Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Black Angels "Indigo Meadow"

 
 
I must be brutally honest here and admit I had zero clue who this band was.  This is album #4 since 2006 and the previous release actually made it into the Top 200, peaking at 52.  Guess that's why I kept seeing the name pop up a couple of months ago when "Indigo Meadow" dropped.  The style "neo-psych rock" was being bandied about.  Made it worth the sample listen...which made it worth the purchase...which mandated three spins...which culminated in adding a new band sheet to my inventory.
 
I do not perform much research on records such as this until after I've gone through the plays and proffered my notes.  Did not know they were a domestic band (Austin, TX) with a female drummer.  Did not know this record was a change from their previous sound, and it apparently has left disgruntled fans in its wake.  What I do know is that my beloved WPRK has been playing a few cuts, which makes me very happy.
 
There is absolutely nothing here that hasn't been done before.  The album's pacing is slightly uneven, ranging from this century all the way back to the late 60's.  There is a heaping helping here of what Black Rebel Motorcycle Club does (though their past few records were too stale to purchase) and I heard a smidgen of The Hives, which throws back to garage rock anyway.  Another track made me consider a heavy-ish Killers while a couple others made me scream into my recorder, "Love & Rockets, dammit!" 
 
 
Then there's the late 60's section towards the back of the album.  I jotted down Strawberry Alarm Clock and second wave British Invasion bands like The Zombies and maybe a little Status Quo...
    


As I said earlier, I had no preconceived expectations when I dove into this record, unlike their fan base.  No going backwards in their catalog for me.  I'll add this to the vault and look forward to their next one.

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