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THE BLACK ANGELS

The Black Angels

Levitation Sessions (Black Friday 23 Edition)

    THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 24TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

    IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8AM ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25TH).


    The Black Angels debut a live set and film spanning their career recorded live at Carson Creek Ranch in Austin, Texas. Never released physically and only streamed for one weekend, this Double LP + DVD is the ultimate live release from the seminal psych rock outfit.

    "We decided to return to Carson Creek Ranch's 'River Stage', the former site of LEVITATION to bring it all back home. The setting lent itself well to the hot and humid Vietnam river delta feel we were trying to capture. In the early days we used to play along with the film “Apocalypse Now” and this brings it back full circle. - THE BLACK ANGELS

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Viet War
    2. Colors
    3. History
    4. Yellow Elevator
    5. Grab All You Can
    6. Here And Now
    7. Vermillion Eyes
    8. Young Men Dead
    9. Bad Vibes 
    10. Without A Trace (Naan)
    11. Lifesong
    12. Comanche Moon
    13. Science Killer
    14. Empires Falling (Spinning Wheels)
    15. Life Song
    16. Commanche Moon

    The Black Angels

    Passover - 2023 Reissue

      These are fighting times, people. We are surrounded by grit, spit, and bloody war, but in the distance moving forward is The Black Angels. Passover, The Black Angels debut album, speaks of real-life horrors, death, and destruction with doses of love, sex, and healing. Don’t lose track, these are caring times as well.

      Formed in 2004 and hailing from the mescaline-infused outskirts of Austin, Texas, this gang of musical misfits has been on the road non-stop since their birth, performing at such renowned venues as Sin-e, Middle East, and Spaceland. In early 2006, the band’s self-titled debut EP was dubbed highly recommended in Spin Magazine while receiving heavy radio airplay on such influential stations as KEXP and BBC Radio 1 by Zane Lowe.

      Growing in spades since their EP, Passover showcases a band on the make. Spiraling upwards to the skies with the enemy straight on their trail, “The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven” sees The Black Angels reaching high and stretching out with trance-inducing guitar lines from Christian Bland, Nate Ryan’s filthy medical dumpster bass, and the grizzly preacher vox of lead shaman Alex Maas. “Black Grease” is a bluesy monster full of swagger propelled by the primitive beat of drummer Stephanie Bailey and the mourning drone of organist Jennifer Raines.

      10-songs deep, Passover has come again. Reflecting and questioning the intergenerational psychosis of American social life that surrounds us, The Black Angels put forth their answers in song. It’s a “Call To Arms” for those ready to join the good fight, a rock ‘n’ roll salvation during the times we need it the most. As Maas bellows on “Young Man Dead,” “Fire for the hills, pick up speed, and let’s go…”


      TRACK LISTING

      Young Men Dead
      The First Vietnamese War
      The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven
      The Prodigal Sun
      Black Grease
      Manipulation
      Empire
      Better Off Alone
      Bloodhounds On My Trail
      Call To Arms

      The Black Angels

      Wilderness Of Mirrors

        The best music reflects a wide-screen view of the world back at us, helping distill the universal into something far more personal. Since forming in Austin in 2004, The Black Angels have become standard-bearers for modern psych-rock that does exactly that, which is one of many reasons why the group’s new album, Wilderness of Mirrors, feels so aptly named. In the five years since the band’s prior album, Death Song, and the two-plus years spent working on Wilderness of Mirrors, pandemics, political tumult and the ongoing devastation of the environment have provided ample fodder for the Black Angels’ signature sonic approach.

        Wilderness of Mirrors expertly refines the Black Angels’ psychedelic rock attack alongside a host of intriguing sounds and textures. There are classic blasts of fuzzed-out guitars meant to simultaneously perk up the ears and jumpstart the mind, alongside melancholy, acoustic guitar-driven newfound experiments. Mellotron, strings, and other keyboards also play a more prominent role on Wilderness of Mirrors than ever before.

        Even amidst these new experimentations, The Black Angels remain masterfully true to psych-rock forebears such as Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Arthur Lee and the members of the Velvet Underground, all of whom are namechecked on album highlight “The River.” “The Velvet Underground song ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ – that’s what every Black Angels album has been about,” says vocalist/bassist Alex Maas. “You can’t work out your struggles unless you bring them to the forefront and think about them. If we can all think about them, maybe we can help save ourselves.”

        TRACK LISTING

        1 Without A Trace
        2 History Of The Future
        3 Empires Falling
        4 El Jardín
        5 La Pared (Govt. Wall Blues)
        6 Firefly
        7 Make It Known
        8 The River
        9 Wilderness Of Mirrors
        10 Here & Now
        11 100 Flowers Of Paracusia
        12 A Walk On The Outside
        13 Vermillion Eyes
        14 Icon
        15 Suffocation

        The Black Angels

        Directions To See A Ghost

          “The Black Angels bring the aura of mid-1966 the drilling guitars of early Velvet Underground shows, the raga inflections of late-show Fillmore jams, the acid-prayer stomp of Austin avatars the 13th Floor Elevators everywhere they go, including the levitations on their second album, Directions to See a Ghost. Mid-Eighties echoes of Spacemen 3 and the Jesus and Mary Chain also roll through the scoured-guitar sustain and Alex Maas’ rocker-monk incantations. But he knows what time it is. ’You say the Beatles stopped the war,” Maas sings in ‘Never/Ever.’ ‘They might’ve helped to find a cure/But it’s still not over.’ Even so, this medicine works wonders." – David Fricke, Rolling Stone

          Last time we met The Black Angels, they were staring into the desert sun somewhere outside of Austin, Texas. Two years later, night has fallen and the spirits have come out. It’s time for The Black Angels to provide Directions On How To See A Ghost.

