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Black Angels-Directions to See a Ghost

Directions to See a Ghost is the second album from Texas rock band The Black Angels. It was released digitally on April 15, 2008 by Light in the Attic Records. However, it was not until May 13th that the CD and 3xLP were released. Those who purchased the album digitally were given a code to download the album. On or after the date of release, it was to be brought back to the place of purchase in exchange for a hard copy of the album as well as a bonus four-song EP Black Angel Exit. Moreover, “Directions to See a Ghost features the song “Doves” also available on the “Doves” single 7″ released the same day. Unlike the CD, the 3xLP contains bonus tracks “Surf City (Revisited)” and “Paladin’s Last Stand.”

The group have signed to the label Suretone, owned by Interscope, for releases after this album.

Prefix Magazine called it “an easy candidate for one of the best records of the year”.

According to Rolling Stone Magazine columnist David Fricke “…tripsters 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 (Light in the Attic). 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.”
Web: http: theblackangels.com
MySpace: myspace.com/theblackangels

Add comment June 27th, 2009

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus

Optimistic high school band teachers and the dapper French quartet Phoenix might be the only people alive who can envision a wave of “Lisztomania” sweeping today’s youth. But the title of the leadoff track from Phoenix’s new album is an apt synopsis of their mannered yet effervescent romanticism.

“Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix,” a truly marvelous album title if ever there was one, is danceable but only a little disco, synth-driven but clubland averse, an easy record to like but a more difficult one to love.

It’s fitting that many American fans learned of the band through the “Lost in Translation” soundtrack, as “Wolfgang” evokes that film’s dazed sensuality and sense of fleeting pleasure. The first single, “1901,” is driven by a thick, shimmering Moog and Thomas Mars’ collar-loosening yelps, and “Lasso” and “Countdown” are especially scintillating rockers.

Yet after a good number of frothy tracks like “Girlfriend” and a long instrumental doodle, Phoenix’s pleasures become akin to eating a tin of cake frosting: A worthy and delicious Friday-night endeavor, but expect a touch of a toothache in the morning.

—August Brown

Taken from: latimesblogs.latimes.com
Web: wearephoenix.com
MySpace: myspace.com/wearephoenix

Add comment June 27th, 2009