Hogchoker is punk poetry, essential reading for the intellectual punk who wants to pogo into the pit with one hand punching the sky to the raucous rhythm, while the other flips through the communist manifesto. Knowledge is power!
Punk as a genre tends to be viewed through the lens of mohawks, metal spikes, and spit in your face aggression and angst. Punk done well doesn’t defy these expectations but subverts them, providing intellectual commentary, experimental musical expression, and a razor sharp message at its heart.
The track starts with the jazzy whirlwind of a sax line. Underneath this melody is this furious and frantic drum beat coupled with the frenetic force of the growling guitars.
The combination is instantly unsettling to the unprepared ear, not in a caustic or unwelcome way, but rather it puts you on the back foot for the deliciously exotic and unique soundscape it summons.
There is a shameful lack of bands willing to experiment or examine the formula of genre and the structure of marketable mainstream musicality. Hogchoker have both the technical prowess and creative energy to not only do this, but do it well.
Lyrically and in content the concept behind the track and the album it hails from is every bit as interesting as the music itself. This track introduces the listener to Fredrik Hasselqvist a Swedish naturalist and traveller.
It celebrates the works of this obscure figure and with cheeky wit encourages the listener to do a quick Google search and learn more themselves.
The album ‘2222‘ dropped on the 22/2/22 at 22:22 and is filled with 100, 200, and 300 year birthday anthems for many other interesting and ecclectic figures from history.
We fiercely recommend checking out the full album which we will link below.
Thank you so much for a brilliant write up! It’s exactly what we hope people get from our music and live shows. Love the website and am amazingly impressed how much cool, new stuff you get reviewed – I’m taking the sweet Yack pill to fulfil my prescription of new music and feeling nicely dosed. Simon (the sax and Vox man in Hogchoker)