{"id":482,"date":"2011-04-13T05:42:20","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T10:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=482"},"modified":"2011-04-13T05:42:20","modified_gmt":"2011-04-13T10:42:20","slug":"the-black-angels-a-big-scoop-of-psychedelic-ice-cream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/13\/the-black-angels-a-big-scoop-of-psychedelic-ice-cream\/","title":{"rendered":"The Black Angels – A Big Scoop of Psychedelic Ice Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"

The label “psychedelic rock” is often applied to the Black Angels<\/strong>, and the group doesn\u2019t shy away from the tag. But the Black Angels view the genre more as a means of reaching a transcendental state of sorts. \u201cPsychedelic music<\/em> has been around since the dawn of time,\u201d Alex Maas<\/strong> (lead vocals, bass, organ, guitar, percussion) argues. He cites the image of prehistoric man beating bones against cave walls and hearing the resulting reverberation. \u201cPsychedelic rock<\/em>,\u201d he notes, \u201cbegan here in Austin Texas, with the 13th<\/sup> Floor Elevators<\/strong>.\u201d Maas also mentions the notorious band\/cult Yahowa<\/strong>; he believes they \u201cbrought psychedelic music back to that caveman style.\u201d Among (slightly) more modern acts keeping the style alive, he mentions German avant-garde collective Can <\/strong>and NYC electronic punkers Suicide<\/strong>; for Maas the particular style is less important than the mindset.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

All that said, The Black Angels imbue their particularly modern approach with some carefully-selected instruments that do call to mind a specific time period. Onstage and in the studio, they use vintage keyboards including the Vox Continental organ. Though Maas admits that \u201cit costs us a lot of money to keep those things up and running when we\u2019re on tour,\u201d the instruments\u2019 distinctive sound and feel are critical to the band\u2019s sonic stew. That philosophy is consistent, he says, \u201call the way down to the guitar pedals, guitars\u2026every instrument that we use.\u201d The vintage equipment sounds better, and he laughs, \u201cbesides that, they look really cool. And they even smell different.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a bit of a departure from the band\u2019s earlier discs, the band\u2019s latest Phosphene Dream<\/em> features relatively concisely structured songs. Maas says that those compositions \u201cstarted long, but we whittled them down for the record. And when we play them live,\u201d he chuckles, \u201cwe expand them again.\u201d Those songs were collaboratively developed in the studio, not ahead of time. \u201cWe went into the studio with [producer] Dave Sardy<\/strong>, and would actually make a song out of the sounds we were creating.” Maas says the band was pleased to have in Sardy a \u201csixth mind to bounce ideas off of, someone outside the band.\u201d Another deliberate and significant departure from earlier Black Angels material is Phosphene Dream<\/em>\u2019s more out-front mixing of the vocals.<\/p>\n

Contrasting with the droning, sixteen-plus minute songs included on the group\u2019s 2006 debut Passover<\/em> and 2008\u2019s Directions to See a Ghost<\/em>, the latest disc\u2019s single “Telephone” is a straightforward pop song that could have fit nicely on Lenny Kaye<\/strong>\u2019s seminal 1972 Nuggets<\/em> compilation. \u201cThat was a conscious decision,\u201d Maas admits. \u201cWe definitely wanted to reach more people.\u201d The song smartly retains the Black Angels style, effectively drawing new listeners into the world of the band\u2019s music. Maas observes that this approach also \u201copened up the future of what we could do as a band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another thing that the band does \u2013 both in the studio and onstage \u2013 is switch around on instruments. While doing so adds visual interest to the concerts, it\u2019s also a key part of the Black Angels\u2019 sound, exploiting the subtle shifts in texture resulting from different people playing different instruments. But it didn\u2019t start out that way. \u201cIn the beginning,\u201d Maas recalls, \u201cit was a case of, \u2018You came up with that bass line, and no one can play it quite like you, and we don\u2019t have time to teach it, so you play it.\u2019\u201d He reflects on the band\u2019s songwriting style: \u201cWe write songs so quickly that it\u2019s often better for that person to stick with the instrument that they wrote their part on.\u201d<\/p>\n

When those songs are being developed, there\u2019s a tried-and-true process. It starts with the song\u2019s \u201cfeel,\u201d Maas says. \u201cThe feel leads to imagery, and the imagery leads to lyrical content: \u2018How does this song make me feel? Where are we?\u2019\u201d He compares the process to scoring for a film. \u201cRarely do we sit down and say, \u2018We\u2019re going to write a song about, say, ice cream.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no escaping that the Black Angels\u2019 music has roots in styles of forty years ago. And those styles are enjoying unprecedented popularity. Maas reflects on the reasons why people are responding to this music now, in a way that they didn’t five to ten years ago. \u201cMusic is cyclical; it always comes back around. And the political climate now is \u2013 in some ways \u2013 the same as it was in the sixties: uneasiness and lack of knowledge of where we are as a nation. And the internet is driving knowledge of different kinds of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

The April 2 show at the Grey Eagle was the band\u2019s second Asheville visit within five months; the Black Angels\u2019 \u201cDropout Boogie Tour\u201d came to town last November, supporting Vancouver-based Black Mountain <\/strong><\/a> for an enthusiastically received, packed-house show. \u201cAll our shows in Asheville are magical for some reason,\u201d Maas says.<\/p>\n

An edited version of this feature appeared in the March 20 2011 print edition of <\/em>Mountain Xpress.<\/p>\n

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The label “psychedelic rock” is often applied to the Black Angels, and the group doesn\u2019t shy away from the tag. But the Black Angels view the genre more as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}