Music and I have a sort of love-hate relationship.
Well, of course I realize that I am giving human traits to music and that is just silly, but I want to illustrate that my never-ending quest for new music can be painful and costly at times, but can also yield aural pleasures (borrowed from Blackalicious!) that become a part of me and mould my tastes, mood, and even my thinking and perception.
(Sounds serious!)
This time last year, I was not even aware of the existence of New York-based Space Rockers White Hills; I learned of them here on Echoes and Dust, and was given the chance to write a review of their last studio album ‘H-p1’. Now, White Hills is as much a part of my musical treasury as bands I have been listening to for forever.
Last Summer, I got to see White Hills perform live in a tiny club, and they almost literally blew the doors off the place with their bombast. It might as well have been a gig in a huge stadium, the way White Hills perform; all-out all the time, like a larger-than-life band from the heyday of the Golden Gods (that’s the 1970s in case you are not a middle-aged person like me). As is often the case, seeing White Hills live imprinted them into my heart and mind for forever.
Their latest studio effort, ‘Frying on this Rock’, is nothing groundbreaking or out of the ordinary for White Hills, a stripped down hard rock outfit mainly comprised of Ego Sensation on bass and Dave W on guitar. When I write that this is nothing new from them, that is not a slam or insult, but an affirmation that White Hills continues to crank out loud, hard, and distorted Space Rock (Deep Space Rock!) that keeps me, consistently, coming back for and wanting more. So far, I have never been disappointed.
Songs from ‘Frying…’ run the gamut from short, sweet, shredding rippers to near-drone, epic and crushing instrumentals. I love the fact, personally, that WH don’t feel the need to cover every note with vocals; Their vocals are adequate, snarled and sneered, but it’s the synergy of the humming bass, distortion-saturated guitar, and cymbal-rich drums that keeps it fun. These might even be songs that people have fried to (on LSD); The liberal use of sound effects, incongruous loops of beeps and pings, Sci-Fi laser gun sounds and spoken word undercurrents might make for a very interesting soundtrack to certain mind-bending extracurricular activities.
My favourite track on ‘Frying on this Rock’, is in fact the nearly dozen-minute long track 2, ‘Robot Stomp’, which is like Psychedelic Space Rock bred with Trance; it could go on for much longer and not lose my attention. If you were to take up jogging in a post-apocalyptic future, this would be the perfect song for your music player. If such a thing existed any more.
’Pads Of Light’ is a radio-friendly, catchy, riff-rich romp which reminds me, just ever so slightly, of late-70’s era Who, only maybe as interpreted by, say, Iggy Pop. Ego Sensation’s bass lines coupled with Dave’s fearless, expansive lead guitar playing is a joy to behold, or be-hear. I hate to leave the drummer out of this, since his drumming is nothing to sneeze at, I just don’t know anything about him; He, like the other mainstay members of White Hills, makes a bigger sound on his drums than seems possible for one person. Power Trio fits this band to a T.
The rest of the album, 3 more tracks comprising almost 30 more minutes of White Hills, is more of the same, solid, listenable, kick ass rock and roll. The nightmarishly-dreamy ‘Song of Everything’ takes the listener on a Floyd-ish walk in a Black Sabbathy neck of the woods around the midpoint of the song. Trust me on this, you don’t want to miss this album.
And while I, your Old and Dear Onkel Jake, would never condone frying on any rock, I get why White Hills listeners would understand the little double-entendre, here on this rock, the third from the sun. With some coloured mineral oils, an overhead projector, and some Quinn the Eskimo, we could definitely visit some other realities with White Hills.
Listen in good health, fellow Earthlings!
Released March 20 2012 on Thrill Jockey
Posted by Jake Gillen
