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Hassle Hound conjure up a sophisticated mess of complimentary contradictions, voraciously sampling everything in their paths. The three piece met seven years ago and have built an impressive and eclectic body of material with releases on Staubgold, Pickled Egg, Textile and Twisted Nerve. They create a music of accomplished innocence, lush and melodic but with a haunting undercurrent of melancholy and menace. Samples and loops from a range of unlikely sources are merged with live instrumentation to create wonky off-kilter avant-pop with bite. The group have played extensively in the U.K., Germany, Netherlands and France, alongside the likes of Melt Banana, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Knifehandchop, Scatter & Volcano the Bear. "Hassle Hound are a benign tornado, roaring and twisting through the best and most eclectic of record collections, ripping out and tearing off ideas and samples. They plunder for a reason -- to make fragile and lovely music, often charmingly odd but with a gleeful melancholy, off-kilter but on the ball. There is a childlike quality to their music, but the child in question must be a musical prodigy with a wry sense of humour and a maturity beyond his years. They are not afraid to be beautiful. Machines and beats are caressed into soft humanity by delicate vocals, the boisterous cuddle of eccentrically-played instruments and ingenious guitar patterns. Here are wistful love songs which also sound like the greatest James Bond theme ever (if those films had ever been made by a 60's new wave Czech director). Cartoon oneirics slapstick their way across lush countryside and toddle through town, favourite-uncle drunk and beaming expansively. Trying to pin them down is like drinking beer with a fork. They coin new genres like other bands do sound checks -- too much funky not enough, crofter dub, genial noise, surf and turf guitar, carousel gothic, collagetronica. If Harry Partch had made music for ice-cream vans it might have been like some of these affable inventions" [Forced Exposure] User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.