TLOBF Loves… It Hugs Back

If you believe The Buggles, “Video killed the Radio Star”. Well, I’m afraid to say, they were wrong. Radio is, in my opinion at least, having a bit of a renaissance at the moment. The advent of digital and web radio has seen the number of stations on offer explode, whilst MTV and VH-1 have taken to showing endless repeats of Pimp My Ride and documentaries on Whitney Houston. But I’m straying from the point. Thanks to Huw Stephens, a fellow Welshman (so obviously an all-round great person), played a track one evening that sent me into a bit of a tiz. It was ‘Other cars Go’ by It Hugs Back . Now, I didn’t realise this at first because I missed the intro, so the next day I had to trawl through the filth that is the Radio 1 website to find the playlist… And lo and behold, it was in front of me; It Hugs Back. What a rubbish name…

Anyway, less about the name and more about the beautifully laid back grooves they play. My initial thought was that they reminded my of one of the great, lost American bands; American Analog Set. The shuffled, laid back rhythms were augements by slices of arcing, feedback drenched guitars all layered over the whispered vocals, sometimes layered also, but frequently sounding like they were recorded in the middle of a blanket of fog.

‘Other Cars Go’ may now be hard to get hold of physically but, thanks to the Digital Age in which we now live, available to download indefinitely. And I encourage you to do so. Seemingly content to create music that isn’t exactly fashionable, they’ve managed to create a sound uniquely them. B-Side ‘Little Steps’ increases the revs a little, but keeps the same key ingredients, just mixing them to a heavier degree. Good skills on Too Pure’s behalf on signing them up and it seems like the rest of the world (and me) are taking note. They’ve appeared on Jon Kenedy’s XFM show, playing a session, and are going to embark on a short tour around the UK in May.

Do yourself a favour, click the links below and enjoy the wonderfully evocative noise that It Hugs Back produce. Just try and get past the name first…

mp3:> It Hugs Back: Early Evening

Links
It Hugs Back [official site ] [myspace ]