"Death Song", The Black Angels' fifth album, brought the Austin, Texas, psych-rock quintet back to Athens for a fourth time. After playing in summer festivals on their two previous visits, this time the band was here to do its own gig and present its latest release, one of the year's finest, almost in its entirety.
Interestingly enough, the only track off "Death Song" which we didn't get to hear live this time, was "Hunt Me Down", the new song they had chosen to preview in last summer'sRelease Festival set, so their loyal Greek fans have now listened live every note on the new album.
From the "death" songs that we did get to hear live on this occasion, my favorites included the opening "Currency", "I Dreamt" and "Medicine", while from their back catalogue "Black Grease" and "Bad Vibrations" are always sure fire hits, as is "Young Men Dead", one of the oldest songs in their set, which they saved for the climactic ending of their three-song encore.
Here's the entire set that The Black Angels presented in their fourth visit to Athens:
Currency, Bad Vibrations, The Prodigal Son, I Dreamt, Medicine, I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia), Black Grease, Grab As Much (as you can), Half Believing, The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven, Entrance Song, I'd Kill for Her, You on the Run, Comanche Moon, Life Song. Encore: Estimate, Death March, Young Men Dead
The local band that was fittingly chosen to open for the Texans was Holy Monitor who, despite problems with their live sound, played a spirited half-hour set of speedy psych-garage tracks selected from their promising self-titled debut album.
Holy Monitor, live @ Piraeus 117 Academy
Check out below The Black Angels performing "Death March" during the encore of their gig on Thursday:
The Black Angels - Death March, live @ Piraeus 117 Academy (Athens, September 7th, 2017)
We're waving goodbye to spring and welcoming the summer period with a selection of some of the finest new tracks we've had the pleasure of listening to in the last few months. As we're reaching the mid-point of 2017, this playlist is also indicative of where we currently stand on the issue of the best releases of the year so far. Let's leave it to the music to do the talking:
The first edition of Release Athens Festival offered 4 days of live music at Plateia Nerou by the seaside, between June 1st and June 13th, 2016, with an eclectic line up of artists led by PJ Harvey, Sigur Ros, Beirut and Parov Stelar.
We have already presented the highlights from the opening night with Beirut, Daughter and Cass McCombs; let’s have a look now at what happened on June 7th, the climax of the festival with the highly anticipated return of PJ Harvey to Athens after 8 years, and June 13th, the closing night of the event headlined by Sigur Ros:
June 7th, 2016: PJ Harvey, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Slowdive
PJ Harvey’s performance was the absolute highlight of the festival. Her live show transcends the confines of a typical rock performance and becomes a cathartic ritual, exposing the madness and exorcising the ills of today’s world.
The 90-minute set was based on the material from her latest album "The Hope Six Demolition Project", with its songs becoming more haunting and intense in their live incarnation, and it’s bolstered by some of the highlights from "Let England Shake" and a handful of '90s classics including "50ft Queenie", "Down by the Water", "To Bring You My Love", "Working for the Man" and "A Perfect Day Elise". Undoubtedly an unforgettable performance, not only the best of this festival, but one of the live highlights of the year!
PJ Harvey and her exceptional band (including John Parish, Mick Harvey, James Johnston, Terry Edwards and Alain Johannes among others) played the following: Chain of Keys, The Ministry of Defence, The Community of Hope, A Line in the Sand, The Orange Monkey, Let England Shake, The Words That Maketh Murder, The Glorious Land, Medicinals, When Under Ether, Dollar, Dollar, The Wheel, The Ministry of Social Affairs, 50ft Queenie, Down by the Water, To Bring You My Love, River Anacostia. Encore: Working for the Man, A Perfect Day Elise.
PJ Harvey - 50ft Queenie, live @ Release Athens Festival (June 7, 2016)
The Brian Jonestown Massacre, live @ Release Athens Festival
Earlier in the day, The Brian Jonestown Massacre added their delightful psychedelic colors to the sunset and Slowdive made their long overdue live debut in Athens channeling the breezy shoegaze guitar sound of the early '90s.
