Virtual Reality Overloads in Zach Hill’s ‘Second Life’ Video

You might need an online companion to catch all the swirling allusions to The Lawnmower Man, surrealism, The Red Shoes and too much more in the new video for Zach Hill’s psychedelic tune “Second Life.” You also might need some acid or Advil, depending on your head-trip.

Directed by Christian “Megazord” Oldham, acclaimed drummer and visual artist Hill’s “Second Life” is a sensory overload. Featuring additional vocals from freak folkie Devendra Banhart, the wandering song’s spiraling digitalism is perfectly complemented by Megazord’s disorienting select-all graphics.

It’s a challenging experiment that’s perfectly in line with what listeners have come to expect from the well-traveled Hill in his previous solo work and on his latest full-length effort, Face Tat, which arrived last month with help from collaborators like the stunning No Age.

Hill’s thunderous self-taught drum skills have been put to terrific use by a roll call of respected artists, including Alan Moore, The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Deftones’ Chino Moreno, guitar wiz Marnie Stern , Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhart and Goblin Cock’s Rob Crow. Screen the reel above and let us know in the comments below if the imagery tickled or tortured your lobes. - By Scott Thill 

Zach Hill may just be the hardest working man in the industry. His spastic and triumphant drumming has been featured in countless projects with everyone in the indie world clamoring to borrow his talents for as long as they can hold onto him. As a founding member of instrumental math rock heroes  Hella, Hill has also contributed stellar work in each of his other bands including The Ladies (with Pinback’s Rob Crow), Team Sleep (withDeftones’ Chino Moreno), Bygones (with Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhart), Marnie Stern, Diamond Watch Wrists (with Prefuse 73), Nervous Cop(with Deerhoof’s Greg Sauntier), El Grupo Nuevo (with Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez Lopez) and still many others. During the mayhem of his musical outpour, 2008 saw the release of his debut solo album Astrological Straits, a collection of warped and bizarre songs light on accessibility but roaring with complex creativity. Steadily growing busier with each passing year, Hill has returned with his next solo offering Face Tat, a twisted array of insanity and mind blowing musicianship as avant-garde as they come. Working with the plethora of bands that he does, Hill has an enormous rolodex of impressive musical friends, and he uses that to his advantage on Face Tat which features many of his oft collaborators as well as some new ones. While calling this album accessible may be a stretch, it certainly heads closer to that direction for Hill with dazzling results. He may have thrown out all the rules of typical song structure and rhythms, but the hooks are present and strangely memorable. 

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(Source: decoymusic.com)

One Man, and Unstoppable Force

Zach Hill discusses his new album and his Tao of Drumming
Words by Joe Atkins • Photo by Sean Stout

If Zach Hill is anything, he’s prolific. The definitive characteristic of his drum style is constant movement, an unrelenting source of rhythm. The list of musicians he has performed with extends across the globe. This year alone, his name will accompany a drum credit on five studio releases: Cryptomnesia by El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Ice Capped at Both Ends by Diamond Watch Wrists, by- from the duo Bygones,Aggressively Humble by CHLL PLL, and last but not least Face Tat by Zach Hill himself, scheduled for release Oct. 19, 2010. He plays drums for one out of six groups on Sargent House alone. And there are more recordings pending, the upcoming Hella record being one. Just to catch him for a conversation, Submerge had to squeeze two hours from his week-long break between a tour of South Korea and Japan with Carson McWhirter, and an Australian leg with the Boredoms he left for before we even went to press.

Hill is aware of the all this. “Not to sound pretentious, but I’ve released over 100 records,” he said. Self-taught, he’s become a financially independent musician. He states it simply, “I’m proud of most of what I’ve done.”

But to summarize his catalog is a superficial gloss of what Zach Hill is all about. Behind a quiet demeanor lies a restless mind, stirring constantly like so many endless drum fills. We talked mainly about the process of recording the new album and how his schedule creates a disruptive focus that enables him to participate in so many projects simultaneously. We also discussed the appealing qualities of an expressive live performance and improvisation. And then he left for Australia.

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Zach Hill - Face Tat  
“The Sun City Girls’ blenderizing of intent and influence, mixing shock and comedy, lies somewhere in the background of “Face Tat,” Zach Hill’s new album on the label Sargent House. Mr. Hill is a virtuosic, hammer-blow, fast-footed drummer who puts his best playing in scuffed, shattered, strobing, overdriven songs and soundscapes. A mind-boggling video of one song from the album, “The Sacto Smile,” came out over the summer and transmits this record’s noisy intensity really well. It tracks a young woman marauding down a suburban street, causing major damage: breaking skateboards, smashing windshields, knocking over garbage cans, setting fire to things. (The cuts in the hand-held camera work are keyed to tiny actions in the music, putting the visual and musical in sync.) “Face Tat” is cartoonishly alive and shape shifting, but the funny thing is that there some are actual tunes here too with Mr. Hill’s enthusiastic singing and big melodies. Hear the album, and buy it, at zachhill.bandcamp.com ” - Ben Ratliff

Pitchfork premieres the latest video from Zach Hill directed by the fantastic Steph D for The Primitives Talk (Free DL on Amazon). Trip out. Best Nail salon ever…

Your upcoming album is called “Face Tat” – why was it named that way?

the title is loosely based on the idea of individual platforms. how we all find them and use them differently . i think  a facial tattoo is a very extreme way to use your own body as a platform. committing to a projection to that degree is something that i find interesting and metaphorical on many levels .

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(Source: ihrtn.com)

“Zach Hill is a well-known drummer of technical skill in the progressive music scene. Over the past decade, he has developed an intense cult following to the magnitude of which he probably doesn’t yet realize. Predictably unpredictable, Mr. Hill is known for being on numerous releases within a year, which sometimes stretch over varying genres and styles. In this interview, I talk to Zach Hill about his collaborations with The Sun Ra Arkestra, his upcoming album ‘Face Tat’ and the meaning behind a couple of song”

The way you describe making this album is like the musical version of maybe readymade art and conceptual artistry. You’re challenging the notions of what is music and what is melodic. Like taking the melody from pissing on a stack of Rolling Stones for example; that’s pretty awesome. What’s your art background like?

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