The Black Lips are a self-described “flower punk” band from Atlanta. To us, the music they play sounds like good, old-fashioned rock and roll. Their 2007 LP Good Bad Not Evil was that year’s best no-frills party album. Their 2009 follow-up 200 Million Thousand was a letdown. Their new release, Arabia Mountain, is the return to form we were waiting for.
You’ll hear shades of the early Stones, and of the Nuggets-era garage bands that absorbed the British Invasion. But the Black Lips are not respectful of their influences: These guys formed early on, spent their entire adult lives on the road, and earned the snot-nosed swagger that got them banned from a few places in their own hometown. There’s a lot of muscle behind these shit-eating grins.
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