Posts Tagged ‘black mountain’

The selection of some of Live4ever’s favourites from the past twelve months continues with the second part of our Albums rundown.

Once you’ve been through this part of our list, why not do us a favour and recommend your own stand-outs from 2010. Leave us a comment below telling us what has rocked your 2010 to be in with a chance of winning a selection of prizes from acts featured on our own rundown.

Wilderness Heart is the third full length album from Canadian quintet Black Mountain. Recorded partly at Seattle’s London Bridge Studios, the same place where many seminal grunge albums by the likes of Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Temple of the Dog and Pearl Jam were recorded, the album packs a classic Pacific Northwest vibe reminiscent of the aforementioned 90s mega acts. Big guitars, throaty vocals and classic rock grooves are all in abundance, but the band departs from formula not only by including some cool retro keyboard and synth sounds but by featuring two vocalists, Stephen McBean, who also fills out the guitarist role, and Amber Webber. There’s a bit of a Dead Weather vibe happening with the complementary male and female vocals, and while both bands are obviously operating from a similar reference point, the two headed vocal attack seems to work a bit better in the Dead Weather, the twin screaming banshee wail of Alison Mossheart and Jack White, whose voices are eerily similar, sounding more consonant than the gravelly roar of McBean and the sweetness that Webber brings to the table. From that standpoint, then, the vocal dynamic in Black Mountain is more reminiscent of the interplay between Black Francis and Kim Deal in the Pixies, even though the musical styles of the two bands are somewhat different. If anything, Webber’s vocals might be a little too sweet in the context of Black Mountain’s music. Nevertheless it works, and the shared vocals make for a nice change of pace from the typical heavy rock fare.

Black Mountain release the second single from their much anticipated forthcoming album Wilderness Heart on 11th October. Its west-coast groove and soaring harmonies showing off an altogether more accessible side to the band; ‘The Hair Song‘ brings the band’s songwriting skills into sharp focus. A joyous and uplifting track, (‘Let your laws come undone, Don’t suffer your crimes, Let the love in your heart take control”) – this is the embodiment of what NME described as ‘pumping fresh blood into vintage sounds’.

Black Mountain are being joined by The Black Angels at their biggest UK show to date in an evening that brings together the cream of North American ‘psych-rock’.

Psychedelic Vancouver rock quintet Black Mountain have announced details of the release of their much-anticipated third album, Wilderness Heart. The 10-track long-player will be released through Jagjaguwar Records on Monday 13th September 2010. Back in 2008 non other than Noel Gallagher of Oasis recommended their self titled album, calling it “really really great”.