Sad Black Lips with more of a southern influence

The Black Lips are a rock group from Georgia that have been part of the garage rock scene since 1999. Their songs are influenced by classic rock, punk, and even a little bit of country. Their newest album, “Underneath the Rainbow,‰” is the seventh in their discography and sadly is probably my least favorite. Unlike albums such as “200 Million Thousand‰” and “Good Bad Not Evil,” which put Black Lips on the map, this newest release is watering down their name. Not to say the Black Lips could ever have a mainstream sound, but this most recent album is kind of boring and soft compared to past albums. There are songs like “Smiling‰” that are classic Black Lips tracks, with lyrics about getting arrested and asking your mom to pick you up from jail. It‰’s a short and sweet song with back-up vocals that made me initially start to like this band in the first place, as their sound was reminiscent of the Ramones. With songs like “Justice After All‰” and “Boys in the Woods,‰” it‰’s clear that the influences of Patrick Carney of the Black Keys were coming out all over the album. Carney was an instrumental part in producing the album which may have been a stylistic choice that they made before he came on to the project, but regardless he did not positively affect the sound of the band. This influence gives the album a southern rock sound which unfortunately caused the band to lose its punk rock feel on many of the songs. One adjective that I would use to describe Black Lips would be “visceral.” Their songs get at the heart of what they‰’re trying to convey and then from there they just flow with their instruments and voices so that the feeling of the song comes out. Unfortunately in “Underneath the Rainbow,‰” they lose that visceral sensibility and move into a more calculated means of producing music that left me disappointed.

RIYL: FIDLAR, Deerhunter, Black Keys
Recommended Tracks: 2, 10