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Tiny Mix Tapes

Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard may not be exactly groundbreaking or revolutionary, but it's the kind of idiosyncratic release that reminds experimentalism to laugh when something's funny.

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Splendid

At nearly two hours long, Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard is anything but a precise masterstroke. It is, however, a flawed, majestic account of what can happen when a band splits down the middle to compose on their own terms, with no artistic differences and no coalescing of ideals.

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Urb

Combined, you have the best blotter soundtrack ever. [Jun 2005, p.78]

Pitchfork

Naturally, the double-album's peaks occur when both members' ideas intersect.... With these moments, Hella back up their ambition with impressive amounts of ingenuity and elbow grease, creating a White Album for disgruntled Gen Xers still finding solace in shoeboxes full of NES cartridges.

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Under The Radar

Both haphazardly ramshackle and calculatedly sublime. [#9]

Junkmedia

Second disc Chirpin' Hard is the crowd-pleasing Speakerboxxx to Hill's less-accessible Church Gone Wild.

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Dusted Magazine

Aside from Church Gone Wild’s best moments, there’s not much material here that can compare with the intelligence and distinctiveness of the duo’s best work.

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Alternative Press

Chirpin Hard makes you feel like you're getting chased by a swarm of giant mosquitoes in a scrolling Mega Man hellscape circa 1992, while Church Gone Wild is a nerve-shattering whirlwind of atonal chaos. [May 2005, p.168]

Spin

To divide Hella's mind is to hack their talent in half. [May 2005, p.105]

Stylus Magazine

It’s the sound of two very talented musicians getting their proverbial creative ya-ya’s out, temporarily sullying their good name to lay ground for something potentially even more exciting.

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Lost At Sea

Hill’s disc captures everything that’s easy to hate about Hella.... Seim’s album, on the other hand, is easily the most fully-realized work to bear the Hella name.

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PopMatters

The Hella boys have immeasurable talent, as proven by their past (and better) releases; unfortunately, Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard has nothing but complete disregard and contempt for talent.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Randolph R. gave it a10:
A true testament of the endless sea of talent that is Spencer Seim and Zach Hill.

Catfish Rivers gave it a10:
Mindblowing...reminds me of late era don caballero, trans am, and the boredoms ... it even has a bit of My Bloody Valentine sloshing about in there. Sometimes all the noise is just stacked so sublimely that it sounds like breaking through into some unknown mental space. I totally dig this.

Brandon S. gave it a9:
Holy shucks! Not their greatest. Hey just got Zach hill and the holy smokes cd/book thing, buy that! Buy this too AAAA!!

jim bob gave it a9:
Looooove it. It's understandably dividing critics and fans, because it's nothing like it's like they've ever done. But it feels so right. Sure, it's really repetetive and same sounding, but the energy is staggering and the production is huge. Hopefully this is a Hella album that fans will look back on in a few years and realize how brilliant it is. Or at least lay the ground for their masterwork. The sound quality is far superior to their past releases, and they've never sounded so intense. That being said, like all double albums, they probably could have combined the two and made a more cohesive and diverse effort, but I think the two albums stand really well on their own.

Chuck L gave it a9:
great googly moogly muzak for the lower echelons of the upper stratosphere...enjoy the musings of greater beings who are lezzer than none.

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Church Gone Wild / Chirpin Hard

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