It’s understandable to suspect that New York avant-everything trio Zs have gone separate ways, even if you’ve had a sigh of relief reading saxophonist Sam Hillmer’s update on the band’s official site. After putting out several smaller-scale releases (the 33 double-7”, the Sky Burial cassette, and the smallest of them all, This Body Will Be a Corpse, a 1.75” button with a built-in MP3 player) Zs’ most prolific member has presumably been guitarist Ben Greenberg, whose current pursuits as Hubble, playing bass in rock-subgenre-hopping four-piece The Men, and recording the latest albums by White Suns and Extra Life among others is telling of what’s probably a full schedule. Greenberg’s bountiful endeavors shouldn’t undermine those of his colleagues, though.
Aside from drummer Ian Antonio’s percussion work in ensembles curated by composer John Adams and trombonist George Lewis, Hillmer has been involved in impressive exploits, considering his involvement in You Are Here (an NYC festival held within a maze in the Secret Robot Project gallery, founded by the art duo Trouble he’s in alongside Laura Paris) and his output under the moniker Diamond Terrifier, a name shared with the sax-centric first half of the Black Crown Ceremony suite on Zs’ forward-thinking New Slaves.
Though Hillmer’s performance doesn’t deviate too far from the methods of skronk and squelch for much of the hour the 2010 opus lasts, the waters tested across his first proper full-length are worth noting. Kill the Self That Wants to Kill Yourself’s opening title track is a gorgeous juxtaposition between resplendence and delirium: against the patient lilt of serene synth chords and a spare, echoing stab, Hillmer’s sax twitches and chokes-- a contrast that would seem effortless were the discord unable to carefully drift into harmony with its languid backdrop-- like two sheets of stained glass scraping against each other along a conveyor belt. The stretch of beauty is at risk of mutating itself into something petrifying; it comes closest to transmitting the image of what a Diamond Terrifier may be, which is why it's no surprise that this wondrously inert paean and a reprise bookend the album.
Elsewhere, Hillmer works with more abrasive components and creates even more absurd dichotomies. The bright, galloping loop that leads off “Transference Trance” is met with stuttering sax interjections, but suddenly the stars align, handclaps layer over the cadence, and all tones begin to dance together. Deep gurgles swarm around the uncomfortably vacant atmosphere of “Three Things” not unlike the aforementioned “Black Crown Ceremony” but here the tension may be even more unnerving: as opposed to its predecessor submerging into a ritualistic drone, it percolates and lets out abrupt bursts, and the sputtering clusters converge to form a massive battle cry. Almost entirely uncharacteristic of that is the rhythmic “Adamantine”, whose choppy beat sounds like the foundation of a Lex Luger production* sans his signature ticking hi-hats. Hillmer removes the electronic percussion from its trap-rap prominence and contorts the pace with jarring, metallic croaks. In forcing sounds to collide, Kill the Self That Wants to Kill Yourself makes even its most disorderly forays feel premeditated.
[Diamond Terrifier Website]
[Buy Kill the Self That Wants to Kill Yourself from Northern Spy Records]
*Bear in mind that despite the Luger comparison, "Adamantine" samples "Heavy Hitter" by footwork archetype RP Boo.
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