Reverberation Appreciation Society

Black Lips (by Todd V. Wolfson)

Reverberation Appreciation Society

Equate this wild circus to Austin's Psych Fest on speed. Twenty-seven bands over three stages in six hours, with some (VietNam, Terakaft) getting 35 minutes and others (Stagnant Pools, Valleys, Talk Normal) logging merely 20 minutes of work. Between the droning, psychedelic sprints, short-enders barely got time for three songs. Fivepiece Wampire made the most of their alloted time, closing out a dizzying set with a distorted mess of big-time rhythm and blues. Same's true for slack-jawed quartet Bad Indian, whose trailer park grunge tightened up at the right times. Jangly Saharan trio Terakaft paced themselves elsewhere, eschewing true grit for a hybrid concoction of Middle Eastern melodies and psychedelic drone. All-girl local foursome Feathers seemed off both in pitch and in niche; Ghost Wave and Kinski preferred stoner thump to shag carpets; and Shrines brought a suprising amount of shimmer to the day's constant haze. The big winners of the dance were Brooklyn's VietNam and Montreal's Suuns, who might be working on a new subgenre of psychedelic prog rock. Later, laid-back Los Angelenos Allah-Las proved no match for their derelict Atlanta brethren the Black Lips, who took to headlining amidst a sea of Silly String, shaken beers, and wayward shoes. Chaos drenched in chorus effects and endless echoes.