey Claws’ debut and consider yourself buoyed. Band-mates Dr. Zero, Ben Senior, and Traey Hatch lay down the tapestry of summer love trip-out jam funk while Jon Von Letscher drops beats alongside his half-lovelorn/half-crunked-up rhymes with all the power of the Oxford English Dictionary dosed up on E.
Here’s your invitation to the sickest party of the summer.
Links