Slowdive, live @ Release Athens Festival
Anton Newcombe
For Anton Newcombe’s gang, this was their second gig in Athens after their successful (and also long overdue) live debut in the summer of 2014. This time they had to play for an audience that in its majority was not there for them, but the band put in an outstanding performance and I think by the time they left the stage (and came back to take photos of the crowd) they must have earned at least a few hundred new fans.
Slowdive never had the same level of recognition that other bands in their genre enjoyed in the early '90s, but as their recent reformation proves their material is strong enough to withstand the test of time. The crowd that had gathered early in the afternoon to see their first ever Athens show may not have been big, but included both older fans who knew them from back in the day, as well as a younger generation who is now starting to discover the joys of the fuzzed out, dreamy guitar sound that ruled the underground sometime between the late '80s and early '90s.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Nevertheless, live @ Release Athens Festival 2016
Slowdive - Alison, live @ Release Athens Festival 2016
June 13th, 2016: Sigur Ros, The Black Angels, Diiv
Sigur Ros, live @ Release Athens Festival
The impressive light show that complements the unique post-rock sound of Sigur Ros found an unlikely ally in the rainy weather of the closing night of the festival, as distant lightning added to the otherworldly listening experience that the Icelanders can create.
Admittedly the sound of Sigur Ros is an acquired taste, but the majority of fans in attendance on this night were there for them and they would not let a little rain ruin their fun. The band’s climactic 90-minute set received a warm welcome by the audience and despite not being a big post-rock fan myself, I have to admit that Sigur Ros' performance was certainly among the highlights of Release Festival.
The Black Angels, live @ Release Athens Festival
Different kinds of kicks were in offer earlier in the afternoon. The psychedelic freak flag flew proudly once more during the festival and this time it was the turn of The Black Angels to be the bearers.
The Texas band, which was playing for the third time in Athens in as many years (check out here what happened the first time), also boasts an awesome light show that contributes to the whole psychedelic experience and although some Sigur Ros fans were getting a bit anxious to see their favorite band, I think the rest of us enjoyed The Black Angels set enormously. As an added bonus, we also got a first live taste of some new material that sneaked in their 70-minute set next to the many old favorites and you can check out at the end of this post one of their new tracks titled "Hunt Me Down".
Alex Maas of The Black Angels
Diiv, live @ Release Athens Festival
Among the highlights of the festival was also Diiv’s very first performance in Athens. The Brooklyn quintet led by Zachary Cole Smith is responsible for one of the best rock records of the year and those who arrived early were treated to an energetic 60-minute set bursting with some fine guitar rock action.
Although rather few knew the band’s songs, there is plenty of excellent material on "Is The Is Are" to put a smile on the face of the discerning rock fan and hopefully after this performance the band with the strangely typed name will enjoy a greater recognition in Athens as well.
For the finale of our report, here's some more live music from the last day of the festival - check out below "Ný Batterí" by Sigur Ros, "Hunt Me Down" by The Black Angels and Diiv's "Dopamine":
Sigur Rós - Ný Batterí, live @ Release Athens Festival 2016
The Black Angels - Hunt Me Down, live @ Release Athens Festival 2016
DIIV - Dopamine, live @ Release Athens Festival 2016
The timing couldn't have been better. The Black Angels' first ever gig in Greece came at a time when "Indigo Meadow", their fourth and probably best album, appears all the more frequently in the various "Best of the Year" lists of local blogs and sites (it’s certain to pop up in our forthcoming list as well) and their popularity has risen to an unpredictable peak.
Actually, the psychedelic sounds of the Austin, Texas, band seem to have found proportionally much greater favor with the rock audience of Greece than with those of other countries. The proof came when their Athens’ gig at Fuzz Club, became sold out a week in advance and tickets started exchanging hands at inflated prices outside the venue on Wednesday night. Take into account the country’s economic state and the fact that the club’s capacity is a bit bigger than that of London’s Electric Ballroom where the band played earlier in the year and you get a clear picture of The Black Angels’ popularity in Greece right now.
