The Black Angels

(Part1 of 2) The Black Angels - Interview from WeDentonDoIt on Vimeo.

By Jordan Smith

The countercultural music of the 1960s was a direct response to an overwhelming, ambiguous strain caused by conventional norms of the 1950s. Psychedelic music was birthed out of this movement, and, before long, it became a centerpiece of the hippie generation.

Some 40 years later, though, Austin's The Black Angels have tapped into the same sounds that surrounded the formerly dominant subculture. Once again, though, it's a sound that comes across fresh, speaking to an audience searching for an anthem of social reform. This, and the Angels' inclusion in a 2009 History Channel documentary called Manson (which focused, as you might assume, on the stories of The Manson Family murders and the creation of pop culture icon Charles Manson) served as the bulk of our conversation with Angels players Christian Bland and Alex Maas, just before their recent performance at the Kessler Theater.

These two men are seeking what they call truth and, in their exploration, have found themselves in a position of influence. In our two part interview, the first part of which can be found above, and the second of which can be found after the jump, Bland and Maas discuss with us their positions on religion, politics and drugs. Enjoy.

Recent Developments - Black Angels by Travis Kincaid

These are the recent development sof Travis Kincaid. Travis was kind enough to share his photos from last Saturdays' Black Angels concert. We will be posting our video interview with the band soon. For now enjoy these photographs.

Lemonade

From DC9 "This time last week, we posted WeDentonDoIt's piece on Delorean, who performed at Hailey's Club a few weekends ago. And now they've passed along a piece featuring Brooklyn's Lemonade, the dance pop act that opened the show.

Judging by the following video, you would think that Lemonade is still trying to figure out exactly who they are. But listening to their music, you get the feeling that they've taken an odd assortment of dance and world music influences and put them to tape in a concise, refreshing way. And, as was seen at Hailey's, it goes over really well in a live setting--that is, if they can keep the soundsystem from blowing."

Delorean

from DC9

"After 10 years of performing together, 2010 has finally seen Spain's Delorean breaking out in the States, thanks in large part to its ambient, transporting Subiza release, which has seen the band, among other praises, compared to the likes of Animal Collective and Phoenix. And that's fine by the band, which has spent the majority of its year touring American, as part of an attempt to increase its U.S. fanbase.

That's what brought the band to Denton last weekend for a show at Hailey's Club, where, despite pressing sound issues, the band still managed to offer up a phenomenal, lush set. And that's where our friends at WeDentonDoIt caught up with the band -- or, more specifically, band members Guillermo Astrain and Igor Escudeo -- for a charming, heavily accented pre-show chat about the band's influences, hopes and newfound affection for barbecue.

Dan Lam

n Lam is a painting and drawing student at UNT. Here is a short interview about her and her artwork. To view more of Dan’s work go to http://www.dannlam.com/.

“I would say that I am a non-objective artist but I encourage people to see what they want to see out of my paintings. I am drawn to making non-representational art. It is a lot more satisfying to create from my mind than from something that already exists.”

“In the studio I try to stay self-disciplined and self-motivated. I feel like those two things are very vital to staying productive and generating ideas. I also try to always work on more than one painting at a time. That way there is no lagging in between. If I hit a roadblock in one, often times working on another will help me find the solution.”

“The best way for me to work is intuitively. I know it's not supposed to be a good thing, but I rarely sketch out ideas. When I see the idea, I want to work directly from that mental image, not a sketch that has been translated in line. I also try to stay away from reference imagery - I find it influences me too much and takes the intuition aspect out. My work looks organic because the process of creating it is organic.”

“I create art by observing the world around me. I take in experiences, reflect, and then make. I would say that everyday life and human interaction are major influences. I am also interested in all kinds of materials and textures.”

Toro y Mo

I had the chance to sit down with Toro y Moi this weekend at Fun Fun Fun Fest a few minutes before his set on Sunday.

 So I heard it is your birthday today.  How old are you today?

Chaz: Twenty four

Oh wow I hear that’s a good year.

Chaz: Haha, oh yeah twenty four is awesome man.

Anyway, the first thing I was curious about was, after seeing you live and listening to the recordings,  was how does your process go, about switching your recordings to live performance.

Chaz: Well the guys, Patrick and Andy, Patrick plays bass and Andy plays drums, we have all played together in previous bands and so we sorta know how we work.  I mean, we change it up to accommodate the way we work together a lot, not like how the record sounds.

So do you write everything by yourself or do they ever help with the recording process?

Chaz:  No, maybe that would be cool to let them help out with the recoding, but like if I ever want to do something live tracked, that would be cool to try to do, something old fashion style, everything played live.

So what are your plans? You’re coming out with a record soon right?

Chaz:  Yeah, I’m trying to shoot for February or March.  It’s actually on its way to mastering tomorrow.

So how is it going to be different from what you’ve put out before?

CHAZ:  Well, It’s pretty much all acoustic and live instruments.  The goal is to try to show another side, show another approach, reach out to different fans, and see where it goes.

Would you say it’s in the same vain as the first album or is it something totally different?

Chaz; yeah it’s very different; there’s a lot of haziness atmosphere and that kind of stuff.  My influences were completely different.

I’m curious about your gear.  What kind of stuff are you using up there?

Chaz:  Well I have a Korg R3.  I’ve got a couple of loop pedals, delay, and I have an SP 404(a sampler made by Roland).  Yeah I just started using the 404; I’d never used a sampler before.  It’s cool; I mean I don’t even know what else it can do.  All I know how to do right now is press and load samples.  But it’d be cool to use it actually as its full potential.

So what are you going to do for your birthday?

Chaz: I don’t know, probably going to hang out with friends, the band and the Washed Out guys.  Yeah, we have a rental car and we have a hotel so yeah.

Oh cool, so are you hanging out for the day in Austin?

Chaz: Yeah we’re here for like 3 more days. Yeah, we have a couple of days off.  Actually we’re in the middle of a 6 week tour, so we did like 3 and half weeks in Europe and now we have like two weeks left up the west coast. Driving around the states is so much more brutal than driving in Europe.  It’s like Europe is pretty much scattered everywhere people wise.  Driving in west Texas is a nightmare.

-- by Junior Varsity