The Black Angels "Clear Lake Forest" 2014***

Yesterday I was at The Paard van Troje in The Hague, and had a great time at the double bill concert of The Black Angels and Dandy Warhols (plus a short support slot by Miranda Lee Richards). It was a great pairing, as evidenced by the warm reception The Black Angels got by The Dandys' crowd and vice versa, as well as by the two groups' camaraderie and their coexistence onstage during the finale. As for the Black Angels' live performance, it would be fair to say that The Angels are not natural showmen. They reminded me of those 90's shoegaze bands, both with their stage presence and soundwise - albeit with a sixties psychedelic flavor.

The first listen of this record took me by surprise: the opening song wasn't so much reminscent of 60's garage and psychedelia, but rather of the gothic blues of Gun Club. The next track was even slower, like Jim Morrison on barbiturates fronting a similarly medicated Black Sabbath. Then, halfway through, the song graduated from bluesy sludge to Saucerful of Secrets-era Pink Floyd played at the wrong speed - at which point, it dawned on me: Indeed, had been listening to the record at wrong speed. Not only that, I was quite enjoying it, too. So I switched to 45RPM and went at it again: "An Occurrence at 4507 South Third Street" retains that folky element, but the most attention-grabbing element is its frantic organ. "The Executioner" starts off a bit like the middle section of live Doors songs, when the musicians play a vague psychedelic thing as background while the singer lazily adlibs some improvised lyric; then goes into that early Pink Floyd vibe. "Linda's Gone" closes this short EP with some Velvet Underground-inspired drone music. Back on Side 1 proper, "Sunday Evening" is mid-tempo 60's psychedelia with a bright pop chorus, probably influenced by thοse other infamous Austinites, The 13th Floor Elevators. "Tired Eyes" is a catchy fuzzfest more similar to 90's shoegaze, and "Diamond Eyes" another woozy psychedelic tune wrapped in distorted guitars. Closing Side 1, "The Flop" is a frantic piece of garage rock revival with groovy organ a la ? And The Mysterians. By submerging everything in guitar distortion, the band manage to create an atmospheric album, but on the other hand they risk sounding monotonous. Here, its short duration (well under 30 minutes) works to its favor: they employ just enough style variation, hooks, and tempo changes to avoid repetition, but that may not have been possible if the record dragged on. In my opinion, Clear Lake Forest is a good representation of The Black Angels' talents. Nevertheless, it's probably telling that they didn't play a single track from this EP during last night's concert; apparently the band themselves consider it a minor work. On the plus side, it's a gorgeous piece of clear vinyl, with typical for The Black Angels psychedelic design.

