Rock Mosaic of Vancouver
Regular readers of Unfinished Novellas will recall my raving about the new Black Mountain LP, most notably on this post of January 19th. In the weeks since, I’ve lost not an ounce of enthusiasm for the band or the album—if anything, my gusto has only increased.
It’s still my favorite of ’05 so far, though the new Antony & the Johnsons LP is beginning to make some major inroads. Can a self-described “utterly genderqueer musical sensation” kick a lumberjack’s ass? Stephen McBean, watch your back!
So after creaming all over the Mountain, it seemed essential that I delve more deeply into the band’s close-knit Vancouver-based collective, which led me to some splendid long players by alteregos The Pink Mountaintops and Jerk With a Bomb. Apparently JWAB and Black Mountain are one and the same band, the former having changed its name, expanded its lineup, and morphed into the latter, while The Pink Mountaintops are a separate band featuring many of the same members. What is it with Canadians and their collectives, and how do they make it work? Much of the credit is probably due to the infinitely more progressive political landscape up north, far more conducive to artists of all stripes. But I digress.
Because I bought all three of these records (Black Mountain’s self-titled, The Pink Mountaintops' self-titled, and JWAB’s Pyrokinesis) within the span of several weeks, and the differences between the bands are rather subtle (though both The PMs and JWAB definitely sound rootsier and less RAWK than BM), their individual identities have, for better or worse, washed away, at least inside my head. I now hear them as one blurred mammoth mosaic of seventies trappings.
While perusing online reviews, I decided to jot down a list of other bands these three have been compared to. Here goes:
ZZ Top
Talking Heads
Joy Division
Fleetwood Mac
Bo Diddley
Billy Childish
Velvet Underground
Neil Hagerty
Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin
Neil Young
Blue Cheer
Galaxie 500
Comets on Fire
My Morning Jacket
Jimi Hendrix
Dead Meadow
Smog
Black Sabbath
Jan & Dean
Pink Floyd
Hawkwind
Foghat
Oneida
The Gris Gris
Grand Funk
Budgie
Suicide
Iggy Pop
Queens of the Stone Age
Quite a list. I’d say if you’re conjuring that disparate a catalog of influences in the people’s heads, you must be doing something right.
The Pink Mountaintops – Rock n Roll Fantasy
The Pink Mountaintops – Can You Do That Dance?
Jerk With a Bomb – Fine Health Is At Home
Jerk With a Bomb – Don’t Forget Your Love
So have a taste, then buy their records at Scratch.
N/P Konono No. 1 – Congotronics
It’s still my favorite of ’05 so far, though the new Antony & the Johnsons LP is beginning to make some major inroads. Can a self-described “utterly genderqueer musical sensation” kick a lumberjack’s ass? Stephen McBean, watch your back!
So after creaming all over the Mountain, it seemed essential that I delve more deeply into the band’s close-knit Vancouver-based collective, which led me to some splendid long players by alteregos The Pink Mountaintops and Jerk With a Bomb. Apparently JWAB and Black Mountain are one and the same band, the former having changed its name, expanded its lineup, and morphed into the latter, while The Pink Mountaintops are a separate band featuring many of the same members. What is it with Canadians and their collectives, and how do they make it work? Much of the credit is probably due to the infinitely more progressive political landscape up north, far more conducive to artists of all stripes. But I digress.
Because I bought all three of these records (Black Mountain’s self-titled, The Pink Mountaintops' self-titled, and JWAB’s Pyrokinesis) within the span of several weeks, and the differences between the bands are rather subtle (though both The PMs and JWAB definitely sound rootsier and less RAWK than BM), their individual identities have, for better or worse, washed away, at least inside my head. I now hear them as one blurred mammoth mosaic of seventies trappings.
While perusing online reviews, I decided to jot down a list of other bands these three have been compared to. Here goes:
ZZ Top
Talking Heads
Joy Division
Fleetwood Mac
Bo Diddley
Billy Childish
Velvet Underground
Neil Hagerty
Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin
Neil Young
Blue Cheer
Galaxie 500
Comets on Fire
My Morning Jacket
Jimi Hendrix
Dead Meadow
Smog
Black Sabbath
Jan & Dean
Pink Floyd
Hawkwind
Foghat
Oneida
The Gris Gris
Grand Funk
Budgie
Suicide
Iggy Pop
Queens of the Stone Age
Quite a list. I’d say if you’re conjuring that disparate a catalog of influences in the people’s heads, you must be doing something right.
So have a taste, then buy their records at Scratch.
N/P Konono No. 1 – Congotronics
posted by Jonathan Wright at 9:06 AM EMAIL POST
