CDs I heard this week.

Black Mountain- In The Future



It would be unfair, although not entirely founded to say that Black Mountain's sophomore CD is a Riff-tinged love letter to 1974.

In fact, if you toughened up Matt Camirand's never ending falsetto and added some blues into the mix then his songs could be included on a decent, albeit less erudite Zeppellin Album. He does has more hits than misses, but you feel like the hits have been made before, and with more force.
Sharing the vocal duties (and love for heavy rock) is new addition Amber Webber who manages to make, surprisingly enough, Misty Mountain-esque songs with a feminine twist.

Ironically enough, In the Future's best moments are when they're doing sound like something other than the greatest Zepplein cover band: Stay Free is the best Band of Horses song that they never wrote, and Wucan takes an unannounced Psychadelic sojourn through the brief period when the Doors weren't the most overrated band in existence.

Call it a sad report on just how blatantly derivative music has always been, or just a comment on how well In the Future adeptly rephrases decade old statements, but Black Mountain manages to solidify their holding on a genial archetype





Juno OST

Faux-indie soundtracks, much like faux-indie films, tend to conform to a pretty narrow stereotype. Zach Braff and company can disagree until their faces are as blue as the music they love, but you can assume that anything they accompany a film with is going to be a whiskery/whiny/acoustic affair.
Juno pretty much covers this to perfection, although (gasp!) throws in some pre 90's tracks by the Kinks and Velvet Underground (with Nico sounding almost tolerable) as well as Mott the Hoople's classic All the Young Dudes. The highlight comes from unlikley source Barry Louis Polisar, whose All I Want Is You sounds like the most positive (and legible) Bob Dylan song ever.
Extra nerd points for including the 'cover' of 'Anyone Else But You' by Michael Cera and Ellen Page

I mean, it's not as if I edited out Michael Cera's part and replaced with my voice, but it's sure been on my mind.