White Hills (band)

White Hills is an American psychedelic rock band that was formed in 2003 in New York City. Founding members Dave W. (guitar & vocals) and Ego Sensation (bass & vocals) have been the only constant members.

White Hills
Background information
OriginNew York City, New York, United States
GenresPsychedelic rock
Stoner rock
Space rock
Experimental rock
Instrumentsguitar, bass, drums
Years activeMid-2000s - present
LabelsThrill Jockey
White Hills
Drug Space
Rocket
Roadburn
Immune
God Unknown
Associated acts
Gnod
MembersDave W. (guitar, vocals)
Ego Sensation (bass guitar, vocals)

They are known for being one of the most prolific bands of their generation, recording over 40 separate releases including 7 full-length studio albums. Their music strikes “a riveting balance between heaviness and ethereality”[1] combining elements of krautrock, post-punk, art rock, goth, psychedelic rock, metal, stoner rock, ambient and experimental music. They are often compared to Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, MC5 and Spiritualized.

Biography

The band is currently signed to Thrill Jockey Records whose artist roster also includes Future Islands, Wooden Shjips, Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Matmos, Liturgy and Trans Am. The band's first album, No Game To Play, was a solo recording project by Dave W released in 2005.[2] Julian Cope issued a limited remix of the album as They’ve Got Blood Like We’ve Got Blood on his Fuck Off and Di label. The band's next album Glitter Glamour Atrocity (self-released) garnered the attention of Stewart Lee from the Sunday London Times[3] creating sudden visibility for the group. Shortly after, UK label Rocket Recordings (Goat, Teeth of the Sea, GNOD) asked the band to record a third album. The band recorded Heads on Fire, the title track of which did not make it onto the album but appears on the tour-only CD-r Oddity II- Night Scene On Mill Mountain. Rocket went on to release a split 12” with WHITE HILLS and The Heads and a collaboration between WHITE HILLS and GNOD before the band signed with Thrill Jockey in 2009.

Upon signing to Thrill Jockey in 2009, the label released the 12” EP Dead followed a few months later by the band's self-titled album. Recorded at the Ocropolis in Brooklyn, Oneida’s now extinct recording studio, the album features Kid Millions on drums and was reportedly recorded over three days.[4] The band went on to record their career-defining H-p1 at the Ocropolis. Hailed as “quite possibly the finest album of space rock”,[5] H-p1 has been described as a “work of science fiction”,[6] the band citing Abstract Expressionist art[7] as muse and a concern for “societal ills like consumerism and corporate control of government”[8] as motivation. The title's meaning, according to Dave W, “is the name I have given to this disease of greed…that plagues our time…in the same way that scientists name viruses.”[9]

The band's next two full-length albums Frying On This Rock (2012) and So You Are…So You’ll Be (2013) were recorded with Nick Ferrante on drums by Martin Bisi at BC Studios in Brooklyn. Bisi, well known for his work with Sonic Youth, Swans, The Dresden Dolls, Herbie Hancock and John Zorn among others, helped the band achieve crisper tones than on their previous releases.

Their discography covers a wide expanse of sonic ground. Dave W, the principle lyricist for the band, has cited Jim Carroll[10] and Buckminster Fuller as inspirations and has been quoted as saying, “I’m very conscious about making the records sound very different from each other.”[11]

The band has several live releases in their discography including the full-length album Live At Roadburn from their performance in 2011 and a Scion released 10” split with Earthless from their 2012 performance at the Roxy in Los Angeles.

In Fall of 2014, the band convened in Bethesda, Wales at Bryn Derwyn studio to record an album with producer David Wrench, best known for his work with Caribou and FKA twigs. The album Walks For Motorists was released in April 2015.[12]

In May 2017, their album Stop Mute Defeat was released.

On October 23, 2020, their album Splintered Metal Sky was released on UK label God Unknown Records.[13]

White Hills' live shows feature dramatic lighting and the usage of a fog machine. Previous auxiliary (recording / touring) members include: Antronhy (drums, various instruments), Nick Name (drums), Bob Bellomo (drums), Daved Pankenier, Kid Millions, Shazzula, and Pierre Auntour. They have shared stages with bands such as MONO, The Flaming Lips, Sleepy Sun, Cloudland Canyon, Mudhoney, Akron/Family, Monster Magnet, Oneida, Pontiak, and The Cult.

Movie Credits

Legendary independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch became a fan[14] of WHITE HILLS after inviting the band to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties New York 2010 weekend he curated along with Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Sleep, Sonic Youth, Sunn O))) and Boris. Jarmusch contacted the band in March 2012 asking them to play themselves performing their 2007 song "Under Skin Or By Name" [15] in his new film, Only Lovers Left Alive. The script denotes a “visually striking band” playing wild music in a Detroit club. Jarmusch said he felt the part was made for WHITE HILLS. The band shares the screen with Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin. When the film was released in December 2013 in Germany, the band joined with other artists from the soundtrack including Jarmusch's band SQÜRL, Jozef van Wissem, Zola Jesus and Yasmine Hamdan to do a series of traveling live performances following the screenings of the film in Cologne, Berlin, London, Paris and New York. The events were orchestrated by ATP.

