Friday, June 15, 2007

The Black Lips



The Black Lips seem like an odd choice to become a hipster chic band, releasing their latest live album on hipper than thou label Vice records. With their insane sloppiness, rudimentary playing and loads of feedback, i wouldn't assume they'd be one of the more accesible or listener friendly rocknroll bands out there. But through it all, they have a great melodic sense, and I suppose thats what the kids are latching on to. Songs like "Boomerang" were meant for campfire singalongs. On Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo, the self proclaimed flower punks recorded themselves live in the city of sin itself, Tijauana. Just from listening to the crowd's reaction, you could tell that the show must have been a crazy party. The band is smokin also, in all of their sloppy, gritty glory. From the drunken introduction in Spanish to the psuedo spaghetti western outro, this album is a lot of fun. These guys are also touring this summer, they're playing at Maxwells next month, just before taking the stage as part of this summer's Siren Fest on Coney Island. Check it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was a also bit dumbfounded at this bands hipster quotient at SXSW. They were only one of three bands I had any trouble getting into. Jesse Sykes and Jandek were the other 2 (saw Jandek, missed Jesse). Kinda missed the boat on these guys because of the hype factor on the first rec. It was only out on CD, which may have dampened the thrill but I was kinda underwhelmed. I love the last record and the new live one though and they sounded great and really authenically old when I saw them. I heard they played like 20 shows at SXSW too. Cheers, Philthy

pasd137 said...

Another band that similarly confuses me with their hipster fanbase is coachwips. They're even louder and sloppier than the black lips. who knows whats going on with the kids today. im actually really excited to see the black lips at maxwells and siren fest.