Friday, December 16, 2011

Black Lips Head To Arabia Mountain


Atlanta's purveyors of grimy garage rock are back and better than ever. Despite being banned in countries around the world for their antics and leaving a path of wanton destruction everywhere, the Black Lips somehow found some time to record their follow up to 200 Million Thousand. Entitled, Arabia Mountain the album is a chronicle of rock and roll chaos as only the Black Lips could create.

Produced by uber-producer Mark Ronson, Arabia Mountain sounds as if it were recorded in a one car garage with holes in the roof; it’s rough, raw, and unpolished. Produced with the finest 1/4 inch tape made by Memorex, it's truly a marvel of modern science and music production techniques that this record ever saw the light of day. But, it did and the results are stunning. Arabia Mountain is loud and brash and is here in all it's beaten up garage punk rock glory.

Coming across as something like a 60's beat group waiting for the man with the Velvet Underground, Black Lips make hazy, dirty, untamed rock and roll that will more than likely melt your stereo, blow out your speakers, and cause your ears to run away. And that’s a compliment! If you imagine The Sonics, The Stones, and the VU all in a drunken rumble you kind of get where the Black Lips are coming from and why they write the songs they do. Clearly, the 60’s rock and roll experience never died, it just moved to Atlanta and set up shop in a garage and has been biding its time for forty years.

Arabia Mountain is an amazing record that will reaffirm your belief in the power of rock and roll. It’s simplistic, rough, and violent but man is it a fun listen. There’s a reason why rock and roll is always seen as self destructive and the Black Lips demonstrate that reason sixteen times on Arabia Mountain.

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