After blowing us off our feet with the taught, hooked and stoned riff-fest that was Wilderness Heart, Canadian rockers Black Mountain are back to their more droning, experimental ways with “Mary Lou”. We’re not sure if this unwound, psych jam signals a return to form, or if it’s just something they happened to pull together for that film, Year Zero, that they scored recently. But we’re always stoked to hear something new from these dudes…
Black Mountain – “Mary Lou” by Jagjaguwar
(Fader)
There aren’t many (active) rock bands left that we freak out about, but Black Mountain is one of them. The Canadian rockers knocked us out of our seats last year with the mighty Wilderness Heart (which, by the way, made our list of Top-25 Albums last year), but they’ve been laying pretty low in 2011. So we’re stoked to hear they’re scoring a new, post-apocalyptic surf video, Year Zero (trailer below).
No, the band isn’t writing new material, instead they’re pulling together a bunch of unreleased stuff for Year Zero soundtrack. And if you want to hear it, you’ll need a record player. Fortunately, Jagjaguwar records is only releasing the soundtrack on vinyl (sometime in January). Awesome. Hm. Where have I heard this before? Oh, that’s right, another one of our fav rock bands, White Denim, pulled a similar stunt with Jack White’s Third Man Records back in September.
Anyway, in other Black Mountain-related news, frontman Steve McBean’s Pink Mountaintops side project is back in the studio. A new record should be out next summer. In the meantime, catch them on tour this fall. Dates below the video…
YEAR ZERO TRAILER from GLOBE on Vimeo.
Pink Mountaintops Fall 2011 Tour Dates
10/26 San Francisco, CA – The Independent+
10/28 Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst +
10/29 San Luis Obispo, CA – Kahlo Cultural Center
11/3 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
11/5 Los Angeles, CA
11/11 Porto, PT – TBA
11/12 Lisbon, PT – ZDB
11/14 Madrid, SP – El Sol
11/16 Rome, IT – Init
11/17 Napoli, IT – Galeria 19
11/18 Ravenna, IT – Bronson Club
11/19 Brescia, IT – Vinile 45
11/20 Dudingen, CH – Bad Bonn
11/22 Vienna, AT – Arena
11/23 Prague, CZ – Alternativa Festival
11/24 Berlin, DE – Schokoladen
11/25 Utrecht, NL – Le Guess Who? Festival
11/26 Brussels, BE – Autumn Falls Festival
11/27 Paris, FR – Point FMR
11/28 London, UK – Lexington
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15. Dom
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14. Tweak Bird
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13. Alain Johannes
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12. Crystal Castles
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11. Black Mountain
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10. Strong Arm Steady
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9. LCD Soundsystem
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8. Twin Shadow
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7. Free the Robots
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6. Deerhunter
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Black Mountain (seems) to be having an awesome year. Not only have they released the best album of their career (usually records get worse as bands age these days), but they’re cranking out some pretty cool video, too.
In the video for Old Fangs (a smoldering, arena-rock cruiser featuring gnarly, distorted keyboards), we’ll see muscle cars, hitchhiking hippie chicks and witches delivered via faded, grainy film with a couple of colorful throwback effects for good measure. Smells like 1970 in here. Smells good.
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Black Mountain attack with all of the most lethal Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath weapons in their arsenal on “Wilderness Heart.” It’s a steam train passing through a forest packed with slashing riffs, psychedelic ballads and thumping rhythms.
I’m not sure why Black Mountain have always ended up in the stoner rock bin (they sound nothing like stoner standard-bearers Kyuss, Sleep or Fu Manchu), but Wilderness Heart is just about as non-stoner as they’ve sounded. So if you’re one of those people that have avoided this band because of the stoner mark, it’s safe to give these Canadians a shot. Yes, the band rocks (they do it best on the title track, “Wilderness Heart”). But refreshingly, the album is heavy on acoustic guitar and psych ballads (the highlight being “Radiant Hearts”). Take a break from the relentless stress of the Great Recession-era’s digital torture, and head back with us to an analog daydream of Golden Gods, Holes in the Sky and tadpoles in a jar. Valhalla, we are coming. Essential track: Download “The Way to Go”, a bouncy power-folk anthem that plays like the theme of a beautiful, reluctant road trip. The album’s dark spot (and I mean that in a bad way) is “Let Spirits Ride,” a tired rehash of Black Sabbath’s “Symptom of the Universe.” But just because a band uses a Sabbath-y riff doesn’t make them a stoner rock act.
Around the web:
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Tennis – Origins – free mp3
Katy B – Witches Brew (Diplo remix) – free mp3
Shabazz Palaces – Swerve (Signal Path remix) – free mp3
Xiu Xiu – Hi – free mp3
White Rabbits – Temporary – free mp3
