CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Michael Flavor writes

The Mae Shi / HLLLYH / Team Shi Records

Nobody would’ve blamed THE MAE SHI if they would’ve called it quits in the time since their last full length release, Terrorbird. Their singer, Ezra Buchla, quit to focus on his job and his other band, GOWNS, and their label, 5 Rue Christine, went on a permanent vacation after founder Slim Moon took a job in A&R at Nonesuch. Instead of packing up their toys and going home, the rest of THE MAE SHI put out an open invitation for a new singer, settling on Jonathan Gray from 14 YEAR OLD GIRLS, and starting their own label, Team Shi Records. And after all this, how does HLLLYH sound? More of the same from a crew that took home recording tips from DEERHOOF and has a tendency to build their own synths. It’s a maturation of their earlier sound, easing on the overt crazy and sneaking in pop hooks under the spazzy guitars and group chanting like it was going out of style. Highly recommended by me, but I might be biased, since they wrote the HUMP DAY DANCE PARTY theme song.

There’s More…