Black Angels Directions To See A Ghost CD

UK vinyl LP pressing. The Black Angels are back with their 2008 release Directions To See A Ghost, the second full-length album from Austin's darkest droners. With tidal rhythms and rasping epics, Directions To See A Ghost is a driving, psychedelic masterpiece that churns through 72 minutes and 11 tracks. This highly anticipated follow-up to the band's 2006 critically acclaimed debut will leave listeners buzzing. Light In The Attic.

The Black Angels: Christian Bland (vocals, guitar, bass instrument, bass guitar, drums); Alex Maas (vocals, sitar, organ, bass instrument, bass guitar); Jennifer Raines (vocals); Kyle Hunt (guitar, organ, bass instrument, bass guitar, drums); Nate Ryan (guitar, bass instrument, bass guitar); Stephanie Bailey (bass instrument, bass guitar, drums, percussion).
Audio Mixer: Erik Wofford.
On their second album, Austinites the Black Angels continue their obsession with the darker side of psychedelia and the harder side of shoegaze, turning out fuzzy riffs that reverberate into infinity, propelled by insistent, minimalist grooves that conjure up a trance-like effect. When they really let it all hang out, as on the epic-length tracks "Never/Ever" and "Snake in the Grass," they even evoke fond memories of neo-psych cult legends Opal in their prime.
Name yourselves after one of the Velvet Underground's most aggressively amelodic songs and package your second album in an op art burnt orange and chartreuse freakout and you'd better be able to deliver the psych-drone goods. What's most impressive about the Black Angels' Directions to See a Ghost is that not only does the Austin-based sextet deliver like few bands have been able to manage since Spacemen 3 split -- see the dark, doomy "Science Killer" and the epic 16-minute closer "Snake in the Grass" for details -- but the group also leavens its heaviness with a functioning knowledge of pop hooks and how to deploy them: as a result, songs like "You in Color" and "You on the Run" not only buzz and howl in a manner suitable for nodding along, they're also unexpectedly catchy in a style reminiscent of Love or the Doors. The sitar-laced two-chord stomp of "Never/Ever" sits comfortably alongside the post-punky desperation of "Doves," testament to the variety of sounds and moods the Black Angels squeeze out of their chosen idiom. This is the sort of psychedelia that space rockers and Nuggets fans alike can come together over. ~ Stewart Mason

Rolling Stone (p.84) - "[T]he 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..."
Magnet (p.96) - "[With] organ, fuzz/reverb guitar and sitar-laced dronescapes; hypnotic tribal drums and thicker-than-strata bass; Alex Maas' dramatic, Jim Morrison-esque vocals; and the lysergic ambience of Spacemen 3 and the Velvet Underground."
CMJ - "'Mission District' is a high point; the song really lifts off through acid rain-soaked clouds, emerging into spotty sunshine by the end."
Q (Magazine) (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[With] 'You In Color' and the 16-minute 'Snake In The Grass' conjuring an air of oppressive menace....It makes for an impressive sound..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.113) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[W]ith the psychedelia stripped to its bare, blackened bones, as cavernous and gothic as -- oh yes -- a sonic cathedral."
Clash (magazine) (p.123) - "It's uncompromisingly ambient; from the bath of sultry noise to the Velvet Underground-esque excessiveness of opening track 'You On The Run'."