Hungry Ghost

Hungry Ghost, a Portland supergroup of obscure '90s indie rockers, was born of decades long friendships and mutual admiration. Stewed and simmered in the cauldrons of Olympia post-punk, Portland experimentalism, and New Mexican trash-garage, Hungry Ghost is Sara Lund (Unwound, Corin Tucker Band) on drums, Andrew Price (Irving Klaw Trio) on guitar, and the Lorca Wood attack (The Drags) on bass. Masterfully produced by PacNW indie rock legend Sam Coomes (Quasi, Heatmiser, Elliot Smith...

?You can tell (or at least I can tell) when a band is playing together for the joy of it, for the love of rocking; where all other aspirations are secondary at best, where you never feel for a second that the band is trying to put one over on you. Hungry Ghost! This music is spare, honed down to essentials ? there is no faking it at this level. There's no need to know what hip, respected underground bands the players were previously members of at whatever time in the past ? this band doesn't really sound like them anyway; but suffice it to say these are real players, their cred is legit. The distillation of classic American forms (and I consider punk a classic American form, as much as blues and jazz) into a simultaneously familiar and individual sound is relatively common strategy, but in practice it is extremely difficult to pull off with anything resembling a natural, uncontrived result. Hungry Ghost! But then this isn't theoretical stuff ? you just have to hear it and feel it ? if you do this, it's there, I'm telling you! At which point they won't need me to justify it with verbiage.? ? Sam Coomes

"Led Zeppelin meets ESG" (J. Funk, Helll, Tokyo)

"Hungry Ghost extrapolates from a bluesy, guitar-forward template into a gloriously unpredictable din that recalls better times" (Portland Monthly)

"That's really cool, mom" (Milo, age 11)