Zach Hill plays drums in Hella, opposite Mick Barr (who's new metal band Krallice is great, by the way) on Shred Earthship and Volume 2, with Marilyn Manson's Twiggy Ramirez in Goon Moon, and behind Marnie Stern, etc. On his first solo record The Astrological Straits he does what many folks in bands do on solo records: He assembles a cast of friends and cohorts to guest, making it not so solo. To give you an idea, Astrological includes Les Claypool, the Deftones' Chino Moreno, !!!/LCD Soundsystem's Tyler Pope, both No Age guys, Stern, the Flying Luttenbacher's Jonathon Hicshke, the Advantage's Robbie Moncrief, some of the other Hella guys, etc. Sonically, it's warped, busy, rollicking, highly enjoyable. The collection's first video is for "Hindsight Is Nowhere," a pretty representative track that features Hill on drums/vocals/keys, Pope on programming/effects, and Hella's Carson McWhirter on bass. The video involves Play-Doh, a space helmet, cellphone and money eating, and quit cuts and kaleidoscopic effects. There's also a suggestive cactus.
For old time's sake: I once gave Hella a bad review in SPIN and they responded by turning said review into their tour shirt. I stand by the review (that album was not very good), but I also stand by Astrological Straits (this album is pretty awesome).
Astrological Straits is out 8/12 on Ipecac. There'll also be a vinyl version via anticon.
