Black Lips ‘Arabia Mountain’

The Black Lips
‘Arabia Mountain’
(Vice)

Already notorious for their intense live shows and riotous onstage antics, Black Lips have galloped into guitar music’s rear-view mirror once again, with their highly-anticipated sixth album ‘Arabia Mountain’. Ever since it was announced that Mark Ronson (and Deerhunter’s Lockett Pindt) would be on knob-twiddling duty, Lips fans from LA to London have been asking questions as to whether the flower-punks’ rough and ready rawness would be tamed as a result. After its five homegrown predecessors, ‘Arabia Mountain’ sees Cole Alexander and co. embrace a more polished and accessible sound, while losing none of the bedraggled, unhinged Black Lipsness that cemented their infamy – indeed, rumour has it that they recorded the album with a microphone inside a human skull. Heather Steele dons surgical gloves and protective overalls to delve into just what was going on inside the band’s own human skulls as they recorded these 16 tracks…

‘Family Tree’

“I feel so cold/ Come walk with me/ Feels so cold down by the family tree,” begins Cole Alexander. Opening with a booming brass composition, Mark Ronson’s aural fingerprints are heard loud and clear via an unsubtle nod to big band bravado. Alexander’s lyrics are repeatedly hammered home throughout, while a cacophony of brass, squealing guitars and rattling percussion is flanked by multiple choruses that break out into gloriously sloppy gang vocals.

‘Modern Art’

Now for the record’s first single, a short, energetic burst at only two minutes long that details the band’s Ketamine-fuelled trip around an art museum: “You turn around and you don’t know where you’ve been/ You look up at the glass dome and the room begins to spin.” Higher pitched vocals enter the mix with dual harmonies on the chorus that add contrast to the majority of the album’s more masculine tone. Faint glockenspiel taps and ghostly reverberation creep up behind Joe Bradley’s rippling drums towards the song’s end.

‘Spidey’s Curse’

Vintage sounds collide with the modern, as soft guitar melodies clash with Black Lips’ Spiderman-inspired lyrics: “Peter Parker’s life is so much darker in the book I read.”  This mellow affair is the slowest track on the album, accentuating the song’s 60s nostalgia. The track ends abruptly, with a sampled conversation outlining the ‘Spidey’s Curse’’ concept: “They’re taking demons out of that book and working it into a song, man.”

‘Mad Dog’

After muted vocal beginnings a saxophone starts to weave its way through the entire track, maintaining its bluesy atmosphere, and further highlighting another Ronson’s work. “Listen to it closely cos it’s scary and you might get confused/ Choose the message wisely cos it might just be the last thing you do,” is the foremost vocal sentiment as background “Ahs” echo from the rest of the band. Muttered conversation can be heard behind the cries of “Mad dog” as Jared Swilley’s bass scales simultaneously shoot up and down giving the song plenty of swing.

‘Mr. Driver’

Reverberating high-pitched “Oohs” sound almost like games consoles as ‘Mr. Driver’ weaves between a Joy Division-like bassline and verses of drawling, prolonged notes: “I’ve got my poise, you need to bring the noise/ With my poise puking in a Rolls Royce.” However, it’s the chorus that makes the most impact, with an overlapping vocal duet that ricochets between the verses before the song fades out into a sweaty heap.

‘Bicentennial Man’

‘Bicentennial Man’ dives straight into Cole’s rushed vocals: “I see you looking but I never see you smile/ Too bad it’s that way and we’ll never reconcile.” The song continues to exaggerate the pace with the addition of mid-way shouting that complements the waling thrash of the guitars. “The mind’s always happy doing what it can/ But what can you expect from a bicentennial man?” Alexander questions during the chorus, before an accumulating flurry of percussion takes over towards the end.

‘Go Out And Get It’

“If you wanna go out and get it/ don’t be late and you won’t regret it” is the central refrain on ‘Arabia Mountain’’s seventh track, packaging Black Lips’ knack for a catchy hook neatly into a nutshell. The riff echoes The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, only drowning under a tidal wave of surf-pop, while Swilley’s bassline ties it all together.

‘Raw Meat’

Rumour has it that Ronson almost died prior to recording this track after consuming too much raw liver in order to get the band in the spirit of the song title. One hospital trip later, the band return with whistling vocals and instruments that surround the central melody’s distinct Ramones vibe. It could be the best song Johnny, Dee Dee and co. never wrote. The faint crackle at the end is a welcome hint at their lo-fi, recordings of old.

