Category: Concert Preview

BY TORI SWIACKI// Courtney Barnett, the indie darling of Australia, is returning to Washington, DC this Tuesday, July 24.

Barnett and her music have always held a certain staying power, between the blend of folk guitar dressed up with garage rock influences and her deadpan lyrics giving fans no shortages of witty quotes to swap. The most recognizable, and perhaps my personal favorite, will perhaps always be, “Give me all your money, and I’ll make some origami honey,” from her 2015 sophomore album, “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.”

  Putting the sometimes pithy nature of her usual lyrics aside, other tracks reveal a soft, queer love, like “Depreston,” telling the story of moving in with a partner and what it feels like to choose a new home for oneself. In her newest album, “Tell Me How You Really Feel,” Barnett shows a rare display of aggression in the middle track, “I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch,” which is neatly balanced out by the opening track “Hopefulessness,” with a simple plucked melody that never fails to hypnotize.

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BY SYDNEY SPENCER// Since the debut of their first album, Passover, in 2006, The Black Angels have been revitalizing the psychedelic rock genre. The New York Times described the group as, “playing psychedelic rock as if the 1960s never ended, and they are an absolute master of it.” With colorful influences from Led Zeppelin and The Velvet Underground, The Black Angels dirty guitar riffs and entrancing bass solos bring a unique old-school creativity to the modern rock world.

Establishing their roots in Austin, Texas, The Black Angels gained popularity through their MySpace music page and a psychedelic collaboration album released by Northern Star Records. Their first album, Passover, features their top hit song, Young Men Dead. Similar to the psych-rock movement of the 1960s, many of The Black Angel’s songs contain bold themes questioning government and armed-conflict. The group continues delivering these powerful messages in their newest album, Death Song, their first full-length album in four years. The album is unique and progressive in that it was written and recorded during the 2016 election – as expected, it has a strong emphasis on a political climate dominated by division, anxiety, and unease. Regarding sound, the 11-track collection offers a sharply honed elaboration on their signature sound – menacing fuzz guitar and cutting wordplay, steeped in a murky hallucinatory dream.

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