sBACH - sBACH

sBACH - Untitled 5


I love when shit like this happens. You take a guitarist from one amazingly ridiculous band (Spencer Seim of Hella), give him an Atari, and let him go crazy. What you end up with is sBACH (like from Star Trek, get it?).

sBACH is noisy, catchy, 8-bit math rawk. But Seim didn't forsake traditional instruments on this record and that's what makes it so great. He's in fine form and does triple+ duty with drums, guitar, electronics, and who knows what else and it comes out sounding like gold.

It really has to be heard to understand, because I don't think anyone else is really doing anything like this right now. Yeah there's rock bands that incorporate the 8 bit (Anamanguchi, The Depreciation Guild) but it's nothing like this. They're more straight up rock with 8 bit elements. sBACH is like Hella decided to add 3 dudes who's sole purpose was to make video game sounds. We got electronics everywhere, melody, rhythm, and wherever they aren't, real instruments fill in the gaps.

Everything is wicked stuttery, going from full out hyper blast to muddy slow jam and back again within a single song. Some of the songs are fucking epic ("Untitled 5") and some are kinda creepy ("Untitled 9" and "Untitled 13") but they're all awesome and should be played at full volume. If you ever wished Hella and Kid 606 had an 8 bit baby so you could get your dance on, your dreams have come true. Lets hope sBACH isn't just a one-off deal and Seim has enough time to do Hella, The Advantage, sBACH, and whatever else he feels like dipping his hands in.

And here's the video for "Untitled 2" where Seim is in a junkyard, taking apart cars and stuff. Pretty cool.