The best music reflects a wide-screen view of the world back at us, helping distill the universal into something far more personal. Since forming in Austin in 2004, The Black Angels have become standard-bearers for modern psych-rock that does exactly that, which is one of many reasons why the group’s new album, Wilderness of Mirrors, feels so aptly named. In the five years since the band’s prior album, Death Song, and the two-plus years spent working on Wilderness of Mirrors, pandemics, political tumult and the ongoing devastation of the environment have provided ample fodder for the Black Angels’ signature sonic approach.
“Wilderness of Mirrors” expertly refines the Black Angels’ psychedelic rock attack alongside a host of intriguing sounds and textures. There are classic blasts of fuzzed-out guitars meant to simultaneously perk up the ears and jumpstart the mind, alongside melancholy, acoustic guitar-driven newfound experiments. Mellotron, strings, and other keyboards also play a more prominent role on “Wilderness of Mirrors” than ever before.
Even amidst these new experimentations, The Black Angels remain masterfully true to psych-rock forebears such as Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Arthur Lee and the members of the Velvet Underground, all of whom are namechecked on album highlight “The River.” “The Velvet Underground song ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ – that’s what every Black Angels album has been about,” says vocalist/bassist Alex Maas. “You can’t work out your struggles unless you bring them to the forefront and think about them. If we can all think about them, maybe we can help save ourselves.”
Led by songwriter, singer and guitarist Fernando Nuti, New Candys are a band with Dario Lucchesi as the only other permanent member since the beginning.
Concocted with only the darkest of deviant rock’n’roll ethos and distinct melodic distortions, New Candys are one of the most important bands to have emerged from Italy in recent years. Their hometown of Venice is subtly interwoven through a focused aesthetic, not only sonically produced, but curated in their album artworks designed by Nuti himself.
With many years on the road internationally, they have done several tours around Europe, UK, United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Some festival appearances include SXSW, Treefort Music Fest and Psycho Las Vegas in 2022, Levitation France and Desert Stars Festival in 2019, Sydney and Melbourne Psych Fests as headliners in 2018 and in the same year they recorded a session for KEXP. They have supported artists such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols in Europe including shows at the Olympia Hall in Paris and The Roundhouse in London. Some of their songs are featured on episodes of Showtime Networks original TV series “Shameless”.
Their new album ‘Vyvyd’, mixed by Grammy Award producer Tommaso Colliva, was released in 2021. The current lineup includes Emanuele Zanardo on lead guitar and backing vocals, Marco Contestabile on bass and Francesco Giacomin on drums and sampler.
Arena Vienna / big room / adv 33 € / doors 19.00h
Tickets:
tickets.arena.wien/at/Events/68494
roadtriptoouttaspace.com 