The Black Angels

Since releasing 2008’s Directions To See A Ghost, Austin psych shamans The Black Angels have mostly served as an invisible hand pulling the strings tied to locally revived interests in effects-laden guitars, doom-saying drums, hypnotic drones, and the altered states of mind that enhance them all. So it’s fitting that the band used the most obvious of those strings, the partially Angels-curated Austin Psych Fest, to debut its newest record, Phosphene Dream. Still heavy with ’Nam-era paranoia and the throb of the first two Velvet Underground records, the band also packs an increased interest in (relatively) straightforward songwriting into Phosphene Dream’s way-back machine.

Updated 02/29/2012