麻豆传媒映画

This weekend, Vancouver鈥檚 bearded and bohemian turn on, tune in and drop out for the Levitation Festival 鈥� a trippy co-pro between Timbre Concerts and Austin Psych Fest, June 5 to 7. Held at Stanley Park鈥檚 Malkin Bowl and several indoor dens of iniquity across the city, the three-day fuzz fest features dozens of droney, riff-prone, psychedelically inclined bands from all four hazy corners of the continent. But peruse the extensive lineup close enough and, much like staring at a magic eye portrait, patterns begin to emerge. Particularly when it comes to band names.听 听

Back in black
Rock 鈥榥鈥� roll鈥檚 cozy relationship with the forces of darkness has never been a secret, so a certain number of bands at Levitation Fest with 鈥渂lack鈥� in their names shouldn鈥檛 be a surprise. But five bands? That鈥檚 some serious hoodoo going on. Texas outfit the Black Angels takes its name from the Velvet Underground鈥檚 鈥淭he Black Angel鈥檚 Death Song鈥� and are self-described purveyors of 鈥淣ative American drone 鈥榥鈥� roll.鈥� So they have that going for them. Blackbird Blackbird is the musical cloak worn by San Francisco-based w眉nderkind Mikey Maramag, who plays 鈥渁 unique style of dreamy folktronica鈥� as opposed to your standard issue dreamy folktronica. Local acts Black Wizard and Black Mountain represent on both the black and longhair front. While Atlanta鈥檚 long-serving garage rockers Black Lips are known for their enjoyably chaotic live shows and once released an album called We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow, which sounds like something you鈥檇 discover written down on a Rockaberry Cooler-stained napkin in your back pocket but couldn鈥檛 remember when you wrote it or what it meant.
Who鈥檚 missing: Black Sabbath is the most obvious choice, followed by the Black Keys, Frank Black and country star Clint Black, who would really blow people鈥檚 minds.

Dead zone
Though not as nuanced or fashionable as the colour black, dead is also a popular word choice for badass bands at Levitation. Vancouver鈥檚 Dead Quiet and Dead Ghosts play stoner rock and lo-fi garage with a country vibe, respectively. Fronted by Portland, Ore. husband-wife team of Fred and Toody Cole, Dead Moon formed way back in the 1980s and deliver a rough-and-tumble brand of rootsy punk. Ironically, Toody Cole might be the most life-affirming name we鈥檝e heard since Benedict Cumberbatch. And Washington, D.C. trio Dead Meadow combines an unholy brew of early-鈥�70s hard rock, 鈥�60s psychedelia, J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft, which would normally equate to years of celibacy, but presumably not if you鈥檙e in rock band 鈥� even one that has been known to wear robes.
Who鈥檚 missing: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, the Dead Milkmen, Deadmau5, Death, Death From Above 1979, Dead Can Dance, Dead or Alive, the Dead Boys and the Grateful Dead, some of which wouldn鈥檛 be able to perform anyway on account of several members being, well, dead.

Every witch way
With so many black and dead bands, is it any wonder there are three witch bands haunting 麻豆传媒映画this weekend? The simply named Witch sees Dinosaur Jr.鈥檚 J Mascis putting down his guitar and getting behind the drum kit (his first instrument) for some good old fashioned stoner rock. California trio L.A. Witch plays what L.A. Weekly (no relation) describes as 鈥渉aunted surf rock.鈥� And, despite its name, All Them Witches is not a supergroup formed by members of Witch and L.A. Witch but a Nashville musical coven that gets its name from Roman Polanski鈥檚 1968 film Rosemary鈥檚 Baby. Lest anyone accuse Levitation of sexism, the Warlocks also cast their rock 鈥榥鈥� roll spell over the festival.
Who鈥檚 missing: Witch Mountain, Acid Witch and Iron Witch. I don鈥檛 even know what these bands sound like, but based on names alone they seem like a perfect fit.听听

Vice is nice
What鈥檚 most surprising, however, is the lack of bands at Levitation who opted to abstain from naming themselves after controlled or illicit substances. No Ghost Bong, no Black Opium, no Dead Stoner Witch. Then again, I made those up. White Poppy has arguably the most trippy and suggestive name at the festival and comes courtesy of overachieving Canadian 鈥渁mbient/psych-pop multi-instrumentalist/singer/song-writer/producer鈥澨鼵rystal Dorval. Los Angeles band Gateway Drugs describes its music as 鈥渄rug pop.鈥� And deceptively marketed Tobacco is the messed-up electronic, psychedelic funk project of Thomas Fec, frontman of experimental Pittsburgh outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow, which gave me a contact high just from typing.

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