The last Hella effort, a much-discussed Outkastian offering with two CDs made separately by guitarist/effects man Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill, was a shock to the system of noise/experimental/math/skronk/no wave, trading in the band's traditional, "simple" two-man equations for something different altogether.
Hill's disc (and to a certain extent his delightfully packaged solo project with The Smokers) especially reeked of a certain indulgence; it was skillfully constructed but essentially impossible to listen to all the way through, overly jarring and scarring like a bad Boredoms record; okay, any Boredoms record. Although Hill's side received more favorable reviews due to bandwagon critics who realized they couldn't dismiss Hella anymore and wanted to bank on the logical choice, it was actually Seim's half that yielded more fruit, snapping and popping with video game noir and bleep-core bravado. So what if he won't make you dizzy with his drumming? His compositional prowess proved to be more powerful over the course of a full-length album.
Now that Hill and Seim are back together again they sound right at home: Hill's rolling his toms, bass, snare, and high-hats into a giant burrito (with a bonus tornado inside! ieeeeeeeeee!) and Seim's becoming increasingly obsessed with tossing Black Dice into the mix, leavening Hill's already-explosive dough with keys and effects that rise and bubble like a collaboration between Mindflayer, Orthrelm and – what the hell – Wolf Eyes.
Luckily, the noise toys don't blur the duo's vision one iota. Homeboy is a logical step forward, retaining the off-kilter, drum-fill factory line modus operandi of old jams and adding new, unbridled craziness. "If I Were In Hella I Would Eat Lick" is particularly expansive, Seim's multi-layered tinkering abusing the senses with so many diversions it almost makes one forget about the ravishing drumming twisting and turning underneath. Well, almost ...
The DVD portion, Concentration Face, is even more satisfying, chronicling a sojourn to Japan during which much sweat is yielded and concert-goers are shocked into submission by Hella's complicated equations. Due to the inclusion of several tracks from formative albums such as Hold Your Horse Is and The Devil Isn't Red, the DVD wins out in the end. But let's be straight with each other: NOTHING beats a stellar combo of new material and older live material; so the two discs feed off each other beautifully, one rendered incomplete without the balance offered by the other.
Who would've guessed that experimental artists like Hella and Lightning Bolt would be allowed to catapult into almost universal underground appeal by trend-glomming indie fuckers? Whether this fervor lasts is up for debate; for that matter, it's impossible to predict how many more albums Hella have in them before they are forced to circle back around, scrap their musty machine, and start over, like those crankheads I knew who rebuilt a Ford engine in two frenzied days. Only time will tell, I suppose; until then, rock out with your dangly flock out, Hella!
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3. BC But Not Before Christ
4. If I Were in Hella I Would Eat Lick