The Black Lips’ name proceeds them.  Club owners around the nation (and now the world) are well aware of the on stage and off stage antics of the Atlanta four piece.  Having spent an evening in the front row of this madness, I can attest to the rumors.  For all the chaos at their live shows, Black Lips’ music is somewhat tame.  Songs are derived from simple melodies and guitar lines that make people want to dance and drink beer with friends.After the success of Good Bad Not Evil, the upcoming release of 200 Million Thousand is an opportunity to vault Black Lips into the indie stratosphere.  Luckily, the band hasn’t altered their musical vision in order to insure this result.  If anything they’ve made it a little harder on themselves.  The hints of psychedelia from prior releases have come to the forefront in both recording style and content.  Back to back tracks “Trapped In A Basement” and “Short Fuse” pull the band across a pretty wide range of influence.  Chances are “Starting Over” will be the radio friendly track (if that even matters anymore).  Few bands could pull off an album like this, and not sound gimmicky or derivative.  However, Black Lips are the real thing, and you can hear it in ever vocal inflection, guitar note and snare strike.  The record drops tomorrow on Vice.  Grab it here.

[mp3] Black Lips - Short Fuse

Get an idea of their live show after the jump…

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We here at RC love us some Shawn Kim. Nobody knows who he is, but are all 1/2 talking about him when raving about Patrick Daughters videos.Shawn co-directed (and I’m guessing completely traveled and shot) this one with Aaron Stewart-Ahn, and it seems to have been glossed over a bit. This is good stuff. It takes its time and takes you along for a journey.As a guy who reps his Death & Dismemberment tour t-shirt sparingly for fear of anything happening to it, I Will Possess Your Heart is a return to some pretty good Death Cab. Droning into American Analog Set territory a little.Relax a minute, let go of your mouse completely, and sit though it once. Watch for the cliff to frame in through the window on the train.