Track Listing

1. Modern Music
2. Don't Run Our Hearts Around
3. Druganaut
4. No Satisfaction
5. Set Us Free
6. No Hits
7. Heart of Snow
8. Faulty Times
9. Druganaut [Multimedia Track]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32589 in Music
• Released on: 2005-01-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.com
From the first 60 seconds of the self-titled Black Mountain CD, you know that you are hearing something unique. An indie rock vocalist, deep, booming sax , and a joyful chorus is sung by a 70's sounding choir. Two tracks in, "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" is conversely dark and foreboding, with the guttural, Zeppelin-esque guitar. Black Mountain moves fluidly between very hard-to-near-psychedelic rock (with great, languid vocals courtesy of frontman/songwriter Stephen McBean and occasional lead/vocal doubling by Amber Webber, who shines especially brilliantly in the darkly emotive "Heart of Snow").

Most of the Vancouver band have been together for years under the moniker Jerk With A Bomb and later Pink Mountaintops. Though JWAB has been adored for years on Canada's West Coast it is Black Mountain's impressive debut has allowed them to truly break out, gaining substantial U.K. and U.S. press in the process. The disc is truly beautiful on the ears, filled with gorgeous dynamics, crisp, discordant playing and impressive production to boot. The music copies no one, but hearkens flashes of Pavement, Neil Young, Songs: Ohia, Nico, Jethro Tull--point being great players, fierce songwriting and unique timeless music makes this a mood-evoking lo-fi masterpiece. --Denise Sheppard

Customer Reviews

Good, but go for "In The Future"
Black Mountain's self titled first album shows a strong example of what the band can become, but it doesn't show much on this album. Songs like "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" show the band's Black Sabbath blues side but the other songs drone on with a Pink Floyd feel (not putting down Floyd, just the way Black Mountain did the songs)

In my opinion, their second album "In The Future" shows many more influences and it reflects in their music.

A welcome new band ...........
It's been 6 months or so, wading through much of the new music out there, and along came Black Mountain. This a very interesting album. Some have called it derivative, but the "styles", or influences, here are assembled in a disparate way; so much so that it becomes oddly fascinating. It is almost as if these guys sat around jamming and someone said, "Hey, a sax solo would be cool here" and then someone else said, "What about a killer riff for two minutes?", "Yeah, then let's let it dissolve into a funk groove", then someone suggested "After that, maybe some hand claps", "Yeah and we must do an acoustic interlude that could stand as its own piece" -- "Then let's have a ton of noise for ten seconds, then we'll bring it back home like a southern blues." Great ideas - what ideas can we do on the next song ? It sounds like a group of people who know music, love music, and don't feel the need to follow any formula other than "if it sounds good, play it." It may not sound like it but the album manages to be cohesive and varied at the same time.
It's just very cool stuff. I'm glad I found something I can get excited about listening to the next time. I hope the new one is just as entertaining.

Sounds like Fleetwood Mac?
1) XM 52 The Verge's favorite band of late - every track here has seen substantial airplay.

2) Wow!! Three-eighths an epicly great debut album. Best is "Set Us Free" - it sounds like a Fleetwood Mac on the rise, back when they were good. Other Eisenhower efforts are "Heart of Snow" and "Druganaut". Three very different songs - not a tightly defined band like Evanescence. However, the other three tracks, while not bad, I find forgettable.