Black Lips

Up to now a Black Lips record was more or less a document of the band unleashing their insane live show in the studio. 200 Million Thousand is different. Cutting back on the garage punk noise ravers, the group has replaced them with some really well crafted retro-pop. "Drugs," "Starting Over" and "I'll Be With You," possibly the best tracks on the album, hover in that zone where indie/twee, bubblegum and reverb-soaked psych-pop melt into a wonderfully hazy dream. The Lips are (gulp) evolving.

It's ironic when the Black Lips sing that they're "trapped in a basement" here. Ten years
ago, this Atlanta band's purposefully sloppy "flower punk" would have been unjustly
confined to basement shows; now it could fit in a Zach Braff film. The Lips' psychedelic and
garage heroes loom large: "Big Black Baby Jesus of Today" sounds distractingly like the 13th
Floor Elevators, and "Drugs" is all about the New York Dolls. This smart if self-con... More >