Tuesday night and it is relatively quiet in the Valley mall, almost like the calm before the storm. While most people wind up for Mogwai the rest get prepped for some Canadian psychedelic rock.

The ladies (and gent) from the Butcher Birds take to the stage to warm up the handful of people who were brave enough to venture out on a school night. Now what to say. The sound person can’t help you until you turn your bloody amps down. Now that is out of the way, drummer Donovan was the most solid application of an instrument for the whole evening. Microphone feedback hung in the air like a dirty smell for most of the set which was disappointing as their music makes for interesting listening. As a four piece the whole thing worked but the leveling was so far from the mark it wasn’t even in the same room. It was unfortunate but bad sound ruled what would have been an otherwise great thirty/forty minutes.

The crowd swells better than snapper rocks on a windy day and finally Jeremy Schmidt produces a synth intro which fills the room as the five members of Black Mountain casually stroll onto the stage. Amber Webber seems to be a million miles away tonight while her voice brings a haunting essence to the wall of sound that surrounds it. Stay Free and Angels buttered the crowd up and ensured that there wasn’t a stationery body inside the Brisbane establishment tonight.

People call is psychedelic rock but it is music that really can’t be pigeonholed. Their subtle vocals are mesmerizing and once you’re under that spell it turns into a trashing instrumental with a barrage of bass and drums. Stephen McBean and Amber’s vocals compliment each other while Joshua Wells turns a few pieces of skin and plastic into drumming a person couldn’t hate even if they wanted too.

A wise man once said less talk, more rock and though not the most talkative bunch of people the music did all the talking that was required tonight. The cultured crowd may have not been at Mogwai but Black Mountain was just as worthy tonight.