License & Registration: The Black Angels

If you haven't yet tried on Fox's new surreal drama, Fringe, for size, you're missing out on more than a glorious mix of The X-Files and Lost, a show touching on supernatural, scientific experiences, albeit sans aliens, that requires a certain suspension of disbelief for enjoyment. Those of us that might call ourselves former X-Files junkies – and come on, how many of you used to rush home on Sunday nights to watch the show prior to the almighty DVR? – are pretty optimistic about J.J. Abrams' newest baby.

But this is no "TV Eye." One of the great things about Abrams and his contemporaries (Joss Whedon among them) is their insistence on integrating pop culture into their creations. Not only does Fringe feature former Dawson's Creek co-star Joshua Jackson (aka Pacey) as the genius Peter Bishop, but Abrams is doting on a stellar soundtrack.

Last week's sophomore episode, "Same Old Story," featured serial killers, genetic cloning, superaging, and – one for the hometown kids – the Black Angels. As Christopher Penrose enters an, um, adult establishment to find (spoiler alert) his next kill, the Angels' "Young Men Dead," off 2006 debut LP Passover (Light in the Attic), blares over the PA for all your slowly gyrating, sweaty liking. Who doesn't love psychedelic stripping?

That should pay for a few gallons of gas on the Angels' upcoming trek from Stubb's next Sunday, Sept. 28, to California's Clean Air! Clean Stars! Festival, Oct. 11, through the Midwest, finishing at the all-too-appropriate Great American Music Hall in San Francisco with Roky Erickson. Television, it seems, is the new radio.