Hunches

Hunches

Same New Thing

Almost Ready

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  THE HUNCHES surfaced in the waking years of this century to hit a nerve that desperately needed hitting. Playing a cacophonic, gritty kind of rock & roll, they were an antithesis to the stylized version of so-called garage rock that had come into favor. The Portland four-piece released three full-lengths and an assortment of singles on labels like In the Red before calling it a day in 2009. Now, Almost Ready Records, who released an album’s worth of demos in 2016, is releasing a second full volume of recordings heretofore unheard. Recorded in 2002, many of these demos would wind up on their first album, Yes No. Shut It. Here, though, cuts like “Explosion” and “Confusion” are less overblown, with the nuances of The Hunches’ attack revealed. Meanwhile, the new songs show that the band had more solid material than one album could contain. Think of these recordings as ground zero, as they laid the foundation for The Hunches’ all too brief, but amazing existence.

Hunches

S/t

Almost Ready

***Long lost first recordings from 2001, unearthed and mastered for vinyl. A full studio session for an LP that never was, revealing the genesis of their sound.

Hunches

You'll Never Get Away With My Heart

Almost Ready

***The turn of the century was a scary time for many of us. Unsure of where we were going, unsure of what the world had left to offer, if anything. Y2K, 911, financial collapse, bullshit wars, bullshit politics, natural disasters the world had never seen the likes of before…it was as if the very fiber of the planet was being torn asunder as we watched, waiting for it to strike us personally. But for most of us it never did. We buoyed ourselves against the storm with the music of THE HUNCHES, and although we may have come through beaten, bruised and scarred, we made it. The Hunches did not. The paid for our sins, they took the bullet, they shielded us from the blow over three LPs and a handful of singles. These are their earliest recordings as a band, demos from way back in 2001, the songs themselves buried away until now, only ever rearing their heads on obscure CD only comps. They show the genesis of the sound that gave us all so much joy when we needed it most, so much surety in times of doubt, so much solace in times of sad recollection. Two caveman hymns, songs for misanthropes who’ve realized that they’re really in love with the world, two rough cut gems of simple and heartfelt brilliance. Few bands have reached further into the depths of human emotion and come up with songs so chillingly beautiful. These are two them, songs to remind you...

Hunches

Exit Dreams

In The Red

The Hunches are Portland's finest purveyors of cacophonous garage, delivering ragged-edged rock 'n' roll with such devastating hidden melody, one is left wondering how the band crammed such pop into the noise cavalcades. Having released two previous full-lengths, The Hunches are back with Exit Dreams, their third (and possibly final) album that captures their fiery live form on wax once more.  It's a veritable melee of vicious guitar savagery and lo-fi freak-out fugginess, the perfect follow-up to Hobo Sunrise--a raging riot of an album that leaves ringing ears, bloody mouths, and shot-to-shit synapses sizzling with amplified excess.  Not that Exit Dreams is a one-dimensional thrill. There's much more to The Hunches than simple shock bombast. Over the course of twelve tracks, the outfit navigates styles known to explorers of under-the-radar rock, each time twisting the tried-and-true into forms best-fitting their singular focus. This is The Birthday Party hijacking Big Star's Third and juicing adrenaline into their eyeballs; it's the give-a-fuck Velvets getting loose and pissing off the neighbors while The Wipers chuck stones at their windows; it's the top-up for the tinnitus that only just wore off some four years after the last time The Hunches rode through this town.  The Hunches might be departing us, but the four-piece are leaving with a bang sure to raze these walls to the ground. It's time to set fire to everything and dance inside the encircling flames, facing fate with a wicked grin.  "[The Hunches] blast extremely hard,...

Hunches

Yes No Shut It

In The Red

Loud, noisy, aggressive rock'n'roll - this is what The Hunches are all about and they deliver it in spades. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, and averaging 20 years of age, The Hunches have a knowledge of rock'n'roll's heritage that betrays their youth. They draw on all the classic influences one would expect from any great rock'n'roll band (e.g. Stones, Saints, Captain Beefheart, Dolls, Stooges, Cramps, '60s punk, '70s punk, blues, etc.), and handle it with irreverent abrasiveness. The result is totally their own. Pure nastiness filtered through rock'n'roll romanticism. "Got Some Hate" is a dose of unadulterated punk rock bile. "The Ballad" is pure heartfelt slow-dance groove. Their cover of The Electric Eels' "Accident" is total, fuzzed-out noise (literally; there are three separate vacuum cleaners overdubbed on this song, one which is inhaling screws).  Their live shows are the things of legend - they tear shit up with reckless abandon. This is what it was all about in the first place. This is exactly how it should be done. This is raw rock bliss. This is the debut from The Hunches. 

Hunches

Hobo Sunrise

In The Red

***Bigger, badder and better than The Hunches' debut, Hobo Sunrise has monstrous fuzzball guitar explosions, overwrought screaming, poppy melody and a couple songs that are almost pretty. Shades of The Birthday Party, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pussy Galore, The Velvet Underground and The Pixies can all be detected here, but the sound and presentation is completely original. This fourteen-song monolith is certain to be a standout rock moment in 2004. The Hunches exploded onto the Portland, Oregon music scene in 2002 with Yes. No. Shut It., a debut album that can best be described as "crazy." Byron Coley wrote in Mojo, "This album is very goddamn good ....[E]very time I play it I wanna bust something up." It's wild, noisy, extreme and, at times, melodic. The album and the tours that followed both in the U.S. and Europe quickly earned The Hunches a reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Hobo Sunrise is preceded by a three-track seven-inch single titled "Fuck Disco Beats" (ITR112) -- a message from The Hunches to all the bands who seem to think Gang Of Four is a genre.

Hunches

Fuck Disco Beats

In The Red

***A teaser EP to the upcoming Hobo Sunrise album from Portland, Oregon's hate-spewing rock'n'roll speaker splatterers the HUNCHES. The album track, "Fuck Disco Beats," is the band's response to the current crop of groups that think Gang of Four is a genre, while the two exclusive cuts, "When I Became You" and "Jakob's Voices," drive the loud and abrasive factor to new heights. Packaged in full-color gloss sleeves.

Hunches

Got Some Hate

In The Red

***Loud, noisy, aggressive rock n' roll—this is what THE HUNCHES are all about, and they deliver it in spades. Hailing from Portland, Oregan and averaging 21 years of age, The Hunches have knowledge of rock n' roll's heritage that betrays their youth. They draw on all the classic influences one would expect from any great rock n' roll band (Stones, Saints, Captain Beefheart, New York Dolls, Stooges, Cramps, '60s punk, '70s punk, blues, etc.) and manhandle it with an irreverent abrasiveness. A lot of bands are claiming similar influences, but The Hunches sound is totally their own. Pure nastiness filtered through rock n' roll romanticism. Just check out "Got Some Hate" for a dose of unadulterated punk rock bile. Their live shows are the things of legend—they tear shit up with reckless abandon. This is raw rock bliss. This is the debut single from The Hunches.  Their debut album, Yes. No. Shut It will be out November 18th on In The Red Records.