White Hills : "the Revenge of Heads on Fire"

This duo sounds continues to evolve. This is a re-imagining of their "Heads on Fire " album from 2007. The songs are re-worked and re-mixed.  Now it is something clearly more stoner rock than psych- garage rock. Things are still trippy, but heavier. The vocals drifting as the drums batter against the swirl of sonics swarming the song. There is still a very 60s throb to it. The guitar does have a Jimi Hendrix influence in the sounds summoned in the feedback drenched melodies plucked from it. "Inoke Tupo" picks up where the previous trip ends, yet it is only an interlude of sounds indulged in. The fuzz of "Oceans of Sound" embarks furthers on the fuzzed Sabbath worship, dosed with hippie wet dreams of yester year. The heavy-handed drumming reverberates with a punk rawness. The vocals work off a more droned chant than a vocal melody.

"Speed Toilet" isa acid induced atmospheric instrumental. There is more structure to the brooding bass line of "Is This the Road" which is equally as hypnotic, but more structured and purposeful even as it circles the cloud of pot smoke it feels to have been made from. "VTDS' is another ambient interlude rather than a full song. I prefer things more in the direction of where they do in the darker "Don't Be Afraid" that hovers somewhere between old Pink Floyd, and Psychic TV.  At 21 minutes long well, that is getting a bit carried away. Once you pass the ten-minute mark and it becomes a abstract mess with your mind moment. It does build up, but this has a great deal of fat to be trimmed.  You could write "Visions of the Past Present and Future" sound like a jam band version of Motorhead, but what you would really be saying is it sounds like Hawkwind. 

There is a cool groove to "Silent Violence" that makes up for the fact the vocals drone on the same pattern the entire song. Though tht is consistent with the vibe they are on this album. "Eternity" closes the album in more straight forward fashion, which is more along the lines of what I think of when this band comes to mind. It is exciting to hear their continued expansion of the sonic colors they paint with. I will give this one a 9. This drops September 16th. 

6.5

White Hills : "This Time"

This is the 4th in sa series of eps the band has released since Bandcamp was waving artists fees due to covid. These are unreleased song the band has in their vaults, but since it is the first time we are hearing it I am going to count it as new. The first song is the live track "Dead" .  It is pretty bulldozingly heavy. While these guys are not a metal band I think they could appeal to metal head when they turn up the volume with songs like this. They are a great live band , but live recording some times just hit you with a dense booming and not a great deal of clarity , which kind of happens here to some extent. They go into a Jimi Hendrix influenced blend of pyschedelic rock heavy on jamming out the guitar solos. It is not devoid of modern touch as samples are uses as a narrative.

"Turn & Turn" has more of the simmering space rock coming to the surface which seems to be the direction the band is leaning more toward. Lyrically this is the most politcal song I have heard from them, though he is not pointing finger to either side of the party lines, which I appreciate. The vocals are more spoken and it is not the best song I have heard from them, though it is not that bad and better than the radio rock of today even though it wanders off into a noisy jam . Then they shift gears once again. "S.A.S'  is an "Over the Hills and Far Away" like instrumental. The guitars sound great here, though it feels more like an interlude to me than a song that stands on it's own two feet.

I will round this down to an 8.5 ,as it might be a solid EP, I do not think it is on the level of "Electronic Time". I think if you are a fan of the band this is a solid effort that you will want in your collection . I think personally "Electronic Time" has songs that are more likely to have staying power on my iPod. I am going to continue working my way back through these eps , so keep your eyes peeled for those reviews in the coming days.

White Hills : "Walks For Motorists"

This one slipped in under my radar. First really paid attention to this band after they appeared in "the Only Lovers Left Alive", perhaps it's having appeared in a vampire movie but this album has a darker feel to it. There is a Bauhaus vibe to the drive of the guitar and bass on the opener. "Lsd or Usb" comes across like an instrumental interlude as the vocals that do sparsely chant are buried under neath the futuristic guitar noise. Ego Sensation's  bass line to "Wanderlust" has enough meat and attitude dripping from it's fuzz to get my attention, but the swathes of noise painted portraits painted with copious amounts of fee back tend to fade into the back ground. Is "Lead the Way" trippy? Yes, in a similar manner to the Cult and Monster Magnet. It allows the guitar to carry the song away on the hypnotic throb the feed back induces. If you like the guitar heroics of the 60s, think Jimi Hendrix then you might appreciate how the guitar solo totally hi-jacks the song. At eight and a half minutes this can be a little grating if you are sober.

There are some ambient space noises, you might want to label as kraut rock, I am sure they would sound great stoned and these sounds are given the motion of the drums and droning instruments it is layered over. I got enough of that on the last Mogwai album , what I want from these guys is to hear them rock out. Even at four minutes this just seems like a disposable interlude. Then "We Are What You Are" comes on more like a real song. The next catchy groove to follow the more droning songs is "Automated City" that sounds like Inxs jamming with Goldfrapp. This album for all it's hazy drugged out ways does sound really good. His voice takes on a Lou Reed like laziness on the surreal swirl of "Life is Upon You". It's drone is more like a Joy Division song, with Sensation's bass line holding the song together.

There is an element of this band that reminds me of My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult, so much so I wonder if the band cites them as an influence. On the title track they just ride out on the instrumental which is pretty much a dance track with guitar solos cloaking it. This is an intentional song because of it's length so there is no denying and trying to reason this away as just being an interlude. I am going to round this down to an 8 as the band might have created some interesting sounds , I feel that they waste a lot of time with songs like the title track, that might have a high drug value, but songs should stand on their own two feet with out the help of any chemicals.


White Hills - No Will (Official Music Video) from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.