5/4 Respect: A Tribute to Math Rock

Although they have often used larger set ups, Hella, at its barebones, is guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer extraordinaire Zach Hill, who have played together since high school. They released their first EP, Leather Diamond, in 2001. Even in that early release, the Sacramento, California band have a distinctive tone, consisting of technical, breakneck riffs and outstanding drum performances from Hill.

Zach Hill’s drumming talents are utilised on a plethora of other projects, such as work with Orthrelm’s Mick Barr, or trending experimental hip-hop group Death Grips. Seim also has a solo project and Nintendo cover band The Advantage.

Hella have been branded noise rock, but I disagree with this label. While their music can have a chaotic air to it, Seim’s guitar often flirts with melody. Slow it down and make it 4/4 and it could be the makings of some standard indie. The importance of polyrhythyms sets Hella apart as math rock, or a noise rock/math rock crossover. Experimental rock is perhaps another tag that may be applicable because Hella have never shied away from experimenting.

Indeed, primarily an instrumental group, they included vocals from friend Dan Elkan on certain tracks in early EPs, and from Aaron Ross on 2006’s There’s No 666 In Outer Space. Use of vocals does little to mellow their music or blunt the band’s sense of experimentalism as while this album does contain some of their most accessible songs, it also has some of their most experimental work, where vocals merely add to the psychedelic blur of the instruments. Their music has also been known to include elements of other genres such as 8-bit and dance, shown by working with synths and a split with Four Tet. The culmination of their experiments was the 2005 double album Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard, two independently recorded solo albums from Hill and Seim respectively, Hill making a noise rock release and Seim going in a 8-bit/punk/math rock fusion direction.

Hella continue to produce quality music, releasing their latest album, Tripper, last year, once again as a duo. As in the past, they created yet another physically exhausting album, at once aggressive and catchy, with a groove running through the majority of the songs, resembling a less noisy Lightning Bolt. In contrast to the above albums, Tripper takes a restrained approach, with a sound that is more traditionally Hella, which no doubt pleased many, but still breaking new ground.

In many ways, despite spending most of their time as a duo, Hella are the perfect culmination of the rock band; never afraid to try new sounds, but with a propensity for catchy hooks and a pop-like sensibility that makes them manageable at all times.