This weekend, Vancouver’s bearded and bohemian turn on, tune in and drop out for the Levitation Festival — a trippy co-pro between Timbre Concerts and Austin Psych Fest, June 5 to 7. Held at Stanley Park’s 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.
Back in black
Rock ‘n’ roll’s cozy relationship with the forces of darkness has never been a secret, so a certain number of bands at Levitation Fest with “black” in their names shouldn’t be a surprise. But five bands? That’s some serious hoodoo going on. Texas outfit the Black Angels takes its name from the Velvet Underground’s “The Black Angel’s Death Song” and are self-described purveyors of “Native American drone ‘n’ roll.” So they have that going for them. Blackbird Blackbird is the musical cloak worn by San Francisco-based wünderkind Mikey Maramag, who plays “a unique style of dreamy folktronica” 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’s 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’d discover written down on a Rockaberry Cooler-stained napkin in your back pocket but couldn’t remember when you wrote it or what it meant.
Who’s 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’s 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’s 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’ve heard since Benedict Cumberbatch. And Washington, D.C. trio Dead Meadow combines an unholy brew of early-’70s hard rock, ’60s psychedelia, J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft, which would normally equate to years of celibacy, but presumably not if you’re in rock band — even one that has been known to wear robes.
Who’s 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’t 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 Vancouver this weekend? The simply named Witch sees Dinosaur Jr.’s 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 “haunted surf rock.” 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’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby. Lest anyone accuse Levitation of sexism, the Warlocks also cast their rock ‘n’ roll spell over the festival.
Who’s missing: Witch Mountain, Acid Witch and Iron Witch. I don’t even know what these bands sound like, but based on names alone they seem like a perfect fit.
Vice is nice
What’s 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 “ambient/psych-pop multi-instrumentalist/singer/song-writer/producer” Crystal Dorval. Los Angeles band Gateway Drugs describes its music as “drug pop.” 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.
Details at levitation-vancouver.com.
mkissinger@vancourier.com