The almost two hour gig that we witnessed when we finally made it into the venue covered a lot of ground, introducing The Black Angel’s older material to their new fans and including several highlights from the more pop oriented but no less psychedelic "Indigo Meadow" ("Don't Play with Guns". "Holland", "Evil Things", "I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia)" and of course the title track).
Their performance opened with "The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven", a track off their 2006 debut album "Passover" that channels the heavy sound of '60s psych rock and continued with the musically and thematically similar "Broken Soldier" off "Indigo Meadow", one of their new songs that show that although the band’s sound has evolved over time with the inclusion of influences from other decades ("Don't Play with Guns", for example, brings to mind The Jesus And Mary Chain’s "Blues from a Gun"), their roots remain firmly planned in the psychedelic '60s.
Their main set reached its climax with two more tracks from the band’s past, the majestic "Bad Vibrations" off 2010’s "Phosphene Dream" and "Young Men Dead", "Passover"’s powerful opening track (and my personal introduction to the band all those year’s ago). For the three-track encore we were treated with extended versions of "Black Grease", "Manipulation" and "Black Isn't Black", a fittingly "black" themed ending to an exceedingly colorful psych rock performance.
The already long list of April's fine new releases just got longer with yesterday's Record Store Day goodies. Time, then, for a new Hit List including some of our current favorite tracks and, among them, three Record Store Day 2013 releases that stand out:
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Animal X
The one Record Store Day 2013 release that I currently own, the 7" picture disc of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' new single "Animal X", which, surprisingly, was available in Athens' record shops a week earlier than the rest of the world. The track was recorded in France during the recording sessions for "Push The Sky Away" and it's not on the album, although it's definitely one of the best Bad Seeds tracks of the year.
The Fall - Sir William Wray
Fall fans rejoice! Album number 30, titled "Re-Mit", is on its way and "Sir William Wray" was released as a 7" single on Record Store Day to whet our appetite. The single also includes "HittiteMan", another track from the forthcoming album (both are alternate versions on this release), plus the exclusive "Jetplane", a very good reason to try to track down this limited edition single.
A Place To Bury Strangers - Don't Burn the Fires
A Place To Bury Strangers have released a special EP full of Dead Moon covers for Record Store Day 2013 titled "Strange Moon". "Don't Burn the Fires" is the track that opens the record and if you'd like to find out more about Dead Moon, I would recommend to start with the Sub Pop compilation "Echoes of the Past", which I've been listening to again this week thanks to the APTBS release.
Our April Hit List closes with three excellent singles taken from our current favorite new albums, "Mosquito" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Shaking The Habitual" by The Knife and The Black Angels' "Indigo Meadow". More about them soon...
Now that we’re back from our summer vacations and we’re trying to re-adapt to the daily grind, there’s nothing better than a couple of strong rocking tracks to help us get back on our feet - sort of like a double dose of black coffee to reawaken the system. The first one is "Next Girl" from The Black Keys’ recent "Brothers" LP, a track that gets my vote for Summer Anthem 2010 (the video certainly helps a lot), and the second one is "Old Fangs" by Black Mountain, a first taste from the forthcoming, highly anticipated, "Wilderness Heart" LP (I wonder if this is their answer to Them Crooked Vultures’ "New Fang"):
The Black Keys - Next Girl
Black Mountain - Old Fangs
Did I mention that Black Mountain will be hitting the road this fall along with fellow psych rockers The Black Angels who release their new album "Phosphene Dream" on the same date (September 13 or 14 depending on your location)? Everything goes black…here’s a teaser for The Black Angels LP and here are the dates and tickets for The Dropout Boogie Tour (unfortunately there are no dates in Europe for this deliciously black combination except for one show in London...hmmm):
