Hella's aptly titled Acoustics EP consists of six acoustic renditions of previously released songs, recorded by a version of the group that doesn't really exist anymore. In other words, this release might seem to be the virtual definition of a stopgap product. Yet Acoustics appears at such a crucial juncture in Hella's history that it could achieve a heightened importance for the group's devoted following. The spazz-phonic outfit has recently expanded from the traditional duo of guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill into a full-fledged quintet, so in a large sense these six tracks represent the final frantic blurt of Hella's original stripped-down twosome. If so, Hella have certainly marked the occasion with an appropriate degree of bluster. Though shorn of their electricity, these six instrumentals retain every ounce of Hella's distinctive and bewildering sputter-- pounding the listener with a sonic impact akin to getting trampled by jacked-up centipedes.
Any appreciation for Hella's music must first begin with a healthy admiration for the duo's monstrous chops and intuitive sense for taking high-velocity hairpin turns in perfect tandem. Though the pair have incorporated various tangled electronics and 8-bit digital effects into recent works like 2005's epic double-album Church Gone Wild/Chirpin' Hard, at heart their live act has always been based on their hyperactive and unwieldy guitar/drum duets. All of the tracks on Acoustics are drawn from either 2002's Hold Your Horse Is or 2004's The Devil Isn't Red, concentrating on established favorites like "Cafeteria Bananas" and "Biblical Violence". And on these acoustic versions, Hella recreate the original studio recordings with a precision that seems rather astonishing-- snarled riffs that at first glance might be misinterpreted as random noodling are here revealed to be compositions of manic, near-obsessive organization.
On their studio albums, Hella's music has always been a spontaneous collision of distinct styles and techniques, the results a mystifying concoction of avant-noise, speed metal, jazz fusion, and Nintendo trauma. The same is also true of Acoustics, but here the men of Hella make use of a slightly different skill set. On the opening "1-800-Ghost Dance", Seim plays with an almost flamenco-like delicacy, the sound of each isolated note held momentarily in crystal suspension. From there the two immediately blast into "Women of the 90's" in what appears to be one uninterrupted take. Here, as elsewhere on these six tracks, Hill seems to be taking a little something off his fastball, lightening his volume but not his workload as he issues a relentless fusillade of crashing cymbals and floor-toms. In fact, the nearest precedent for his work here can sometimes seem to be the tribal rhythms of the late-80s Butthole Surfers, a resemblance that is most remarkable since the Surfers actually employed two drummers at the time.
The problems that naturally arise on albums like Acoustics are-- of course-- primarily due to simple familiarity. Anyone who owns Hella's previous albums should have a pretty solid idea of what to expect here, as the duo have made few noticeable changes to their songs beyond the switch to acoustic. Most of these performances even have virtually identical track lengths with the originals, so it is not as though Seim and Hill have used the album as an opportunity for extensive improvisation or experimentation. Rather, the album seems to have been designed as one last farewell to the first chapter of Hella's lifespan, and one final document of their righteous commotion as a duo. And since these two guys have never been inclined to leave much empty space available in their music, Acoustics also serves to build curiosity to see exactly how they plan to fit three more musicians into their chaotic din.
