The Bellwether

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.

Says vocalist/bassist Alex Maas, “a big focal point of this record is just the overall insanity that’s happening. What’s true? What’s not?” Adds guitarist Christian Bland, “We leave our music open to interpretation, but our topics are always universal themes – problems mankind has had since the beginning of time. You can relate them to any period.”

Combining psych-rock, shoegaze, power pop, synth pop, and more with the cheeky detachment of their pop-art namesake, the Dandy Warhols are equally skilled at heady reveries and satirical pop. Early on, they scored hits with “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” (from their 1997 major-label debut, The Dandy Warhols Come Down) and “Bohemian Like You” (from 2001’s Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia), both of which skewered hipster culture with a wit that suggested they were America’s answer to Brit-pop. Later in the 2000s, they dabbled in synth-pop on 2003’s Welcome to the Monkey House and indulged their excesses on 2005’s sprawling Odditorium or Warlords of Mars. Though more restrained efforts such as 2016’s Distortland suggested the Dandy Warhols might be mellowing out in their third decade, 2019’s freewheeling Why You So Crazy proved they were committed to keeping their listeners guessing. 2020’s Tafelmuzik Means More When You’re Alone pushed the envelope even further with nearly four hours of mostly instrumental exploration.