eMusic Review 0
New York space cadets White Hills came lumbering out of the black, mountainous '00s psych-rock underground lugging an armload of meaty riffs and a bong full of weed. Centered by a 26-minute jam, 2007's Heads On Fire, was a serviceable addition to a cosmic chugosphere already overstuffed with their riff-'n'-jam brethren like Comets On Fire, Earthless, Dead Meadow, Titan and godfathers Acid Mothers Temple.
On their second Thrill Jockey release, White Hills explode and expand, using new textures to explore everything from woolly space rituals to smiley joy-metal to mellow avant-drone. On the first three tracks, guest drummer Kid Millions plays a hyperkinetic aggro-motorik while guitarist Dave W. plays loose grunge ("Dead" sounds like Nirvana's "Negative Creep," "Three Quarters" like Mudhoney's "You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face)"), all mutated into sprawling eight-minute workouts. But the real reward is the final four, where the rockers slowly unravel into chillaxed, slow-building smoke-drifts. The skeletal, slasher-flick creep of "Let The Right One In" is a work of minimalist, Faust-ian beauty thanks to a fog of swirling noises and madness; and "Glacial" is nothing more than a simple, luxuriant drone. By closing rocker "Polvere Di Stelle" they… read more »
