Not Hella's best but for fans
J. Cacciola | USA | 04/18/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I thoroughly enjoy Chirpin Hard. It's definitely amazing; it combines all of Hella's LP and EP styles into one album. Church Gone Wild is a different story. It's really hard to get into this record; I'm not sure if it's the vocals or the arrangements. It's just a little too tedious for my tastes at times. Zach Hill should've made this cd a little more accessible. I understand the 'not sacrificing any artistic vision' idea, but I would've liked to hear some more of his amazing drumming that isn't drowned out by constant effects and vocals.
Try Hold Your Horse Is before this one."
An Album of Personalities
TingleFinger.com | Portland, OR | 09/03/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Hella do an OutKast style concept on this release, having each member do his own full-length CD of music. Un-like OutKast featuring each other on their solo projects, Zach and Spencer separately play each and every instrument on their own creations.
With Spencer's Chirpin Hard, this concept reveals what an amazing musician and composer he is, even showing Zach up on the drums with tracks like the amazing dream space rockin' of, "Try Dis..." In Zach's Church Gone Wild CD, we find out that Zach really is from another f*!%ing planet! This epic hour long drone of noise and tripped out vocals sounds a lot like stuff off of Zach's true solo release, Zach Hill & The Holy Smokes. These albums put into black & white the two extremes that Spencer and Zach pull from to create what is Hella.
Together, these two opposite sounds of "listenable" poppy Nintendo space rock and "unlistenable" UFO noise explosions from outer space come together to make up the amazingly complex and yet somehow enjoyably "listenable," HELLA. More than an album of music, this is an album of personalities.
I wonder what would happen if you played these two CDs together at the same time, like some Flaming Lips Zaireeka action... Maybe then you'd get your beloved "Hold Your Horse Is" again. Let the music evolve!"