Reviews/Press

“Tercero” Review by Maurice Dielemans of Kinda Muzik

Sid Hillman: he comes from Los Angeles, is the nephew of the legendary Chris Hillman from The Byrds (and also The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Desert Rose Band) and years ago he once sent me a package containing the untitled debut from his band, The Sid Hillman Quartet. But Sid Hillman does not try to recreate the psychedelic country rock and the safe bluegrass music of his rich uncle.

Although there is usually no living to be made from autumnal, gloomy manmade music – just ask Robert Fisher from Willard Conspiracy – he nonetheless seems to have found his niche with the new release from The Sid Hillman Quartet, called simply Tercero. The record is produced by the folks at Trocadero, who are getting the new year off to a start straight away with a number of strong releases including fantastic records from Kelly Pardekooper, Eleni Mandell and Angel Dean %26 Sue Garner.

Tercero from The Sid Hillman Quartet is also recommended, and this time we are not served up easy-listening pop songs. There is therefore little point in discussing the numbers one by one. It must also be said that it is only after having listened to this several times over that the melancholy singing of Sid Hillman and the unilateral tracks on the dark Tercero make room for solemn country noir. But let’s be honest: true growth records like Tercero are often also the best and achieve the most.

Maurice Dielemans
Kinda Muzik

“Volume Two” Reviews

“‘Volume Two’ is a pretty, mid-tempo collection…. It’s the kind of record that would make a fine soundtrack to a road trip through rural Texas. The moody, atmospheric music sounds simple on the first spin, but it’s really multi-layered.” — NY Post
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Hillman–like Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, and precious few others–strives for Art over image-conscious mass appeal. Lyrical imagery of clouds, storms, and darkness place Hillman next to country’s stark forefathers. — Fort Worth Weekly
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“…[Hillman] crafts brooding, stark and moody high-lonesome music custom made for late nights and ugly mornings. An immediately enthralling and mesmerizing album, remarkable for its dramatic range of dynamics, unique song structures and the occasional freeform freakout… ‘Volume Two’ not only eschews but transcends the belaboured alt.country tag.” — Vancouver Courier
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“…LA’s Sid Hillman makes independent country rock from a singular perspective.” — Boston Phoenix
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“Singer-guitarist Hillman intensifies and abstracts trad-country’s melancholy…” — Washington Post
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“Sid Hillman knows a thing or two about smart, sad folk rock. ‘Volume Two’ (Innerstate), the new album from the Sid Hillman Quartet, is full of such pensive songs.” — Time Out NY
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“Far from alt-country, grounded in folk, and inspired by country, The Sid Hillman Quartet is best described as well-written songs from a well-worn band that knows the score. I give it an A.” — InMusicWeTrust.com
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“Sid Hillman has retained what’s most appealing about the unpolished, sing-from-the-hipster side of psychedelic twang. Like Clem Snide or the Willard Grant Conspiracy, Hillman writes elliptical, exquisitely sad songs, images of melancholy hope and decay; delivers them in an untutored, sometimes Stipean voice; and sets them afloat on a minimalist mirage of atmospheric twang.” — No Depression
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“See the beating heart of Americana yet? It’s there, obscured by the dust of an old, sleepy town with clapboard houses and the sound of the Sid Hillman Quartet. …Hillman is the quintessential Americana, crooning cowboy, crafting songs that slice like paper cuts and ache with all the lonesome, scuffling intensity of a freshly broken heart.” — ESP Magazine
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“The lightest of brush strokes of country invade the sound of ‘Volume Two’… but the muted melancholia of Sid Hillman’s singing and playing transcends any narrow stylistic boundaries.” — Billboard
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“…On his second album with the Sid Hillman Quartet, ‘Volume Two’ (Innerstate Records), [Hillman] writes Quaalude cowboy music, parched ballads along the lines of Sparklehorse and Giant Sand, music for when the bars are closed but you don’t want to go home. With his burnished, straightforward voice and long, flat vowels, he sounds as straight and lonely as a desert back road.” — Variety
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“…lingering, ambient twang” — Tucson Weekly
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“…darkness-on-the-edge-of-alt-country heroes…” — St. Paul Pioneer Press
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“Music to daydream by.” — Durham Independent Weekly

