Revelation Appreciation: Christian Bland and the Revelators at RVRB Records

Austin – The grand opening of RVRB Records brought out great musical acts Christian Bland and the Revelators, Alex Maas, Chris Catelena & The Native Americans, and represented another milestone for The Black Angels. Though a soft opening for the record shop happened during SXSW, the East Austin shop will now be open regular hours and house Reverberation Appreciation Society vinyl among other treasures. In the past few years, The Black Angels have been the first band that comes to mind when thinking of the Austin indie scene. They have not only established themselves here, but are building up a community. In 2008, Christian Bland and Alex Maas founded Austin Psych Fest—an intimate festival that brings acts that have defined the genre (The Zombies are a headliner this year) and emerging psychedelic acts that are carrying on the tradition. On April 18^th, locals got a taste of what the festival has to offer this year.

Christian Bland & The Revelators is lead by the guitarist/vocalist of The Black Angels. This welcomed side project is based in Bland’s psychedelic roots but includes a guitar and surf rock sound. With this project, Bland is able to further experiment, utilizing odd tools to enhance the sound. His performance at RVRB included an old record player. This project also allows Bland to experiment with his sound by playing at smaller venues than The Black Angels could handle at this point in their career.

The audience buzzed with free beer provided by the shop and let Bland take us through the sunset with his fuzzy tunes. The distortions and reverb were enough to drown out the trains that passed by the brown metal fence, separating the shop’s backyard from the tracks. Taking a cue from, what we can assume are Bland’s influences due to past Psych Fest line-ups, the tracks include heavy organ that lifted the audience up where we needed to be. The set was dispersed with new songs and old favorites from 2012’s “Pig Boat Blues,” including “Shadow Child” that felt perfect as the sky turned pink. “Black Crayon” is one of the most garage sounding tracks with a raw guitar jam that seems to fade in to the other instruments during the climax. This is a track meant to be heard live and can answer any question of why Bland needs a side project.

The opening of RVRB records felt like a summer barbeque amongst friends (some of them extremely talented). Just another stake for the Austin psych/rock n’ roll community. If The Black Angels are the leaders of the movement, RVRB Records is their portal. See you at Psych Fest.

For more information on The Reverberation Appreciation Society CLICK HERE.

For more information on Austin Psych Fest CLICK HERE.

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Ilyse Kaplan

Growing up in Boston, MA, Ilyse Kaplan was an avid music fan so she followed her passion to Los Angeles.Unable to decide whether to be Penny Lane or William from "Almost Famous," she combined their best assets--William's writing skills and Penny's fashion--and joined her guitarist boyfriend Southwest.Though missing her old haunts like The Echo and The Satellite, she has warmly embraced the Austin music community and looks forward to sharing the hidden gems she comes across wandering aimlessly down east 6th st.Her record collection holds no boundaries from 60's Yeh Yeh girls like Francoise Hardy to her imaginary hip hop boyfriend, Drake.From the kings of morose, The Smiths, to the reigning queen, Taylor Swift.Having written for publications such as Variety, LADYGUNN, and Filter in the past, she looks forward to reporting Austin's Best New Bands live from the scene.