Zach Hill

Zach Hill's learning curve is staggering. When the drummer's name initially became an underground brand, it was because of his work in Hella, a prog-noise band that was basically a Lightning Bolt clone. Fast-forward just five years and the dude is now on Mike Patton's Ipecac imprint, for which he crafts wonderfully twisted avant-pop. Astrological Straits' centerpiece is, of course, Hill's eight-armed drumming and highly intricate time changes. Yet dig all those catchy hooks hiding inside the din.