Houston Press reviews The Van Allen Belt’s show

Posted on by Rebekah Tweed

Houston Press reviews The Van Allen Belt‘s show at Fitzgerald’s:

The night’s co-headliner, Pittsburgh’s The Van Allen Belt, created disharmonious melodies, managing to manipulate clamor into opulent noise pop. Tamar Kamin’s voice spreads itself sensuously — and near flawlessly — over psychedelic overtures. Surreal lyricism escalated the songs’ furtiveness. Scott Taylor sat like a mad maestro, concocting searing and agonizing tones, while Ben Ferris layered strands of lush melodies.

Read the whole review here.

San Antonio Current previews The Van Allen Belt show

Posted on by Rebekah Tweed

The San Antonio Current previews The Van Allen Belt show as one of 5 Shows to See This Week:

In the spirit of Washed Out, Beach House and the host of other modern acts contained in the dream pop aesthetic into which tides. comfortably slides, there’s a subtle undercurrent to their music, gentle at first, that draws you in closer. And like those acts, the trick lies in making the complex sound simple.

TOAN Magazine features The Van Allen Belt tour dates

Posted on by Rebekah Tweed

The Van Allen Belt are hitting the road this spring with their newest album Heaven On A Branch. TOAN Magazine has all of the dates, plus their video for “Different Storm”.

4/2: Chicago, IL – Hideout
4/3: Kansas City, MO – miniBar (sponsored by KC Psychfest)
4/4: Dallas, TX – Deep Ellum Arts Festival (Texas Lonestar Stage)
4/5: Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s
4/7: Austin, TX – Cheer Up Charlies
4/8: San Antonio, TX – K23 Gallery
4/10: Montevallo, AL – Eclipse Coffee & Books
4/11: Atlanta, GA – The Drunken Unicorn
4/12: Nashville, TN – Betty’s

Decoder Magazine premieres The Van Allen Belt video “Songs”

Posted on by Rebekah Tweed

The Van Allen Belt Decoder Mag

The Van Allen Belt recently released a 7” entitled “Songs”, and have just finished the video for the title track, which Decoder Magazine is premiering today, saying “‘Songs’ is a busy piece of hallucinogenic pop from one of the Steel City’s most underrated bands.”

Vocalist Tamar Kamin describes the concept of the video:

“We shot this on location at an abandoned level floor of what was once a Woolworth’s in Youngstown, OH. It is rumored to be the first existing location of the business chain. We complemented the old-fashioned look of the set and props with a unique process that Scott [Taylor] developed using analog and digital video feedback. The result is evocative of our group’s collaborative style, patching modern visual effects onto historic foundations. Many of the effects you’ll see here were captured in a live setting and were visible to the crew as we stood beside the camera…We explored how the duality of our group dynamic interacts, arranging snapshots of our influences in a playful way to mimic the sampling of music using film language.”

Check out the “Songs” video at Decoder Magazine!

// The Van Allen Belt media page //

Press: Columbus Alive chooses The Van Allen Belt as staff pick

Posted on by Rebekah Tweed

Columbus Alive chooses The Van Allen Belt show as a staff pick:

“Here’s a toast to bands that dig through the past and actually come up with something magically new, bands like Pittsburgh’s glorious The Van Allen Belt. As collected on 2010 album “Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug,” the group’s fresh take on psychedelia conjures sprightly choral anthems from black and white movie musicals and plops them in the middle of Avalanches-inspired acid trip hip-hop. The juxtaposition of “old” and “new” sounds can feel so forced, but this is as far from that problem as possible. Nothing sounds like this.”

// The Van Allen Belt media page //