Psycho California Day II Report: Caught in a Sinister Haze by the the Almighty Power of Sleep

Dead Meadow / All photos by Abigail Cassner

Remember those late-night creep shows that wouldn't let you sleep as a child? Day two of Psycho California kind of started out like that, in a fuzzy insomniac haze induced by the shrill cry of Acid Witch's cackling pipe organ and gory samples. Promoting their latest EP, Midnight Movies, the trio set the stoned pace for the main stage before eventually giving way to DC psych heathens Dead Meadow. Sending the room down a gnarly rabbit hole where three-eyed critters die in peace, Dead Meadow played familiar songs off their self-titled LP, reminding everyone exactly why they bought the vinyl version back at the dawn of the millenium.

A few joints and a couple of tacos later, I ambled over to catch Sinister Haze (a heavy vibing Richmond VA three-piece comprised of members of Cough and Balaclava) play a crushing psych doom set. Guitarist Brandon Marcey's possessed riffs recalled the classic heaviness of the 70s, paying homage to fellow Virginian and godfather of darkness, Bobby Liebling.

Sinister Haze

That timeless heaviness pervaded all of day two, further enforced by Pallbearer's sludgy hymns. The Arkansas four-piece played their 2015 single "Fear and Fury" with the same confident execution they exhibit on their game-changing 2012 LP Sorrow and Extinction, but no act was quite as primitive as Earth, who put listeners in a trance as they cycled through cuts off The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull. The anticipation surrounding Adrienne's methodical hits left listeners holding theirs in a minute longer. Desert rhythms swelled, and before anyone could mentally check out, Savannah sludge lords, Kylesa, took the stage to lift the heavy fog. I hadn't seen them since they released their live studio session with Retro Futurist last year, and their imposing presence hasn't changed. Then, there was Sleep. Weighty and relentless, they picked up our limp bodies and brought us back to life. We may have been drowsy and spent, but without Sleep, we'd be dead. Photographer Abigail Cassner captured a few scenes from behind the wall of sleep—check out her photos below.

Dead Meadow

Earth

Electric Citizen

Kylesa

Pallbearer

Sleep