Thursday, February 26, 2009

Review: Black Lips - 200MillionThousand


Black Lips 200MillionThousand is the follow up to, the critically acclaimed, Good Bad Not Evil. Black Lips return with more lo-fi, garage rock, rambunctiousness. The songs of 200MillionThousand hold high reverence for the raw rock n’ roll of the 60’s . The first track Take My Heart brings the Stones to mind and a guitar riff reminiscent of early Pete Townshend. The vocal performance on Trapped in a Basement is one of an old broken down blues man while Short Fuse takes a page from a more unabashed Fleetwood Mack style; the lengthy guitar solo at the end of this song, especially. Black Lips have taken the best bits of the past, the best bits of THEIR past and have ultimately delivered a more mature album than the last.
Highlights include the song Black Baby Jesus of Today which is dedicated to the much anticipated return of a messiah whom the boys in Black Lips imagine to be a mix of ODB, Jack Johnson, and Barack Obama!?
Tour Dates:
April
16 San Diego, CA – Casbah
30 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
May
01 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
02 Pomona, CA – The Glass House