TBTS Music Reviews: The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow

1968 was a crazy year. It will no doubt be referred to as “the year that changed the world” for a long time to come. Now that we are on the verge of a new decade I am a bit on the worried side. I mean, I’m sure we will all be teleporting to work and going to the grocery station in flying cars any day now, but how are we going to pay for all of that? Yeah sure minimum wage did get raised to $1.60 an hour last February, and that is a huge improvement up from $1.40, but really, what is the world coming to? Look, I have every confidence that President Nixon will lead us faithfully, with integrity and an ample amount of grit, but in order to…  um, what? It’s not 1969? Surely you must be joking. It can’t be… what year? Now wait just a minute. Let me see…Moody Blues, Iron Butterfly, King Crimson, Jefferson Airplane, ah yes, here it is: The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow. The perfect cap to an amazing decade. Let’s have a drink, shall we? To the 60’s! Just listen; swirling reverb soaked arrangements, deeply intertwined organ and fuzz guitar riffs, barely distinguishable lyrics: acid rock at its finest. Read the what? Ok, ok! But I’m sure that… oh… my… stars… (insert Twiight Zone/time travel/visual sci-fi effect/theremin sample of your choice here).

Sorry, I thought it was late 1969. Mostly because I have been listening to Indigo Meadow (Blue Horizon) every day for about a week and a half now. This is an album that may cause various levels of disorientation, mild hallucinations and severe attacks of the munchies if the listener is exposed to it over an extended period. The Black Angels sound like a band out of time. If they had been around in the late 60’s/early 70’s their music would surely have been in regular rotation at acid tests and on any self respecting pot dealers console stereo record player. Psychedelic doesn’t quite cover it, but I fall short in describing what The Black Angels do any more accurately than that.

Indigo Meadow is a groovy, trippy record. Tracks like “Love Me Forever” and “Twisted Light” nail that art house spin as well as any band since The Doors.  Austin, TX should be proud. Their equipment list reads like a most wanted vintage organ list; Gibson G101, Compact Duo Farfisa, Rheem Mark VII, Manetron, Vox Super Continental, Jenco Celeste, Moog Prodigy. Good lord. So, warm up your lava lamp and break out the black light. Put on anything from The Black Angels and you may find yourself far from what you consider normal. Which in my book, can be a very good thing. Dig?