Black Mountain: Black Mountain 2005 + In The Future 2008

 

Drawing on blues, psychedelia, acid rock, Led Zeppelin, and the Velvet Underground, Black

Mountain's sound is a cross between the darkness and grit of the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre's trippiness, with a folky undertow weaving through it all. Black Mountain leader Stephen McBean previously fronted the semi-acoustic cowpunk band Jerk with a Bomb, but after releasing two albums, he reshaped the Vancouver-area band into a group called Black Mountain.
                           

The rock canon has many anti-heroes, Black Mountain being the latest. In the past, Can’s 'Tago

Mago' established that the only rule in rock and roll is that there are no rules. Delinquent proto-metallers Black Sabbath demonstrated that you can make a lot from not that much. Now Black Mountain teach us that you don’t have to be afraid of the past to move bravely into the future. 
                         

Black Mountain is a Canadian psychedelic rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band is

composed of Stephen McBean, Jeremy Schmidt, Adam Bulgasem, Amber Webber, and Arjan Miranda. Since forming in 2004, Black Mountain has released five LPs, Black Mountain (2005), In the Future (2008), Wilderness Heart (2010), IV (2016) and Destroyer (2019); two EPs and a number of singles, mostly on the Jagjaguwar label. 
             

As far as their musical ventures go, their first creative output was the EP Druganaut issued in 2004,

followed by their full length debut album Black Mountain in 2005. In 2007 the inclusion of their song Stay Free for the soundtrack of the movie Spiderman 3 raised their public profile considerably, and they also issued the EP Bastards of Light the same year, initially as a tour only 12 EP.
                       

Leader Stephen McBean also heads another similarly named band, Pink Mountaintops, while Webber

performs with the band Kodiak Deathbeds and Lightning Dust. Several members of the band have, for as long as a decade, worked for organizations that meet the basic living requirements of the chronically poor, drug addicted and mentally ill in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighborhood, such as Insite. In an interview, the band said: "After work we all try not to think too hard about the effect it has on our lives. It keeps us grounded."
                 

In 2015, their self-titled debut album was reissued in a special expanded edition for its tenth

anniversary. The following year, Black Mountain issued their fourth proper album, IV, which was produced by Randall Dunn, best known for his work with Sunn O))). IV also featured Arjan Miranda on bass, replacing Matthew Camirand in the lineup. The band followed up on the album's release with an extensive international concert tour. The group's fifth album, Destroyer, arrived in 2019 and included the single "Future Shade." 
                          

BLACK MOUNTAIN - BLACK MOUNTAIN 2005 
TENTH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION 

                                

The fruitful Vancouver singer/songwriter has, over the past few years, spread his yield among no less

than three bands-- Pink Mountaintops, Black Mountain, and Jerk With a Bomb-- each exploring slight but intriguing variations on reference-happy rock'n'roll. His latest undertaking is Black Mountain, whose self-titled debut full-length is a rollicking, wildly adventurous reconfiguring of 1960s and 70s nostalgia that's as duty-bound to the present as it is sympathetic to the past.
                           

Black Mountain – Black Mountain
Label: Jagjaguwar – JAG270, Jagjaguwar – JAG270CD
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered Jun 23, 2015
Country: US
Released: 2005
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

CD1.

                         

01. Modern Music (Saxophone – Masa Anzai)   2:45
02. Don't Run Our Hearts Around    6:04
03. Druganaut    3:48
04. No Satisfaction    3:48
05. Set Us Free (Electric Piano [Rhodes Piano] – Christoph Hofmeister)   6:46
06. No Hits (Saxophone – Masa Anzai)   6:45
07. Heart Of Snow    8:00
08. Faulty Times    8:35

CD2.

                   

01. Druganaut (Extended Remix)    8:15
02. Buffalo Swan    9:08
03. Bicycle Man  (Saxophone – Masa Anzai)   3:21
04. Behind The Fall (Saxophone – Masa Anzai)   3:01
05. Set Us Free (Demo)    5:56
06. Black Mountain (Demo)    3:27
07. No Satisfaction (UK Radio)    4:25
08. It Wasn't Arson    4:42

LINE - UP

Amber Webber / vocals
Stephen McBean / vocals, guitar, composer
Jeremy Schmidt / keyboards
Matthew Camirand / bass
Joshua Wells / drums

With:

Masa Anzai / saxophone (1,6,11,12)
Christoph Hofmeister / Fender Rhodes (5)

NOTES

 
TENTH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION INCLUDING 8 BONUS TRACKS
The original classic album paired with the Druganaut 12"
"A rollicking, wildly adventurous reconfiguring of 1960s
and 70s nostalgia that's as duty-bound to the present as it is
sympathetic to the past." - Pitchfork, Best New Music (2005)

Flac Size: 579 MB

BLACK MOUNTAIN - IN THE FUTURE 2008 (2CD) LIMITED EDITION

                     

If this is the future, start growing out your facial hair now, because it looks like the blood-crazed Canadian hippies will inherit the Earth. Black Mountain are four men and a maiden from Vancouver,

reveling in psychedelic prog  with all the Seventies flourishes. Rocking guitars mainly riff driven (for all you aficionados who needs splintering unbelievable high soaring solos, this is not the place...), thumbing walking bass, slow creepy-crawley organs, tight 50-60´s drumming tied together with the twin vocals of what sounds like Grace Slick in her prime with Jefferson Airplane together with Jack White of The White Stripes. 
                       

In stoner-detention epics like "Wucan" and "Queens Will Play," they bring metal guitars, multipart song structures, temples-of-Syrinx poetry and vintage synths that sound like they were beamed in from some

lost Argent or ELP session. Black Mountain's 2005 debut made them a hit with budding viking warriors everywhere, but In the Future has an even bigger kick, with a surprising blues edge and Amber Webber's vocals adding a touch of Sandy Denny to the battle-of-Evermore vibe. It definitely says something for Black Mountain's achievements that the two best moments here are also the weightiest — the eight-minute "Tyrants" and the sixteen-minute "Bright Lights."
                     

Black Mountain – In The Future
Label: Scratch Records – SCRATCH RECORDS #59
Format: 2 x CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: Canada
Released: 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

CD1.  IN THE FUTURE        

                 

   
01. Stormy High
(Backing Vocals – Ryan Peters, Sean Hawryluk) 4:33
02. Angels    3:07
03. Tyrants    8:02
04. Wucan    6:03
05. Stay Free    4:30
06. Queens Will Play    5:16
07. Evil Ways    3:26
08. Wild Wind
(Backing Vocals – The East Van Ladies' Chorus)   1:42
09. Bright Lights    16:41
10. Night Walks    3:56

Flac Size:  363

CD2.  FUTURE SOUNDS            

                     

01. Bastards Of Light    5:09
02. Thirteen Walls    7:07
03. Black Cat    2:51

Flac Size: 103 MB

LINE - UP

                

Amber Webber / vocals, percussion
Stephen McBean / vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Jeremy Schmidt / organ, synth, Mellotron
Matthew Camirand / bass
Joshua Wells / drums, percussion, piano, Mellotron

With:

Ryan Peters / backing vocals (1)
Sean Hawryluk / backing vocals (1)
The East Van Ladies' Chorus / backing vocals (8)

NOTES

Tracks 1-1 to 1-3, 2-1 recorded at The Factory. Tracks 1-4, 1-6 to 1-10, 2-2 recorded at The Hive. Track 1-5 recorded & mixed at Sunset Sound. Additional recording and Track 2-3 done at the Argyle Hotel. Mixed at Hipposonic.