Black Mountain – In The Future Review
Black Mountain is a band out of Vancouver, British Columbia and I heard album being called amazing by some fellow bloggers so I decided to check it out (they were Canadian too so it couldn’t hurt). They dub themselves as being part of the Psychedelic rock genre which doesn’t tell you a whole lot. I really come to despise this name as it feels like anything can be “psychadelic” given that you are under the influence of something.
I would classify Black Mountain’s In The Future as an experimental band ranging from elements of progressive rock, math rock(?) or sometimes using straight simplicity and relying on vocals. Either way Black Mountain is as diverse as you can get when it comes to music and I definitely understand those that are calling this album amazing and comparing it to many classics.
However, this album in wide range of sounds is more of a miss with me. The track to track transitioning just doesn’t work for me. A good example is listening to the amazing 16-minute track Bright Lights transition to “Night Walks” a soft and somber track that captures Amber Webber’s beauty. “In The Future” has some stunning tracks that I would liken to Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover but I don’t find myself listening to this album for long periods of time nor listening to it in order.
This album is definitely of the risky type, not staying to a certain sound and almost every track could be special on its own but for me personally I’ll say my brain just doesn’t “get” it. I feel like I’m supposed to like it but it’s the type I just don’t. It also gives me the math rock headache that I always seem to get (I have no fucking idea what it is about time signatures that cripples my brain).
I’ve argued with myself about the score of this album….should it be a personal one or should I give one based on the music? I’ll average the two, my likeness (3.6) to the sheer ability displayed (4.5) so we get a 4.05 out of 5.
I’d really like to upload Bright Lights but…uh it’s like 24 mb so screw it.
Buy Black Mountains In The Future at: Insound/CD Universe
[...] how I rank the 10: 1. Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs 2. Shad – The Old Prince 3. Black Mountain – Into The Future 4. Holy Fuck – LP 5. Caribou – Andorra 6. Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling 7.The Weakerthans – Reunion [...]