Dead (Bonus Track)

Since White Hills’ Dead was limited to 1000 pressings, the Brooklyn band’s 2007 EP sold out in a matter of days. Fortunately the good folks at Thrill Jockey Records released a digital version replete with a bonus song. Following a trill of six-string feedback, “Dead” opens like a sonic storm swirling overhead. Guitarist and frontman Dave W. howls through layers of reverb, delay and analog tape-echo as drum patterns fly outward in allocated bursts. Though White Hills add to the cannon of space-rock, they don’t lean too heavily on the templates of the past. “Oceans of Sound (Antrønhy ØH Remix)” is a perfect example of their penchant for keeping a genre pioneered by bands like Hawkwind sounding fresh and relevant with help from Antrønhy ØH, drummer of Julian Cope’s Black Sheep Band, who reworks the tune with spectral grace. “Red Sun” works in some mechanical rhythms while the best parts of bonus track “At Last We Stand” do away with percussion and move on to droning soundscapes.