The Fashionably Late Top 60 of 2013: #1d – The Black Angels

When it comes to year-end lists, y'all know I don't mess around. I don't post my picks from the previous year for weeks after the next year has started. In 2013 there was a bounty of music that entered the world that made me deliriously happy to be blessed with the sense of sound. So I have pondered, marinated, and contemplated for weeks. Music from 2013 has been digested for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and yes, even dessert). And now, friends, it's time. Time to share with you what I consider the cream of one heck of a crop indeed. You might see things omitted here that you think should be on a Best Of list. This list isn't what I think you want to read. This list is what I feel about last year. These are records and songs that really mattered to me for one reason of another. If it's not here, I either didn't spend enough time with it or just didn't love it quite enough. A big, big thank you to all of the artists who created the music on this list, the music that I fell in love with last year.

WHO: The Black Angels

WHAT: Indigo Meadow

WHEN: April 2013

WHERE: Blue Horizon

WHY: Approximately no one should be at all surprised to see The Black Angels so high on my list this go round. Indigo Meadow is just The Black Angels doing what they do best, unleashing song after song of killer modern psych, kissed with the haze of the desert and the endless night sky and the undulating shimmer of magical mirages. As expected, it is a phenomenally loud, at times hostile group of songs, bombastic and full of skillful, crushingly noisy guitars and a slightly threatening vibe. Always upping the ante with their music, the members of The Black Angels have become masters at the art of concocting smart, challenging, shatteringly strident kaleidoscopic psych gems. Obviously, the future of American psych rock is in safe hands down in Austin.

MY JAMS: “Evil Things” “Don’t Play With Guns” “The Day” “Love Me Forever” “Always Maybe” “War On Holiday” “Broken Soldier” “You’re Mine” “Black Isn’t Black”







[posted 3.20.14]