Thrill Jockey’s White Hills update European tour dates in support of new album
aaamusic | On 23, Aug 2011
The very wonderful and spectacular White Hills have announced some more additions to their EU tour following their most recent album H-P1. These include an appearance at Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival and a headline show at London’s Corsica Studios on 24 October. Blending heavy, heavy riffs with psych and krautrock, White Hills have carved out a niche for themselves as being one of the most powerfully entertaining live bands around.
Fri Sep 30 Den Bosch, Netherlands W 2
Sat Oct 1 Leuven, Belgium Het Depot
Sun Oct 2 Cologne, Germany Underground
Tue Oct 4 Vienna, Austria Arena
Wed Oct 5 Feldkirch, Austria Graf Hugo
Thu Oct 6 Stuttgart, Germany 1210
Fri Oct 7 Weimar, Germany Werk
Sat Oct 8 Cottbus, Germany Burning Earth Festival
Sun Oct 9 Berlin, Germany White Trash
Mon Oct 10 Hamburg, Germany Molotow
Tue Oct 11 Bielefeld, Germany AJZ
Thu Oct 13 Olten, Switzerland Quote D’Or
Fri Oct 14 Wurzburg, Germany Cafe Cairo
Sat Oct 15 Darmstadt, Germany 603
Mon Oct 17 Savignano Sul Rubicone, Italy Sidro Club
Tue Oct 18 Rome, Italy Sinister Noise
Wed Oct 19 Quero, Italy Piettro Alternative Sound
Thu Oct 20 Martigny, Switzerland Les Caves Du Manoir
Sat Oct 22 Maastricht, Netherlands Musikgiterij
Sun Oct 23 Birmingham, UK Supersonic Festival
Sat Oct 22 Maastricht, Netherlands Musikgiterij
Sun Oct 23 Birmingham, UK Supersonic Festival
Mon Oct 24 London, UK Corsica Studios
To get a taste of their spectacular live performance, here’s a new live video for the title-track H-P1, shot at this year’s SXSW and directed by bass-player Ego Sensation
White Hills – H-p1 from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.
WHITE HILLS
H-P1
20 June 2011
Thrill Jockey Records
Photos/bio: http://thrilljockey.com/press/index.html?id=12183
Website: http://whitehillsmusic.blogspot.com/
Musically, H-p1, White Hills second full-length for Thrill Jockey, expands on the explorations of previous albums in ambience, noise, and space rock all led by guitarist Dave W.’s blistering guitar solos. This is the most fully realized White Hills album to date and the one that takes them furthest from their pure space rock roots. It is also their most angry record. It is a reaction to what White Hills sees as government co-opted and controlled by corporations. It is a wake up call:
We can barely pay our rent each month but we are willing to pull out our credit cards and go into debt each time a new iPhone promises a better connection. The joke is on us. Our greater connectivity has caused us to disconnect from our humanity. We have been sold the religion of consumerism to feed the corporate machine. We have been tricked into believing that wanting our tax dollars to pay for our own health care is treacherous to the ideals of a democratic society. H-p1 is symbolic of the simplification of complex ideas to keep the masses from questioning the system. – Ego Sensation The cover is a stark, colorless landscape, a metaphor for the status quo, while the inside and the record are an attempt to break free from this bland existence. The music and the photo inside are loud, colorful, exuberant, and alive.
H-p1 was recorded at the Ocropolis in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on September 7th & 8th 2010 by Shahin “Showtime” Motia (guitarist of Oneida) and mixed by Dave W. & Pierre Auntour in NYC and by Antronhy in Nottingham, UK. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry at the Lodge. A notable difference is the addition of synthesizer player, Shazzula, for the recordings. Shazzula has performed with the group in Europe on and off throughout the last year. There was no compression used on the record. Instead distortion boxes were used to enhance the natural dynamics of the songs. “The recordings captured a natural ebb and flow of the instruments within each song. For this reason I did not ride the faders while mixing the record to bring out certain instruments over others. It is the way it happened when it was recorded.” said Dave W.
H-p1 is the cry for the disenfranchised, the exposure of the ills that the corporate-controlled governmental system has put in place. This seventeen minute song is the summation of the album, the point when the protagonist delivers his realization and vision of a solution to the masses. There is another way. You don’t have to be a drone.
“[White Hills is] one of the years gnarliest psych slabs – a schizophrenic trip through Acid Mothers Temple riff bludgeon, Boris chug, shaggy pseudo-grunge, and tender bursts of formless noise.” – Village Voice “I found my infinite headbang in White Hills, a relentlessly heavy psych-rock band with scorching wah-wah and fantastic outfits.” – NPR All Songs Considered (Lars Gotrich)
“A perfect space-rock storm of drone, mind-melting psychedelia, overdriven guitars and heavy bass, White Hills is the rightful heir to Hawkwind’s massive legacy.” – Goldmine
Dave W. – Guitar // Vocals // Synth
Ego Sensation – Bass // Vocals // Synth
Ego Sensation – Bass // Vocals // Synth
Lee Hinshaw – Drums
Special guests:
Shazzula Nebula – Synth (all tracks except for Movement and Monument)
Antronhy – Drums and electronics and mixing (on Movement and Monument)
Kid Millions – Drums (on Paradise and Monument)
