Black Lips 200MillionThousand
I’ve been a fan of this band since I picked up their insane live in Tijuana album “Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo”, which I also heartedly recommend. I was a little nervous when I picked this thing up at my local record shop and it had a sticker on it that said it came with a FREE POSTER. But my nerves calmed down once I tore into the plastic and popped it in for a listen.
Truthfully I don’t even know where to start with these Atlanta garage rock lunatics. Their music is something like a punk inspired version of the Rolling Stones on an acid trip. On “200MillionThousand” they effortlessly marry punk rock nihilism with an unabashed stoner vibe. These guys even conjure the spirit of the fucking Ghetto Boys on one track (The Drop I Hold). What is born of all this is truly unique and worth constant spins in my heavy rotation.
The liner notes and band manifesto found in the CD’s packaging add so much to an already pleasurable listening experience it’s ridiculous. I’d love to reprint the whole thing here but suffice it to say it’s pure gold from beginning to end. “What do you do when you’re sixteen and in deep shit?… What the fuck do you do? You hang around and smash stuff and get high and try to be bad ass, that’s what you do.” Right or wrong it’s what 200MillionThousand kids are doing right now to rage against their bullshit suburban existence. There’s got to be something else on the other side of that wall their parents and schools and bullshit clerk jobs have built around them. Right?
Songs range from being about drugs (Drugs), violence (Short Fuse), friendship (I’ll Be With You), authority (Old Man), more drugs (I Saw God), and more violence (Body Combat). Somewhere in America this summer this will be some punk kid’s soundtrack, providing he’s not as narrow-minded as most young upstart punks are when it comes to music. I can definitely guarantee it’ll be blasting from this 30-something punk’s car this summer anyway.
Summing up the spirit of the album perfectly is this line from the notes for Body Combat, “When we get done with you it’s gonna look like we set fire to your face and put it out with an axe.”
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