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Hella

Church Gone Wild/Chirpin' Hard (2005)
Suicide Squeeze Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Jesse
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on March 29th 2005

Yes, it's true. Hella pulled an Outkast. Two discs, one written by one guy, one written by the other. Now, I'm not too familiar with their previous releases (at all, I mean, maybe I heard one MP3 before) but I'll break it down CD by CD for you for this release.

Church Gone Wild

The baby of Zach Hill, this is a lo-fi spazz rock disc. There are lyrics and vocals. Shock! Amazement! Think: older Animal Collective stuff if it was rock oriented. If you haven't heard older Animal Collective stuff, then think of weird noises and sirens/whines/feedback over affected guitars and noise in general. Other comparisons would be to Liars' They Were Wrong So We Drowned. The only thing is, I think more of you would like it because experimental as it may be, there's definitely more of a punk feel to it. I mean, shit, I love it, but I love weird stuff because it piques my interests. I mean, it's not going to be as appealing to the masses as, say, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run¹, but hey, what is? The album is one song with twelve movements, and the transitions are generally flawless. A lot of the songs are fairly long though, and the album itself is just under an hour. Not something to pop in just for a quick listen, but if you dig experimentation and some crazy rhythms and noises, then hot damn, this is for you. I give it an 8.

Chirpin' Hard

There is a poppier feel to this one. It is the baby of Spencer Seim. Now, just because I said it was poppier doesn't mean it's less spastic or crazy. It's just got a sense of melody to it that is cohesive in some way shape or form. This is probably closer to what your older Hella records were. It's fully instrumental, and because of that I get bored with it easier. The production is a tad bit more refined, as in I can distinguish the different instruments, and the drums are insane with rhythms and beats. I'm guessing this guy was the drummer? Blips and keyboards accompany guitar riffs along with effects. It's hard to describe and even harder to make comparisons. Classic Hella fans, this more directed towards you. I believe. I could be wrong. I give it a 7 because I like vocals and lyrics. It grounds me to something, gives me a better reference point. Anyway, not a bad album, but not my bag. Together it would be a 7.5, so I rounded up to compensate for the brilliance of Church Gone Wild.

1 - Back when I promised Brian that I wouldn't rip on albums during reviews, I also made a promise to Adam. This promise was to incorporate more Bruce Springsteen references in my reviews. There you go, Adam. Happy Birthday.

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benz (February 2, 2007)

This is good. This music.

GreenVandal (July 15, 2005)

so. does anyone like this or are we just gonna discuss the english language and footnotes? I have never heard it. I dont really have any desire to either.

colossalbandit (April 3, 2005)

Republic of rough and ready, that's all i gots to say about HELLA

Anchors (March 30, 2005)

Incorrect, Scott.

Spite is always funny.

SteveJonesTheRealBones (March 30, 2005)

you guys are all fags.... but not for the reasons mentioned by that anonymous fag...because this whole review has been a discussion of the word "pique" and of footnotes...now i may be part queer, but thats just gay

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

maverick (March 30, 2005)

"I'll never stop footnoting. I made a third promise, that one was to myself: use at least one footnote in every review!"

Then I can promise you that it will never, ever, ever be funny.

-Scott

Anchors (March 30, 2005)

Good point.

Nothing says credibility like an anonymous commenter telling a staff member how to write, and calling them a fag.

And don't bother with the 'stop being so PC' bullshit, because I'm as far away from that as possible, but I really don't think anybody older than 11 uses fag as an insult anymore.

Anonymous (March 30, 2005)

That reference is forced about Born To Run, which was of course the purpose, but you lose any writing credibility, by extending any further explantation with a useless and trivial footnote. It's not cute, it's not creative, it's not clever, and hardly humourous. Stop being such a fag.

SethCohen (March 29, 2005)

Is making reference to Outkast with this album the new Interpol=Joy Division or Rilo Kiley=Child Actors comment that will be in every review ever written about Hella