Live: Wooden Shjips @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, March 17th, 2019)

Five years after their last performance in Athens, Wooden Shjips made their triumphant comeback at the packed Gagarin 205 club with a great psychedelic set full of highlights from the whole of their career so far.

The music of the San Francisco quartet relies on the virtues of repetition and by mixing psychedelic garage rock with krautrock grooves they create a mesmerizing swirl of sound that takes the listener on an adventurous sonic trip. The experience was enhanced on stage by the use of colorful background projections which added to the psychedelic energy of the music.

The 75-minute set did not rely on the band's latest album "V", but you could say it was an overview of their discography, going all the way back to their beginning with tracks like "We Ask You To Ride", "Death's Not Your Friend" or "Black Smoke Rise", moving on to the more laid-back new material ("Ride On", "Staring At The Sun") and paying along the way tribute to some of their influences by adding in the mix cover versions of Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" (which crept in at the end of "Death's Not Your Friend") and Snapper's "Buddy" with which they closed their storming performance.

The psychedelic colors of the evening were further enhanced by a fine opening set from local rising act Holy Monitor, a band obviously sharing many influences with Wooden Shjips, who presented us songs from their two albums.

Holy Monitor, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, March 17th, 2019)

Wooden Shjips, live @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, March 17th, 2019)

Check out below two songs from Wooden Shjips' performance at Gagarin 205, "Flight" and "Death's Not Your Friend":

Wooden Shjips - Flight, live @ Gagarin 205

Wooden Shjips - Death's Not Your Friend / What Goes On, live @ Gagarin 205

Live: The Black Angels @ Piraeus 117 Academy (Athens, September 7th, 2017)

"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's Release 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

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The Black Angels, live @ Piraeus 117 Academy

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)