          If you’re familiar with Passover, the band’s 2006 debut, you’ll know that The Black Angels’s music alone is enough to invoke spirits. There’s a name for the band’s sound; they call it ‘hypno-drone ’n roll’. It’s the sound of long nights on peyote, of dreams of a new world order, and of half-invented memories of the seamy side of ’60s psychedelia.

          While the Iraq war is still a major influence on the band’s lyrics, there are new forces at work here, including Eugene Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We and in Christian Bland’s words “psychic information from the past and future.” See, The Black Angels really are in contact with ghosts.
          “Civil War battlefields are prime spots for seeing ghosts,” says Bland. “One time at Kennesaw mountain in Georgia, I was climbing the mountain in the middle of June and it must have been close to 100 degrees, but in this one particular spot it was very cold. The hairs on my neck stood up and I knew something strange was happening. Then the wind whispered something like ‘retreat,’ and I did. I later learned that the spot where I was on the battlefield was known as ‘the dead angle’, the place where the fiercest fighting took place. The confederates ended up retreating from the mountain towards Peachtree Creek.”

          The Black Angels formed in Austin, Texas, in 2004, comprising from six people (now five) from very different backgrounds. Singer/vocalist Christian Bland is the son of a Presbyterian Pastor and was raised in a devoutly religious household. Bassist / guitarist Nate Ryan was born on a cult compound and drummer Stephanie Bailey claims she’s a descendent of Davy Crocket. She and Alex Maas (vocals/guitar) believe a little girl in a red linen dress haunts the group’s home.

          The band released Passover in 2006 to critical acclaim for both the album and the song “The First Vietnamese War”. Most of all, Passover established The Black Angels as a band with brains, balls and a strong message. And this time around, the message is there to read in a 16-page booklet that comes with the album.

          “Our central theme is that people need to open up their minds and let everything come through, and to learn from past mistakes,” says Christian. “Only then will we understand the reality of this world and progress beyond where we are now as humans. We’ve built upon that theme with Directions to See a Ghost. We want people to study the booklet we are providing with the album in hopes that they will be able to relate each song to something in their life.”
          _"War is Peace.

          Freedom is Slavery.
          Ignorance is Strength.
          Keep Music Evil."_


          TRACK LISTING

          You On The Run
          Doves
          Science Killer
          Mission District
          18 Years
          Deer-ree-shee
          Never/ever
          Vikings
          You In Color
          The Return
          Snake In The Grass

          The Black Angels

          Clear Lake Forest

            New EP of seven new tracks, from Austin Texas Psych Rock band.

            It follows their album Indigo Meadow (2013) where once again The Black Angels proved themselves the undisputed avatars of contemporary psychedelic rock, simultaneously exalting the genre’s kaleidoscopic past as they thrust it further into the future. the band brought new focus to their wide-ranging songcraft, the righteous riffs and dogmatic drones gaining increased power as they fuel a more expansive emotional terrain. A 21st century trip as transcendent as any in the canon.

            “Imagine tossing bands from the pantheon of American psychedelia like The Electric Prunes, Count Five, 13th Floor Elevators and The Seeds into your blender, adding a splash of Sabbath and a dollop of early Soundgarden or Mudhoney, and you’ve got Austin’s The Black Angels.” Associated Press.

            TRACK LISTING

            1. Sunday Evening
            2. Tired Eyes
            3. Diamond Eyes
            4. The Flop
            5. An Occurrence At 4507 South Third Street
            6. The Executioner
            7. Linda’s Gone

            The Black Angels

            Indigo Meadow

              The Black Angels’ most revelatory collection thus far, Indigo Meadow marks the Austin, Texas-based band’s fourth full-length release, following 2010’s acclaimed Phosphene Dream. Once again The Black Angels prove themselves the undisputed avatars of contemporary psychedelic rock, simultaneously exalting the genre’s kaleidoscopic past as they thrust it further into the future.

              Now a four-piece – ably supported behind the board by producer/mixer John Congleton (David Byrne & St. Vincent, Explosions In The Sky, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) – the band have brought new focus to their wide-ranging songcraft, the righteous riffs and dogmatic drones gaining increased power as they fuel a more expansive emotional terrain. A 21st century trip as transcendent as any in the canon, Indigo Meadow masterfully affirms The Black Angels’ full-throttle commitment to the psychedelic ethos of creativity, community and boundless experimentation.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Indigo Meadow
              2. Evil Things
              3. Don't Play With Guns
              4. Holland
              5. The Day
              6. Love Me Forever
              7. Always Maybe
              8. War On Holiday
              9. Broken Soldier
              10. I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia)
              11. Twisted Light
              12. You're Mine
              13. Black Isn't Black


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