Ever since psychedelic rock began, its combination
of effects-laden guitars, heavy drums, and echoed vocals, once the most
forward-thinking of mixtures, has seemed more and more tethered to a specific
time in the past, even as plenty of good bands have mined it and even extended
it stylistically. Austin quintet The Black Angels are canny bricoleurs of that
continuum, and on Directions To See A Ghost, they either stretch out
or stick to basics. They're good at it, too, even as they bring to mind specific
antecedents and peers: The eight-and-a-half-minute "Never/Ever" resembles a
cross between early Sonic Youth (rumbling tom-toms, doomy vibe) and latter-day
Clinic (needling vocals, needling organ), and SY crops up again on "The
Return," in which Alex Maas' vocals recall Lee Ranaldo's. It's kind of samey,
sure—but in a formalist genre, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.