White Hills – Abstractions And Mutations

Today I’d like to present you with a copy of a White Hills tour-only CD-r (originally released in a run of 50 copies, it has since been re-issued in a run of 100 copies) entitled Abstractions and Mutations, which is mere moments from being officially out-of-print. It was sold during the band’s recent UK tour, but according to Ian (who saw them last night and picked up a copy) only a handful of these remain available for purchase. It’s packaged in a simple white sleeve with stickers affixed to the front and back. The original copies contained the same stickers but they were blue in color. The contents of the disc include perhaps the heaviest psychedelic tunes the band has recorded.

The album commences with a man’s voice declaring that it is no longer “morning in America,” it is “fucking midnight, man!” before suddenly exploding into a vast swath of lysergic hard rock. On “Eye to Eye,” guitarist / vocalist Dave Weinberg has never sounded clearer or more assertive. With the exception of Heads On Fire‘s closing track “Eternity,” White Hills has never sounded this fierce. Once the metallic riffing concludes, there is a brief sonorous interlude before Weinberg’s brain-frying guitar leads take over. The centerpiece of Abstractions and Mutations is “Left Behind,” a fifteen-minute-plus epic that goes from kosmiche bliss (think Ash Ra Tempel or Tangerine Dream) to unflinching hard rock, (think Hawkwind’s best acid boogies). After two brief vignettes (one of which is another voice-over, perhaps from the same audio clip that starts the album), the final two tracks “Caustic Bliss” and “Thousand Points of Light” balance trippy, effects-laden sonic swirls with extended amplified freakouts. Like I wrote in my review of Heads On Fire, “if it is volcanic rhythms and cosmic melodies you seek, or harmony between ambiance and chaos, or maybe just a record you can spin a few times while out of your head, White Hills has you covered. Go into the light.”

White Hills
Abstractions And Mutations
White Hills Music, 2007 (re-issue: 2008)
MediaFireDownload Link

01. Midnight In America
02. Eye to Eye
03. Left Behind
04. Picking
05. Untitled #2
06. Caustic Bliss
07. Thousand Points Of Light