“The Sid Hillman Quartet” LP Reviews

“Debut album from LA based band the Sid Hillman Quartet.  After performing solo and acoustic for many years, Sid decides to form the Quartet to fully realise these songs.  What we get here is a largely melancholy collection but strangely uplifting and there are moments of real beauty to be found.  From the opening track ‘Hope’, it’s clear that Sid is a very talented lyricist and two verses in, you’re hanging on his every word. A great song and you wonder if they can sustain the quality over the whole album. Fortunately they have eight other songs just as good as the first. ‘Songs that bend the rules’ says the bio and they’re most certainly that. Just when you think you know where each one is heading, they take you in another direction entirely, it still catches you out even on repeated listening. Yes, they can rock when necessary but these guys don’t rock out, they rock in. PB” — Americana UK

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“Every cowboy has a sad song, but there’s something unique and stunning about the Sid Hillman Quartet. Most of the time the beautifully depressed vocals are moving the intense music in opposing directions, but, then again, it all seems to flow down into the same river of melancholy and tight musicianship. This is a terrific album, filled with icy atmospheres, spare use of melody, and unusual, claustrophobic song structures: “The way you sang those words/Even though they weren’t yours/But they fell off your lips/And landed sadly on the ground.” (‘Lingering’) This is also that kind of late-Saturday night music that comes very slowly but grows on you quickly. However, listeners are rewarded ultimately for their patience. As far as influential styles, the Sid Hillman Quartet easily fit into the same camp as Willard Grant Conspiracy, the Kingsbury Manx, and Lullaby For The Working Class. Needless to say, this album is not something for the dancefloor. The Sid Hillman Quartet have just completed their second full-length record, due for release later this year, featuring guest players Jaydee Maness (Byrds, Beck, Desert Rose Band) on pedal steel and Matt Devine (Possum Dixon, Medicine) on baritone guitar. This full-length debut album includes nine excellent songs and was independently released in July 1999 on compact disc and vinyl.” — Maurice Dielemans, Kinda Music

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“Add Sid Hillman to the list of artist about whom the term ‘alt-country’ tells only half the story. Thanks to the raw emotion presented in his mixture of country, rock and straight-up singer song writer folk, the Los Angeles tunesmith taps into deep, deep roots that transcend the genre. ‘If I Com To You’ employs the whine of a pedal steel, which pulls you into such longing, desperate lines as ‘This is so the look of you might save me.’ Other emotional dilemmas and interpersonal conflicts rear their heads throughout the record’s nine songs, but you’ll never struggle with the fact that you’re listening to the emergence of a very promising talent.” — Steve Ciabattoni, CMJ New Music Report

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“Frontman Sid is the nephew of Byrd Chris Hillman. There are slight similarities, but not enough to make you feel like a dumbass for not making the connection. Both have a distinctly American sound at their core but the L.A.-base Sid Hillman Quartet is not only more rural than pop, but also darker and looser than ‘most its y’alternative brethren.” — Michael Bertin, The Austin Daily Chronicle

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“Hillman & company’s three-song demo puts forth a commanding vibe right away with ‘No Perfect World,’ exemplifying the band’s compelling alt.-country brew. Our favorite is ‘I’ll Wait,’ which has a Stonesy, Faraway Eyesî feel, but with lyrics that really stick to your heart thanks to excellent pedal steel. The slow pace of the tune is not easy to pull off, but these players are up to the challenge. Hillman, nephew of the Byrds’ Chris Hillman, has already received acclaim and will earn plenty more if he continues to add dynamics to this project.” — Music Connection Demo Critiques