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Honey Ride Me a Goat — Horns & Hooves
(Cuneiform Rune 3406, 2026, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-08-20

Horns & Hooves Cover art

Sometimes you have to give up trying to make sense of the world and just accept things as they are. For example, why is there a band called Honey Ride Me a Goat? I don’t know why they’re called that, but I do know that they’re a really interesting band, so I suppose they need a name. The group’s origins go back to 2000, when some students at Canterbury College bonded over a shared love of Captain Beefheart, Black Sabbath, and Soft Machine. Maybe this combination of influences is not completely off the wall (after all, I share them, though only Soft Machine shows up in my own music), but their desire to actually manifest all these influences in their music might be. Not that I hear much Sabbath in the mix… The trio of Michael Pike (bass), Johnny Shoults (drums), and Ryan Simpson (guitar) released their first demo in 2004, followed by an EP in 2006, then their first full-length album, Udders, in 2010. In 2008, they recorded some improvised sessions with Canterbury legend Hugh Hopper, which were released in 2013 as Goat Hopper. Which brings us to Horns & Hooves, their debut on Cuneiform Records. The title of this album makes perfect sense given that the Goat band is joined on half of the tracks by saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi (whom we know from his work with Corima). I won’t try to force HRMAG into the Canterbury tradition, as the only real similarity with bands like Soft Machine and National Health is the propensity for unconventional composition. In this case, that takes the form of crazy complex rhythms along the lines of Ahleuchatistas but with a slightly looser, jazzier feel. A tune like “Preposterous Proboscis” is a kind of mutated, near-atonal hard bop approached as noisy anti-funk, as they rush through it carefully avoiding any hint of groove, starting and stopping so frequently that there’s not much of a through-line. But they make it work by varying the phrases and building up the harmonic density to a climax that leads directly into the free-form chaos of “Tephra.” While balancing rhythmic tightness and improvisational looseness, they manage to sound like they’re having fun, and listeners who are along for the ride should be having fun too. Horns & Hooves is simply superb, though I suppose it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Honey Ride Me a Goat

More info
http://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/horns-hooves

 

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