**** for Sunday Evening, Tired Eyes, The Flop, An Occurrence at 4507 South Third Street

*** for Diamond Eyes, The Executioner, Linda's Gone

Mops "Iijanaika" (1971)****

What's with Japanese psychedelic rock and nudity? The album cover of Yuya Uchida & The Flowers' Challenge (1969) featured the band naked on a field of grass, on Flower Travelling Band's Anywhere (1970) they were riding motorcycles butt-naked, and Creation's debut (1975) featured a bunch of naked boys holding their willies, some of them pissing... totally bizarre idea for a cover! I'd like to get this LP, but I think of the embarassment if someone sees me with it "I didn't know you were into that Kostas, wink wink!" Anyway, a first glance at this CD in an Athens record store had me thinking that this must be an unknown Greek band from the 70's because the photo of a band (plus, of course, a naked lady) is super-imposed on that of an ancient Greek temple. Then I noticed the Asian faces, and the name of Mops, a group I'm familiar with from their classic debut Psychedelic Sounds in Japan (1968). Half of Psychedelic Sounds... consists of covers of contemporary American/British hits, but Iijanaika features original compositions, sung primarily in English. The liner notes mention Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath influences; I hear a lot of Cream, Groundhogs, and Led Zeppelin, not so much Sabbath - except possibly from the tremendous title track. Let's call this style "heavy progressive blues rock", HPBR for short. On second thought that's a terrible abbreviation; I don't see it becoming a staple of musical journalism, so just forget it. As for the lyrical content, according to a reviewer on rateyourmusic, "Iijanaika is a concept album, detailing our hero's mistaken desire to leave his holistic rural community for something better, only to realize too late that 'something better' is the deadening conformity of the 9-to-5 routine". Curious about the meaning of the word Iijanaika I stumbled into an interesting Wikipedia entry: apparently the word describes a variety of carnivalesque communal festivities that took part in 19th century Japan. Gifts were exchanged, youth groups organized mass dances which included cross-dressing, elaborate costumes, or not wearing clothes at all (aha! maybe the Japrock nudity obsession has its roots here?) The term ee-ja-nai-ka literally means "Isn't it good?" but can also be interpreted as "Why not?" or "Who cares?". It became the main refrain sung during these activities, and gave its name to the whole movement. The rise of austere militarism and concurrent beginning of Japan's Westernization soon put an end to that whole movement. As I said before, opener "Iijanaika" is a tremendous hard rocker reminiscent of Black Sabbath. "Town Where I Was Born" sports a Sabbath-like riff but the rest of the song is more like 60's psychedelia akin to The Groundhogs or Mountain. "Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night" is an acoustic folk ditty, while "Nobody Cares" is a more soulful and accomplished composition that reminds me of Traffic. "Gekko Kamen" is heavy blues with theatrical half-spoken Japanese vocals, similar to those of some very stylized characters in old samurai movies. In any case, I think of this as a satirical song because it reminds me a lot of someone most of you wouldn't have heard of, but I grew up listening to: Dimitris Poulikakos, a Greek satirical rocker from the 70's with a Jimi Hendrix obsession. "To My Sons" adds a healthy dose of R&B, while the album closes with orchestral pop ballad "Alone". It's sincerely soulful, and not bad as ballads go, but The Mops are best when they are also at their loudest, all screeching guitars and furious drumming, as evidenced on the title track and hard rockers like "Traces of Love" and "No One Knows What They Were". Well, now that I learned about the history of Iijanaika, I'm tempted to look for some Japanese historical novel to read - or maybe I'll just watch Shogun on T.V. I hear there's a new remake out; when I was a child I used to watch fanatically the original series featuring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune, which was based on a novel, which was in turn based on the fascinating true story of a 17th century English sailor called William Adams. Giles Milton has written a brilliant biography of him, called Samurai William. You see? this is what you get on presentingmyrecordcollection: not just record reviews, but also stream-of-consciousness lapses into autobiography, politics, travel advice, culinary comments, history lessons, and now book suggestions. There's just no other blog like this one!

**** for Iijanaika, To My Sons, No One Knows What They Were

*** for Town Where I Was Born, Good Morning Good Afternoon Good Night, Nobody Cares, Gekko Kamen, Traces of Love, Alone

Rolling Blackouts C.F. "Sideways to New Italy" 2020****

In an abandoned review from 4 years ago, I wrote that "Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever is, along with Fontaines D.C., the new groups that made the biggest impression with me in 2019". Since then, I've followed them both more closely than any other recent band, even buying all their records (well, except Fontaine's latest, which only came out a few weeks ago). And that's something I almost never do, I'm much too preoccupied with researching ancient rock'n'roll history and filling old gaps in my record collection. I'll return to Fontaines D.C. later, probably after I've caught them live in November. Time then to re-write that abandoned RBCF review: With hindsight, it seems that they were never destined for rock stardom: three albums in, they still churn out tasteful indie-pop full of jangly guitars, tuneful harmonies, and catchy choruses, but they have failed to progress and to surpass their antipodean antecedents like The Go Betweens or The Chills. One thing that gives RBCF the upper hand to most indie bands of the past, is that they have the luxury of featuring three singer/songwriter/guitarists; as a result there's an abundance of guitars, yet the music is never cluttered, and certainly not heavy. Right now I'm re-listening the album on my mobile (initially I grabbed it on vinyl when it first came out), meaning that I can't see who wrote or sings lead on each track. I can't really say that individual tracks stick out as the work of different persons; to me it sounds as homogenized as any album from a single artist. Highlights include upbeat "She's There" and "Cars in Space" as well the two other, slightly slower, singles "Falling Thunder" and "Cameo", and the more new-wavey and danceable, Cure-like "The Only One". All in all, a very sunny indie pop album, with the guitars providing just a touch of post punk edge. Perfect for a summer afternoon like today - it may be mid-September but it's still summer here in Antiparos island, Greece, where I am right now. “Sunglasses At the Wedding” is the only slow and introspective -autumnal, if you like-  track of the LP. By no means the only romantic song here, though: despite its upbeat rhythm and sunny disposition, this sounds like a very romantic album - and I say this without really delving into the lyrics, just the impression I get from repeated listening. Or maybe that's just the nostalgia effect it has on me because it takes me back to my teenage years in the late 80s. If you too grew up with The Go Betweens, Smiths, and early REM -or just plainly love melodic folk rock with a post punk edge- you should definitely listen to this album. You'll love it.

**** for The Second of the First, Falling Thunder, She's There, The Only One, Cars in Space, Cameo

*** for Beautiful Stevent, Not Tonight, Sunglasses at the Wedding, The Cool Change