The “trippy country meets stoner rock” of Vancouver’s Pink Mountaintops is the brainchild of Stephen McBean, who is also the singer/songwriter/guitarist for Black Mountain, which was formerly known as Jerk with a Bomb.
McBean’s solo project was also known by another name, One Easy Skag. He began playing with Jerk with a Bomb in the late ’90s, and the band issued three albums and a 7″ under that name.
httpv://https://youtu.be/Q6FuyJJK8Rc
By late 2003, both Jerk with a Bomb and One Easy Skag were rechristened with their mountainous names, and in the summer of 2004, the Pink Mountaintops’ self-titled debut album arrived.
While the album became one of 2005’s most prominent indie rock releases, McBean brought Pink Mountaintops back the following year with Axis of Evol. The well-received Outside Love arrived in 2009, followed by a pair of Black Mountain releases (In the Future and Wilderness Heart). The group’s fourth studio album, Get Back, dropped in early 2014.
httpv://https://youtu.be/ClKrfdpVvwY
Get Back comes out swinging with “Ambulance City,” a head-trip of a song with a chugging, insistent, oddly timeless guitar riff sitting front and center.
“The Second Summer of Love” needs almost no explanation; it dives into 80s VHS saturation and never comes up for air. “Sell Your Soul” is a deep sigh and a motorcycle ride, a roll in the grass lamenting summertime blues with a little grit and a little harmony.
httpv://https://youtu.be/_Mq7rS0dIeY
And “North Hollywood Microwaves” is downright obscene. But what better way to start Side B than this? You can listen at hushed volumes so your parents don’t hear, you can crank it in a dorm room, you can smirk to yourself from the safety of rock ‘n’ roll’s old age.
The Pink Mountaintops
Tuesday, 10th June 2014 | 20:00 CET
Privatclub | Skalitzer Straße 85 | 10997 Berlin/Kreuzberg
pinkmountaintops.com | jagjaguwar.com | privatclub-berlin.de
