I did not hear this album when it was a new release. All the acquaintances I have who either got the album / heard on the radio of The Black Angels, were unimpressed, they had no praise to give. Their first single I heard did nothing for me either, so figuring that my friends had good taste enough to know when something should be ignored, I intentionally avoided hearing Passover. Turns out that they were wrong, and The Black Angels are awesome. I was blown away—perhaps due to low expectations—but I think it has to do with me actually loving their music. The sonic inspirations they draw from, the clever yet hazy flow of the lyrics, the simplicity, the blatant ode to late 60's underground rock 'n' roll, it all inspires reserved excitement and longing for what once was. I am totally into the post-modern, we have no avant garde, redo-our-cool-past-again attitude.
The first five seconds of track that I heard immediately made me think of shiny boots of leather, from The Velvet Underground and Nico. There is strange droning in the background, a complete 60's era recorded sound, the guitar distortion sounds like screwdrivers shoved through speaker cones, it is amazing. These guys must love Lou Reed. I hear Brian Jonestown Massacre, as well as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, some of the more experimental Stones recordings and similarities with the Raveonettes. It is a dark, dreamy, drugged out vibe.
the black angels are from texas, and apparently in the desert you only hear 3 chords. Song structures leave a little to be desired, sometimes the droning becomes monotonous when songs last longer than 3 minutes, or the verse skips a chorus change, and sometimes the vocal lines leave more melody to be desired. Overall this disc is a hit with me. It creates a nice balance of mood, intelligence and romanticism for a bygone era in rock music. I would recommend this to anyone that has listened to Loaded more than once, or thought that BJM was far superior to the Dandy Warhols.
Do not listen to my friend Jeff, he is wrong, we should all like The Black Angels.