In 2014, the band also appeared in Sound and Chaos: The Story of BC Studios directed by Sara Leavitt and Ryan C. Douglass. This documentary chronicles the birth and life of Martin Bisi’s legendary recording and production studio co-founded by multi-instrumentalist and collaborator-extraordinaire Bill Laswell. Initially funded by Brian Eno (much of his album On Land was recorded there), the studio went on to host a who's-who of NYC musicians: White Zombie, J.G. Thirlwell, Afrika Bambaataa, Cop Shoot Cop, and many more. The film includes footage of WHITE HILLS in BC Studios during their Frying On This Rock sessions. The film made its New York premiere[16] at Anthology Film Archives on July 17, 2014.

Discography

Albums
  • No Game to Play (White Hills, 2003, 2006, 2009 / 300mics 2016)
  • They've Got Blood Like We've Got Blood (Fuck Off And Di / Head Heritage, 2005)
  • Koko (White Hills, 2006)
  • Glitter Glamour Atrocity (White Hills, 2007)
  • Abstractions and Mutations (White Hills, 2007 / Thrill Jockey, 2009 / Immune, 2012)
  • Heads on Fire (Rocket, 2007 / Thrill Jockey 2009, 2012, 2015)
  • A Little Bliss Forever (Drug Space, 2008)
  • Oddity... A Look at How the Collective Mind Works (Drug Space, 2010)
  • White Hills (Thrill Jockey, 2010)
  • H-p1 (Thrill Jockey, 2011)
  • Live at Roadburn 2011 (Roadburn, 2011)
  • Oddity III: Basic Information (Drug Space, 2012)
  • Frying on This Rock (Thrill Jockey, 2012)
  • So You Are... So You'll Be (Thrill Jockey, 2013)
  • Walks For Motorists (Thrill Jockey, 2015)
  • Stop Mute Defeat (Thrill Jockey, 2017)
  • Splintered Metal Sky (God Unknown, 2020)

EPs
  • No Kind Ending, Vol. 2 (White Hills, 2008)
  • Dead (Thrill Jockey, 2009)
  • Stolen Stars Left for No One (Thrill Jockey, 2010)
  • Black Valleys (Aquarius, 2011)
  • yes no Live at the Delancey with Borts Minorts (DogAndPanda, 2015) (collaboration)[17][18][19][20]

Single
  • "Measured Energy" (7") (Trensmat, 2011)

Compilation
  • Oddity II: Night Scene on Mill Mountain (Drug Space, 2010)

References
  1. Segal, Dave (11 March 2010). "White Hills:White Hills (album review)". XLR8R. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  2. "White Hills: Interview". Prefixmag. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  3. Lee, Stewart (25 November 2007). "White Hills:Glitter, Glamour, Atrocity (album review)". Sunday London Times. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  4. Graham, Ben (2 February 2010). "White Hills(album review)". The Quietus. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  5. Brown, Andy (20 June 2011). "White Hills: Hp1(album review)". Soundblab. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  6. Heller, Jason (21 June 2011). "Hp1(album review)". A.V. Club. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  7. Cummings, Raymond (June 2011). "Secret Identities". Cowbell.
  8. "White Hills:H-p1 (album review)". Crawdaddy.
  9. Allen, Jim (6 July 2011). "Riffs, Rants and Rumors". Our Stage. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  10. Woolsey, Julian (28 June 2011). "Track-by-Track: White Hills:H-p1". Rock Edition. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  11. Miller, Shane (14 May 2010). "Run For The Hills". Brooklyn Downtown Star.
  12. Needs, Kris (14 December 2014). "WHITE HILLS Records "Inspired" New Album". Prog Magazine.
  13. "Splintered Metal Sky - White Hills - God Unknown Records". bandcamp.com. 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  14. Trakin, Roy (7 May 2014). "Jim Jarmusch: From Vampires To Stooges (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  15. "WHITE HILLS To Appear In The New JIM JARMUSCH Film + New Music Video + Full Euro Sept & Oct Tour Dates". The Sleeping Shaman. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  16. News Desk, Movies (18 June 2014). "Documentary SOUND AND CHAOS: THE STORY OF BC STUDIO to Make US Premiere 7/17 at Anthology Film Archives". Broadway World.
  17. "Borts Minorts - yesno - Amazon.com Music". Amazon.com. 2015-04-29. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  18. "Nick Name: Playlist from August 21, 2015". Wfmu.org. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  19. "DMG Newsletter April 3rd, 2015". Downtownmusicgallery.com. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  20. "DMG Search Engine". Web.archive.org. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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