I ♥ Zach Hill
All you need to know about Zach Hill is that he plays drums really well. I don’t mean like Neil Pert well. You won’t find any roto-tom fills on any of his tracks. The guy plays a kit that wouldn’t look out of place on the floor of your local Target with a $300 price tag. But man the things he does with that kit. Without any hyperbole, I can honestly say the guy’s one of the best rock drummers out there right now. But unless you’re into noise, the only place you might have heard him was on Marnie Stern’s fantastic 2008 album, I am it and you are it….
On a whim, I hit his wikipedia page last night to see what he’s been up to since then. Turns out he has a new solo album and plays on a new Marnie Stern album. So I picked them both up immediately. I haven’t yet listened to the former, but I’m just finishing the latter and it’s pretty great. Not only is Hill here in full-force, but Stern’s song-writing seems to have improved and, for those of you who were immediately turned off by her Sheri Moon Zombie impersonation style of singing, she seems to have toned that down a bit as well. Hill’s last solo album was definitely… weirder… than I had expected, but not at all unenjoyable. I’ve no idea what to expect on this new one, but I’m pumped to listen later today.
Here’s hoping he and Spencer Seim decide to grace us with a new Hella album this year as well — or better still, a new Advantage album.