Heavy Rotation: The Black Angels

From the "That Was Soooo Six Months Ago" file: The Black Angels have produced the best debut album I have heard in a very long time. And as a result, this Austin band, whose "Passover" was released in early April, will not leave me alone.

I know the rules. It's 2007. I live in Brooklyn. Shouldn't I be looking forward, listening to albums and bands that nobody has heard of so I can prove how "in the know" I am? Shouldn't I be bragging about how fucking cool the new LCD Soundsystem album, Sound of Silver, is? (It is, and you will love it!) Yes, I should be, but I can not stop listening to this album. I will even use this overused and horribly trite cliche: this band is haunting me.

At last I know why. It is because vocalist Alex Maas' vocals are so good. It is because their dark '60s psychedelia revival sound (they took their name from a Velvet Underground song) pushes me up against some edge other music can't. It is because their songs are tight, powerful and loud. It is because I have a massive crush on Stephanie Bailey, the band's ferocious drummer.

But mostly is has to do with Maas, the layers of fuzzy guitars he sings over, and the dire sense of urgency in his voice. "Black Grease," "Bloodhounds On My Trail," "The First Vietnamese War" and "Young Men Dead" are tremendous songs. The way Maas' vocals soar and then fall, echoing off Bailey's pounding drums and Christian Bland's droning guitars, is mesmorizing.

Ultimately, the experience is visceral; Melissa cannot stand the Black Angels to the point where she insists that I turn them off before she loses her mind. "They make me want to go crazy," she said last night. I wish she liked them, but at least she appropriately feels their sound. It is dark, droning and devastating. It is a good trip, no drugs required.

Check out NPR's rebroadcast of the Black Angels' show at the 9:30 Club in D.C. here.