“Now that you mention it, I’m a little nervous,” admitted guitarist Christian Bland before the Black Angels’ national television debut on the Late Show with David Letterman last night. “But we get a couple of tries if we mess up.” The local psych evangelists only needed one take.

The band’s new album, Phosphene Dream, not only got a huge plug from the host (“Don’t look at this too long … you’ll be at LensCrafters the rest of your life”), but Paul Shaffer lead the house band in an encore walk-off rendition of “Telephone.”

For more on Phosphene Dream, scope this recap from last weekend’s All Tomorrow’s Parties New York festival and check back next week for a full review. In the meantime, the Angels touch down at Waterloo Records on Tuesday at 5pm. While you still can, grab a copy of Bland’s solo outing with the Revelators, The Lost Album, recorded at a Los Angeles ice cream factory with Greg Ashley in 2007. The vinyl edition is limited to 333 copies.

This article appears in September 3 • 2010.

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