McWhirter Hill: Rock Band Or Legal Firm?

Zach Hill and Carson McWhirter
Album: Face Tat (?)
Song: TBA

Zach Hill, of Hella fame, is a drummer with few peers.  He's known mostly for his riveting noise rock cacophony but he's capable of more subtle playing, as in his work with Marnie Sterne.  He has released over 20 albums over the years, usually as side projects or collaborations with other noise rock icons.  It is believed, however, that this song is from his second solo album, Face Tat.  Awesome title, hey?  The album is due out sometime this year.  And if this song is indicative of the general quality of the album, it will likely feature on my "Best Of" lists for 2010.

Carson McWhirter, a card carrying member of the beard-erati, played in Hella for three years but like Hill has collaborated with literally dozens of others over the course of his career.  And far removed from his noise rock work, he also writes beautiful, delicate music for solo guitar.  Teamed up with Hill they create something greater than the sum of their individual contributions.  Enjoy.

EDIT: I've listened to the tune many times now, so I've had a chance to pay closer attention to the musical content.  This is truly inspiring stuff.  If you are so inclined I recommend playing the song at relatively low volumes so that you can focus on McWhirter's work on guitar.  It's stunning.  From a musical standpoint he's a match for Hill (which is saying a lot).  He plays with excellent technique and seems, to my relatively untrained ear and eye, to be stretching the musical threshold of the guitar.  Imagine Lightning Bolt with a true innovator on guitar as well as drums.  That's McWhirter Hill.  Awesome.

EDIT 2: Okay okay okay now I'm on to something!  This isn't the future of rock music.  This is the future of jazz!  It has so much in common with Ornette Coleman-style free jazz, I can't believe I didn't notice it before. This is the way to approach the music, or the music of Lightning Bolt, or the music of The Locust, or the music of Rolo Tomassi, or the music of Zu, or the music of...well you get the idea.  You've gotta forget about rock lineage here and focus instead on the rhythmic and metrical complexity, the unusual melodic patterns, the constantly morphing textures.  It's jazz baby.  It's jazz.