Philadelphia guitarist and songwriter Mike Polizze first appeared under the name Purling Hiss in 2009 with a self-released, self-titled CD-R. He played all the instruments and recorded the six fuzzy, corrosive pop songs himself at home as a recording-only project. Formerly playing in the heavy psych group Birds of Maya, Polizze played in and around the Philly indie scene, sharing stages with contemporaries like Kurt Vile and the War on Drugs while working on Purling Hiss songs in his basement studio…
Hiss Golden Messenger’s Quietly Blowing It was written and arranged by M.C. Taylor in his home studio—his 8’ × 10’ sanctuary packed floor to ceiling with books, records, and old guitars—as he watched the chaotic world spin outside his window. Between March and June 2020, Taylor wrote and recorded upwards of two dozen songs—in most cases playing all of the instruments himself—before winnowing the collection down and bringing them to the Hiss band. In July, the group of musicians, with Taylor in the production seat, went into Overdub Lane in Durham, NC, for a week, where they recorded Quietly Blowing It as an organic unit honed to a fine edge from their years together on the road.
On November 2, Hiss Golden Messenger will release Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirits and Children, a limited-edition deluxe box set which includes remastered reissues of the classic Hiss albums Bad Debt, Poor Moon, and Haw as well as Virgo Fool, a rarities compilation that will only be available physically as part of this collection.
HISS is a German folk-rock polka band from Stuttgart, which has existed since 1995 and since then has released eight albums and completed various television appearances and radio features. The style of HISS, which the band defines itself as polka'n'roll, is an idiosyncratic mixture of folk music roots of all kinds with rock and roll. Blues, country and Latin American influences play a role as well as polka and waltz. The accordion as lead instrument, the vocals by Stefan Hiss and the harmonica by Michael Roth form the foundation of the typical Hiss sound. On stage, the band cultivates an image infused with wild west romanticism and vagabond clichés, which is also reflected in many of their song lyrics. The lyrics of the band and their performances can sometimes be understood as a music cabaret.
Hiss Spun is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe, released on September 22, 2017, by Sargent House. The album features guitar contributions by Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age, as well as a guest appearance by Aaron Turner of Isis.
On January 26th 2004, in simultaneous live satellite transmission from a studio in Los Angeles, across multiple time zones, to cinemas throughout the United States of America, a 75 minute version of the film Yesspeak was premiered…