THE BLACK ANGELS (4Knots Festival) – South Street Seaport, NY – 16th July 2011

‘The Siren Music Festival’ was an annual event run by NY newspaper, The Village Voice and held in Brooklyn's Coney Island from 2001-2010. Following a successful 10-year run, the event was discontinued and replaced by this, the ‘4Knots Music Festival’ at South Street Seaport. I only made it down to the Seaport at around 5pm, so my music entertainment was restricted to a couple of, ‘Davilla 666’ tracks, an energetic, ‘Titus Andronicus’ set and then the stars of the show and someone high up current playlist, ‘The Black Angels’.  If you read my previous review from April, it’s no secret I like these guys (and girl) - http://scoaustin.blogspot.com/2011/04/black-angels-music-hall-of-williamsburg.html

 

This review may run a little shorter and be less detailed than others. The truth of the matter is that I thought the balcony of UNO overlooking the stage would offer a great vantage point and that we would have some food and drinks during the gig. This was all fairly true, only the sound from the elevated position parallel with the stage was far from ideal. Mrs. ScoAustin did the business with the camera though, so this might become more of a review in pictures than a written one.

Alex Maas takes the stage with customary low set cap and maybe not so familiar, dark bug eyed glasses. This is an outdoor venue and despite no glaring sunshine, he is the front man of, The Black Angels, so that's fine. It’s a lively start with, ‘Bloodhounds on My Trail’ which is fast and furious with a lot of screeching and steel guitar. Its solid blues fused with some psychedelic rock undertones.

 

'Mission District' is started eloquently by female drummer, Stephanie Bailey who hits out with a deliberate and precise drum stroke. Deep bass on this track accompanying a tambourine equipped, Maas.  It’s very much a case of what you hear is what you see with this band. ‘Yellow Elevator’ and ‘Manipulation’ follows with a lot of distortion. Not sure how much is due to my poor vantage point or the techniques of the various band members. The latter of the two songs, begins with lead guitarist, Kyle Hunt in a trippy and deep fashion before being accompanied by the snarling, Maas.

‘You On the Run’ begins with an, Alex Maas howl and continues with tidy vocals and shrills that the front man carries off in majestic fashion. ‘The Sniper’ which follows always put me in mind of the scene in, ‘Pulp Fiction’ when Vincent and Mia get up to dance. It’s the highlight of this particular show thus far. ‘Black Grease’ has a pumping bass. Only this week, the opening lyrics to this really struck a chord with me (Mrs ScoAustin may not like that, but I'm sure she'll appreciate nonetheless).

‘The First Vietnamese War’ intros with a sweet little organ solo which, Maas continues to tinker with throughout the song. This distortion and medaling continues in ‘Bad Vibrations’ in which I love the opening lyrics.  There’s a lot of tampering and pouncing on pedals by, Maas and, Hunt. ‘Young Men Dead’ was certainly familiar to this boisterous young crowd. It's my personal favourite from the band. Heavy, dark, lyrically pleasing and the vocals are perfect.  Maas explained that upon hearing Velvet Underground for the first time, he thought, “This is insane. This is so much more dark and ominous than The Beatles”. It’s clear from this song and the bands general theme that he follows similar music principals to the Underground.

 
‘Entrance Song’ is next up and starts with the lyrics "Rolling fast down I-35…supersonic overdrive". Love it. Album title track, ‘Phosphene Dream’ is up next. This slows things down a little bit with, Bailey getting something of a rest on this one…certainly at the beginning of the track. "I Feel so low" is the whale that gets 'Better Off Alone' underway. Solid on this performance and among my early favourite songs from this band.

Following a quick chant of “one more song” from an entranced audience, a brief encore was provided. ‘The Sniper at The Gates of Heaven’ is a title that tells you all you need to know about this one. Again pretty dark lyrics and murmurs from Maas. "Wake up wake up wake up!" roared at its peak. ‘Empire’ concludes the 1 hour 10 minute set kicking in with "Oh the Emperor's calling". Love this beat and the continual spits and snarls from, Maas. The lead guitar plays a mean riff on this one.

I don’t feel that I can provide an accurate rating of this show, such was the poor sound at my early vantage point. Only on the last few tracks did we get down to ground level where the sound quality was markedly better. I can only assume that the people in the crowd seeing them for the first time were as impressed and encapsulated as I was when I first saw this amazing band at SXSW in March. With a free show at The Mercury Lounge late tomorrow night, I am tempted to go down and take another look and listen.

Set List:

Bloodhounds on My Trail

Mission District

Yellow Elevator

Manipulation

You on the Run

Black Grease
Ronettes

The First Vietnamese War

Bad Vibrations

Young Men Dead

Entrance Song

Phosphene Dream

Better Off Alone

Encore:

The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven

Empire