Hella - Hold Your Horse Is (2002) [Math Rock] [Noise Rock] [Experimental Rock]

Hold Your Horse Is is the debut studio album by American math rock band Hella released by 5 Rue Christine in 2002. The primary members of the band are Spencer Seim on electric guitar and Zach Hill on drums. As teenagers Spencer Seim and Zach Hill were both members of the Northern California band Legs on Earth along with Josh Hill on guitar and Julian Imsdahl on bass and vocals. The band achieved some moderate local success, becoming renowned for their wild live shows, young age, and Primus-esque sound. Zach Hill described Legs on Earth in an interview as pop music but in the way Devo and Talking Heads were considered pop. They released one album in 1999 called Lasers & Saviors on local record label Para-Sight Records, now out of print. In April 2000 they went on hiatus and later broke up. Imsdahl later joined the band Grandstream (formerly known as Little California), and was previously in the band Eraserhead. Hill and Seim decided they wanted to continue playing together and pursue a less mainstream sound. According to Hill, they didn't always intend to remain a duo, though: "[We] had intentions to start a band that was like… kinda like what we were doing with just the two of us, but with more people. But, we couldn't find the other people so we decided to do it just with the two of us." Their name is simply a reference to the slang word "hella" that was common throughout Northern California.

00:00 The D.Elkan
00:42 Biblical Violence
03:46 Been A Long Time Cousin
07:37 Republic Of Rough And Ready
11:21 1-800-Ghost-Dance
15:06 Brown Metal
19:00 Cafeteria Bananas
22:41 City Folk Sitting, Sitting
29:48 Better Get A Broom!