Pink Mountaintops – “North Hollywood Microwaves” (Feat. Annie Hardy) (Stereogum Premiere)
It’s been a while since we heard from Pink Mountaintops, the project of Black Mountain’s Steve McBean. The group’s last album Outside Love came out in 2009, but today Pink Mountaintops return with a song from a new album, Get Back. It’s the first since McBean’s move to Los Angeles, and like any Pink Mountaintops album worth its salt, this one come with a laundry list of intriguing influences big and small:
“Alleys, curbs, walls, and cigarette-stained gig flyers. An island on the Pacific coast. Fake British towns. Slayer posters. The beauty of youth. It’s about listening to ‘Driver’s Seat’ and ‘Guns of Brixton’ and hotboxing The Duster,” according to Get Back press materials. The album also features J Mascis and Annie Hardy (Giant Drag), with the latter making an appearance on this first single.
“North Hollywood Microwaves” is a good example of the sort of stream of conscious craziness going on here. It begins with McBean singing the titular lyrics over a playful saxophone, which by the end has soured into a Trout Mask Replica freakout while Hardy raps about fucking a bear. How that gets from point A to B is better left unexplained here — it would ruin the fun, which is what Pink Mountaintops bring in bulk. Listen to the song, which Jagjaguwar rightfully suggests is the filthiest in its catalog, below.
Get Back is out 4/29 via Jagjaguwar. Here’s the tracklist:
01 “Ambulance City”
02 “The Second Summer of Love”
03 “Through All The Worry”
04 “Wheels”
05 “Sell Your Soul”
06 “North Hollywood Microwaves”
07 “Sixteen”
08 “New Teenage Mutilation”
09 “Shakedown”
10 “The Last Dance”