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Directions to See a Ghost | 
 enlarge | Artist: Black Angels
Label: Light in the Attic
Category: Music
List Price: £10.99
Buy New: £4.48
You Save: £6.51 (59%)
New (35) Used (1) from £4.48
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1105
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 33
UPC: 826853003322
EAN: 0826853003322
ASIN: B0015N0786
Release Date: May 26, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW items direct from the USA. Please allow 8 to 12 business days for delivery. Customs charges apply.
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| Tracks:
| » | You On The Run | | » | Doves | | » | Science Killer | | » | Mission District | | » | 18 Years | | » | Deer-Ree-Shee | | » | Never/Ever | | » | Vikings | | » | You In Color | | » | The Return | | » | Snake In The Grass |
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| Customer Reviews:
"Just sit on this groove and chew" July 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The saying in the groove means if I have understood it correctly that someone is on the top of their particular game, that they are performing as well as can be expected. It could also mean literally that you are in a groove but that's unlikely so we'll put that to one side. The reason I mention this is because on Directions To See A Ghost The Black Angels are very much in the groove ...but by that that I mean they hit a musical groove of linear proportions and stay there. Whether this constitutes being in the metaphorical groove rather depends on which song you are listening to at the time.
The six piece from Austin engage in an motorik drone like rock that will invite comparisons to Spacemen 3(Though they remind me most of Loop) or maybe The Velvet Underground . The band even use an instrument called a drone machine as well as multiple guitars, organ, percussion and vox .Despite this the music is limited stylistically with relentless banks of fuzz, wah wah etc.Its like walking into the demonstration room at a guitar convention,.However when they hit a true locked in furrow of sound, one that they can develop and build on , rather than one that actually dissipates the longer it buzzes on like the album closer , the sixteen minute plus "Snake In The Grass". this band are a formidable proposition. "You On The Run" ,"Doves" and "Science Killer" are all sonic bombardment of real quality . "Deer -Ree Shee" spangles sitar into the turbid whirl of cacophonous sumptuousness. "Never/Ever" hints at a My Bloody Valentine apocalyptic mother lode but spoils it with some scuzzed up noodling ."Vikings " attempts for threatening significance with deliberate interment heavy drums but is merely stodgy.
The music is doubtlessly influenced by the heavy political themes that govern the albums ambience . The lyric sheet gives each song a sub-title .So for instance "You In Colour" , a bracing blast of fuzzed like coils of guitar, crashing cymbals, and turgid bass is sub-headed "The confusion of black and white" and has themes of colonialism and subjugation . The band cogitate on war, alienation, conquest and moral ambiguity with Solemn intensity , the vocals of Alex Maas delivered are delivered with true gravity, often with a disconcerting echo effect. I feel given the albums unremitting claustrophobic atmosphere it might have been better with some judicious editing. At over seventy minutes long even the most ardent lover of these all enveloping fortified grooves will struggle to listen to it all in one sitting . Still with the finger poised over the skip button /switch there is much to lose yourself in on Directions To See A Ghost. Tracks like "Mission District" and the organ heavy "18 Years" carry a particular inexorable thrill. As the band say on "You On The Run": "Just sit on this groove and chew".
The Blacks Angels' Songs Of Death April 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Black Angels' first effort, 2006's "Passover" was received, at least critically, by rapturous reviews praising its abrasive timelessness while acknowledging its obvious late 60's/ early 70's influence; the use of a drone machine through most of the record, Alex Maas' almost shamanic voice recalling the late Jim Morrison and a guitar sound descending right from the vaults of the 13th Floor Elevator couldn't hide the fact this rather young bunch of people were nevertheless quite original on their own.
If "Passover" was littered with dark lyrics and a general mood verging on the sinister, it still had a few rockier moments ("Young Men Dead", "Manipulation" and the single "Better Off Alone") that preserved it from being a totally depressing listening experience. Well in that respect, their sophomore effort, the aptly-titled "Directions To See A Ghost", digs even deeper into that apocalytic vision of a world gangrened by war, hate and the human race's ability to destroy anything good around its desolate world. If that might appear naive or desperately hippie for hip's sake on paper, on record it works (once again) remarkably well, as you can feel this six-piece bunch really breathing through this utterly passionate music.
If on the first LP, an effort had to be made to discern the melody from the noise surrounding it, this time around the task is to differenciate one track from the other, as "DTSAG" is built like a lengthy digression (70 minutes + !) over the same slow, hard and menacing groove. From the rampant infectious opener "You On The Run" to the last hypnotic 16 minutes of live favourite "Snake In The Grass", you can barely find a few lighter moments after the first five tracks in the shape of the spiritual "Deer-Ree-Shee", the calmdown prayer on "Never/Ever" or even the shamanic yet almost demented "Vikings" (highly political lyrical content anyhow : "We Gonna Bomb You 'Til Tuesday / Important Vision / Incredible Smile"). "You In Color" provides a slightly more upbeat moment afterwards, before the record slips again into brooding territory, until the final bars of "Snake..." are repeated through a mere 8 minutes like a mantra for the end of the world...
For all the difficult listening experience it is, "DTSAG" remains challenging however, if you dare entering The Black Angels' world that gives a distorted if frighteningly accurate vision of our ravaged so-called civilized conceptions.
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