1/21/12
Album Reviews
Connoisseur II has been steadily receiving good reviews on some websites and blogs which have been posted on the music page.
11/11/11
Connoisseur II & The Hit Joint Sessions
Two new Mountains of Blow recordings Connoisseur II and The Hit Joint Sessions are available for download and streaming on the Music page of the site.
Connoisseur II (2011)
Download: Connoisseur II (2011)
- Shane Berman - Guitar, Bass, Vocals
- Billy Hawken - Drums
- Recorded June - July, 2011 @ Karma Diamond Studios - Silverlake, Los Angeles, CA.
- Produced by Shane Berman and Billy Hawken.
Reviews:
The Hit Joint Sessions (2011)
Download: The Hit Joint Sessions (2011)
- Shane Berman - Guitar/Vocals
- James O'Mara - Bass
- Billy Hawken - Drums
- Recorded March 27-28, 2011 @ The Hit Joint Studios - Silverlake, Los Angeles, CA.
- Produced by Mike S.
- Mixed by Ben White.
Past Shows
- September 27th, 2010 @ Bootleg Theater
Mountains of Blow w/Torche - July 9th, 2010 @ Relax Bar
w/Behold The Monolith, The Shrine, Voodoo Merchant and Awesome Party - June 17th, 2010 @ Mr. T's Bowl
w/My Lovely Destruction, Sleep Towel, The Good Bites, and The Harold Honey - May 2nd, 2010 @ Dragonfly
w/Gypsy Hawk, It's Casual, Toward Distant Suns - April 9th, 2010 @ Relax Bar
w/Across Tundras, Snail, Toward Distant Suns
As a two-piece live at 2nd Street Jazz, Downtown LA 6/13/09...
About
Mountains of Blow (named after a Ghostface Killah lyric) was formed in Los Angeles during May of 2009 by Shane Berman and Bill Hawken after their former band Exoneration broke up due to unforseen circumstances.
MOB played several shows as a free-form jam, guitar-and-drums duo with no set songs. Continuing with this set-up, the group released the self-recorded 'Connoisseur' album, comprised of 4 free form jams which were met with positive reviews from several stoner metal sites. Around this time, close friend and former Moment of Youth bandmate James O'Mara began jamming with the group and eventually joined on bass.
The band then wrote many songs and proceded to play all over LA on a regular basis throughout the rest of 2009 and 2010. However, this incarnation of the band began to dissolve and played it's last show opening up for Torche at the Bootleg Theater in Echo Park. Before completely disbanding, an 8-song recording was completed in 10 hours at the Hit Joint Studios in Silverlake, Los Angeles.
After the departure of James O'Mara on bass, Shane & Bill continued jamming once again and came up with what would become Connoisseur II. 5 tracks of mostly instrumental jams recorded at their home studio in Silverlake.
Both the Hit Joint Sessions and 'Connoisseur II' are available for download and streaming on the music page.