Axis of Evol (Jagjaguwar), the latest album from the PINK MOUNTAINTOPS, leans hard into the question of redemption, going so far as to suggest that the answer lies in getting down with God’s son (and I don’t mean Nas). It’s a funny fixation–funny ha-ha and funny strange–because the previous PMs record was a nonstop freakathon where even the elements of fire and water got fucked. The band is technically the solo venture of Stephen McBean, front man and guitarist for Black Mountain, who became indie-popular last year and then toured with Coldplay–but there’s only a marginal difference between the two projects, as members of Black Mountain show up in much the same capacity on the PMs’ album. Both groups combine shambling Velvet Underground jangle with stoner-rock riffing power and have apparently limited their influences to albums made between 1967 and 1977. The easiest way to tell them apart is that BM shapes its riffs into actual songs and uses more overtly political lyrics, while the PMs have a drum machine and tend to meander rather than rock. For more on Axis of Evol, see Section 1. –Jessica Hopper