‘Bone Marrow’

Syncopated claps and beats signal the song’s start and underpin the whole shebang. Alexander’s vocals begin in a faint and distant style and never really gain the volume that you’re expecting them to. Instead, we’re presented with spooky semblances created by ghostly electronic synths, made all the more haunting by the echoing guitar parts that hover above the vocals. Yet don’t be fooled by the mention of spooky synths, ‘Bone Marrow’ is still a chaotic example of Black Lips’ self-described brand of ‘flower-punk.’

‘The Lie’

This song sees the boys tackle a different musical style, this time with an ode in the vein of Led Zeppelin. Not only does the track begin with Ian Saint Pé’s guitar-led introduction akin to that of ‘Stairway To Heaven’, but the lyrics also contain mystical mirages, made all the more unusual by unusually high vocal range: “Demon god is about the earth” and “With burning flames and piercing eyes/ Sedating you with some laser eyes.” The outro also echoes that of Led Zep’s, with a screeching guitar solo dominating the latter half of the track.

‘Time’

“Time is moving on”, Black Lips point out, insightfully. As they chant the chorus the repetition of the word “Moving” reverberates resoundingly. Saint Pé’s gorgeous guitar picking shifts beneath the soft group vocals that eventually fade as the pace slows, leaving the drums to add flesh to the bones as a remarkably poignant number draws to a close.

‘Dumpster Dive’

‘Dumpster Dive’ starts off relatively quietly, setting the scene with: “I woke up where the sunshine bleeds, looking in a garbage bin/ And I ain’t seen some good trash since I, since I don’t know when.” Guitar solos abound as the schizo-keys in the chorus tip their hat in the direction of Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock’, draped over a chant of: “I went out dumpster diving, found some good plated gold/ I grabbed some crusty silver all covered up in mould.”

‘New Direction’

Now for a funny turn. This follows a sign marked ‘breakneck speed’. Tambourines tinkle in the background, while wavering vocals mirror the freshness of the title, “I’ve been looking in a new direction.” It’s another Ramones-inspired track, clearly drawing influence from the awesome foursome and other Noo Yoik gutter punks, as the simple yet effective rhymes: “I wanna laugh and I wanna cry/ I wanna spit but my mouth’s too dry/ I wanna run but I’m scared that my legs won’t go/ Where did they go?” rattle rather pleasurably through your head.

 
‘Noc-A-Homa’

Fitting in with Black Lips’ penchant for all things retro is an ode to their hometown of Atlanta, with their titular character Noc-A-Homa being Atlanta Braves baseball team’s mascot. The band don’t deviate from their rickety 60s surf-pop template, exemplified most strongly through a harmony-drenched chorus of relayed over Alexander’s words: “Lonely TV sitting the sky, dancing circles on a summer night.”

‘Don’t Mess Up My Baby’

‘Don’t Mess Up My Baby’ begins with a guitar trickle, before submerging into a traditional rock‘n’roll anthem that sees the band repeating its title and controlling a thudding bass line that echoes the vocals’ melody. “You smoked all my dope, chased a rainbow then you sang a song/ You drank all our beers, picked some flowers and things were going strong” has Cole coming over all accusatory, before it becomes apparent that the track is actually about someone drinking and doing drugs while pregnant, as exemplified by “Now settle down and have some children…” Health and safety advice brought to you by Black Lips…

‘You Keep On Running’

After veering dangerously in the direction of sound medical advice, ‘Arabia Mountain’ closes with its longest track. It’s hardly meandering prog, but it is comparatively extensive placed alongside the other 15 tracks that collapse/implode/delicately come to a close (delete as appropriate) around the two or three-minute mark. Combined with a bluesy bass line, once again the vocal style and guitar licks resemble Robert Plant’s men. The resonating refrain of “You better keep moving/ Cos there’s nowhere to hide” buzzes throughout the song, with the smartened up production exposing every nuance of sound instead of washing it in a haze of drone and reverb – Black Lips certainly don’t leave themselves anywhere to hide. Not that they need it. After a minute of what sounds like a drone-drenched instrumental car-wash, the track finally fades out in an intoxicated blur. As with their previous recordings, retro sounds permeate throughout, yet for the first time Black Lips have embraced thoroughly modern production. That it only serves to accentuate their rawness rather than add unnecessary sheen and polish is proof that nobody can, could, should or would fuck with Black Lips. Six albums in, they might just be on top of their game.

Watch the band horsing around during their Fly photo shoot last week…

Black Lips – Black Lips shoot

Heather Steele