The Black Angels

One Liner: psych rock crunchy-ness from Austin
Wikipedia Genre: Psychedelic rock, neo-psychedelia, garage rock
Spotify Says Similar To: The Warlocks, The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Home: Austin

Poster Position: 7
Slot: ?

Thoughts: Oh yeah, this is some good stuff.  How had I never heard of this band before now?  Well, that isn't true, I've been hearing their new single on the radio recently, but I had no clue this treasure trove of local psych sludge was hanging around in the ether.  The tunes are heavy, bluesy, fuzzy, with a kind of 70's rock vibe.  They have apparently been involved with the Austin Psych Fest (now called Levitation) for a while, and took their name from an old Velvet Underground song.  The band's new single, "Currency," hasn't yet caught up to a bunch of their older songs, but I'll give you that one first. Clocks in at 434k streams.

If you are scared about seizures from watching trippy stuff, do not click that link above.  I think my eyes are inside out from watching 30 seconds of it while I tried to figure out if I was going to survive. But, good tune, a little harder than most of the rest of the album, with those very forward guitar wails and less of the chilled vibe that comes out on much of the rest of the rock.  They go into danceable rock that rings of Arcade Fire ("Medicine") and stoner rock that reminds me of the Black Keys ("Comanche Moon").

When you go deeper back into the catalog, you hear the Velvet Underground vibe way more clearly. The 2014 EP, Clear Lake Forest, and especially the album closer "Linda's Gone," totally sound like one of those annoyingly droning tunes from the VU & Nico album.  That is not the angle I want this band to go in.  As I've mentioned before here, I never could get behind that album with the Warhol cover.
But then 2013's Indigo Meadow sounds like an homage to the Doors more than VU.  Mainly its the organ, but also the bouncing guitar lines that sound so much like classic Doors. Check out "Love Me Forever" or "Broken Soldier" for the spot on sound of classic Doors. Here is the latter of those two.

This album also has harder edged stuff, I hear the Pixies in "Don't Play With Guns."  Kind of wild, actually, that this music was being composed and released in 2013, when it sounds so perfectly matched to the music of 45 years ago.

2011's Phosgene Nightmare again goes back to the sound of the Velvets, and even goes to a more acoustic, chill sound on tunes like "The Boat Song."  This stuff sounds nothing like the new album. Then 2010's Phosphene Dream has some stuff that sounds like Beatles or the Kinks.  This band is all over, but they require that it be more than 30 years old in order to make it into their mash.  2008's Directions to See a Ghost is better than those "Pho" albums, although the sound of the cicadas on "The Return" was enough to make me want to murder people with my bare hands.  And the 16 minute long "Snake in the Grass" is a droning, trippy roll in the LSD-flavored grass planted by the Beatles back in the day.  I think if I were the drummer, I'd be exhausted by the end of that song.

The first album, 2006's Passover, actually sounds more like the new album than the rest of these, so I guess they are going back to their roots with the harder-edged sound.  It also contains their most popular song of all, the album opener "Young Man Dead," which has almost 3.5 million streams.

That's the good stuff right there.  Ominous and brooding, but it had me wanting to jam it more than just the once.  And that feel keeps going with messy, grungy songs like "The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven" or more bluesy tunes like "Bloodhounds on my Trail" (and I really like that latter one).

So, yeah, these guys are good at what they are doing.  Interesting for me to like their first and last albums better than their middle handful, but such is the way with the subjective world of music listening.
Interesting coincidence, a friend asked me to go to their ACL taping in a few weeks, so I'll be able to see them live and give a more detailed report soon.

Recommend: Yes.