Canadian album of the week: Pink Mountaintops - Get Back (Jagjaguwar).
Rock'n'roll history filtered through the mind of Black Mountain's frontman Stephen McBean.
He may be L.A,'s most unusual artist-in-residence since Werner Herzog set up shop in the Hollywood Hills but who needs a driver's license when everybody will come to you. Recorded in sunny Burbank, California with some excellent noisemakers — J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Rob Barbato (Darker My Love, The Fall & Cass McCombs), Daniel Allaire (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Annie Hardy (Giant Drag), and Gregg Foreman (Cat Power) — McBean is in his element.
In a way the band is his alter-ego and an extension of the Black Mountain "collective." Of course the album title is a nod to The Beatles' song with the same name but as McBean has explained in interviews the words are also all tangled up with his concept of how music history has played out.
Sonically, Get Back is loaded with Bowie and Iggy Pop references, right down to the sax. That's a good thing. One track, "North Hollywood Microwaves," messes with the mood but that's just the kind of thing Iggy would have done back in the day, too.
Pink Mountaintops play a sold out gig at Fox Cabaret on Friday, May 23. For more on the show go to foxcabaret.com.
New and noteworthy releases:
The Goastt - Midnght Sun (Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl bring their psychedelic sound to The Imperial on May 23). Heretofore a folk act The Ghostt take a page out of the Pink Mountaintops' book and get back to an earlier sound. Midnight Sun is Sean Lennon's most overt look back at his dad's music yet.
Sharon Van Etten- Are We There (out May 27).
Chrissy Hynde- Stockholm (out June 10).
