(Big Hassle) The Black Angels and Reverberation Appreciation Society are happy to announce the dates, location and initial lineup for Austin Psych Fest 4. The 4th annual festival will be held at The East Side Drive In, an outside venue in the heart of downtown from April 29 - May 1, 2011.
Spanning the full range of the psych sounds, the festival honors the past while also magnifying the modern vanguard of mind-expanding music. The festival grounds will feature a multi-stage setup and wide-open spaces for you to stretch out and enjoy live performances from these bands and many more to be announced:
The Black Angels
Spectrum
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Dead Meadow
Atlas Sound
Prefuse 73
Crystal Stilts
Sleepy Sun
Black Ryder
Tobacco
The Growlers
White Hills
Fresh and Onlys
Pontiak
The Night Beats
The Cult of Dom Keller
Vacant Lots
On January 13, the second round of lineup announcements, info on discounted early bird tickets and a new website with detailed festival information will be issued. A DVD is of Austin Psych Fest 3 is available now. It features highlight performances from the 2010 festival. Bands in the film include The Raveonettes, The Black Angels, Silver Apples, Warpaint, Spindrift, The Warlocks, Pink Mountaintops, Headdress, Ringo Deathstarr and more.
The film was shot in multiple formats including HD, Super 8, and the PXL cam. Packaging and design was created by by Christian Bland and Rob Fitzpatrick and features the posters from the three-day series. It was produced and directed by Oswald James with live audio recorded and mixed by The Pirate Studio.
The Black Angels released their latest record, Phosphene Dream, in September of this year and the response has been fantastic on all fronts, from sales to radio to press. Rolling Stone gave the record 3-1/2 stars, saying the "Texas Rockers channel bad vibes in good ways," while Filter said it's the "perfect album for those who want to take a trip to the dark side." Pitchfork said Phosphene Dream is "a step up" as the band has "tightened up their songwriting" and finds the Angels "tempering its bad vibes with a hint of flower-power homage." The New York Post called the album "glowing" and "hypnotic," while Blurt said the band is "mastering the art of time and tempo shifts and consistently catching the listener off-guard." The Baltimore Sun noted "At a time when there's so much lo-fi, breezy indie pop, where hushed notes often reign supreme, the Black Angels were refreshingly loud," and the Chicago Reader said "Austin's Black Angels have the rare power to make me regret not owning a car-their music, which channels the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the 13th Floor Elevators, and Spacemen 3, would be perfect for a nocturnal road trip."
