Hammer No More the Fingers: Hammer No More the Fingers

Hammer No More the Fingers
Hammer No More the Fingers
Power Team
2007-11-17

Here’s an unexpected delight: a bunch of grownup kids who, when they really were fifth-graders back in 1994, included an Archers of Loaf cover in their basement set list. In the intervening years, they’ve obviously ingested some Spoon and Pharmacists, so guess what they sound like now? A special new band — as Pavement used to exclaim. Whether they’re growing ‘shrooms in their closet (“I got mushrooms, they are my doom / Get me through this girl”) or turning into vodka grasshoppers (“You’re losing air supply because you’re living in a mason jar now”), they have wit to burn, and hooks too. My favorite is “Concrete” which has nice curlicue guitar licks and a real emotional core. But I bet you’ll like “O.R.G.Y.”, about an orgy, and “Black Harmony”, about karma and class warfare (in the “You’ve Got Everything Now” sense). These songs seem like simple alchemy at first, but they do stick with you, kinda like how the Go-Betweens or the Plastic Constellations worked their magic.

RATING 7 / 10