Arabia Mountain explores new and exciting sonic territories for the Lips, a band that’s consistently been keen on experimentation and pop sensibility. From the inception of “Family Tree,” Arabia Mountain shows some return to pre-200 Million Thousand form in the way of clangy guitar tones. It is arguably the band’s catchiest garage/pop song recorded since Good Bad Not Evil. Cole’s vocals aren’t lost in a sea of noise and rhythm and nor are Joe’s drums. Mark Ronson and the boys found a really incredible way of making this song structured, but still fucked up. Speaking of that, the Lips were right when they said this would be their most accessible work, yet also be really weird. Ian’s guitar solo in “Family Tree” ain’t prime time and in general his guitar solos really have never been mind-blowing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Speaking of mind-blowing, the Lips had quite an experience at the Dali Museum and captured that quite well on “Modern Art“. This song is another fast one, in the same spirit as “Family Tree”. Included in “Modern Art” is a singing saw and xylophone, of which both can be heard during the chorus. It’s little nooks and crannies like these that are strikingly noticeable early on the album. But just as things seem to be moving right along, we are hit with “Spidey’s Curse,” a three chord take on the marginalized molestation of Peter Parker. “So Peter Parker, don’t let him mark ya…don’t let him touch ya. He don’t have to stay!” Just like classic three-chord sing-a-longs “Dirty Hands” and “I’ll Be With You,” “Spidey’s Curse” is…classic. It took a little while to perfect in the studio (as evidenced in the Creators Project vid that took a look at the making of Arabia), but man did it come out right. On audio display is Cole’s finest songwriting; furthermore, his innocent delivery of such a dark topic is priceless. The outro conversation at the end that leads into “Mad Dog” is perfect. “Mad Dog” — you can tell from the title and some of the lyrics — speaks to the rhythym of backmasking and subliminal messaging. The guitar tones stand out as does the trumpet, the sporadic uttering of “r ew ohw r ew”…Kesha’s “We R Who We R” backwards. Concerned with the listener possibly being consumed by evil spirits, Cole asks “y’all Right?” “Mr. Driver” is an early favorite of mine as well. I love Cole’s delivery and the WOOOOHs. The song itself might be the only one on here that doesn’t clear the dance-floor instantly, waiting until the first chorus to do that. “Bicentennial Man” sounds different from the first six and that has to do with the fact that it was produced by Lockett Pundt, not Ronson. It’s of a lower fidelity… straight forward garage pop along the lines (instrumentally and such) of  Joe’s non-album classics like “In and Out”. There’s even a guitar/screaming freak out (as I like to call ’em) that harkens us back to Black Lips circa early-mid 2000s. The surf/summery “Go Out and Get It” is real out of place on this record. Again, no one said this thing wasn’t going to be weird. Singing about “getting gold” amidst eating raw meat and tripping out on ketamine sure ain’t ordinary! It’s not their best song and the irony is that for what it is, it doesn’t sound up to speed (in terms of production facility and quality) with any of the Ronson cuts. “Raw Meat” is a brief return to Ronson production and it’s pretty obvious. This song has been kicking around in the band’s set since winter 2009/2010 and did undergo slight slight modification in studio. An extra “oh baby” or two has been added to the mix and the “whistling” part sounds more like a singing saw or theremin than something capable of coming out of a human mouth. “Bone Marrow” increasingly builds in terms of catchiness and features the saw. It is a trip down oldies lane for sure. “The Lie” stuck out to me on first listen. I love its pace and, of course, the ending freak out a la “Bicentennial Man.” This freak out is even better. Also, you can hear the infamous human skull that Cole used in studio to coagulate crazy tones. “Time” penned and sung principally by Ian is rock and roll. That’ s all. Really groovy and twangy, just the way Ian likes it. “Dumpster Dive” is a truck stop country tune: “I haven’t seen some good trash since I don’t know when!” It’s a true hobo’s anthem. It’s one of their favorite songs to play live, I’ve noticed. There’s some toy piano on record. “New Direction” is a return to where “Mr. Driver” left off in terms of production. It’s pace and styling is similar to “Modern Art”. Easily heard vocals, clangy guitars, steady drum beats. You know the deal. There’s not much not to be impressed with. “Noc-A-Homa” is the Lips big ’60s revival rock ‘n roll, dance, and have fun kind of thing. Far more “Louie Louie” than Back From The Grave. Flower punk. From the looks of the title and the opening notes, you probably wouldn’t think methamphetimines and nicorette would be a matter of discussion in “Don’t Mess Up My Baby,” but as you all well know…anything is possible. In a long line of screwed up closers and oddball songs — “Hope Jazz,” “Lion With Wings,” “Hello Mr. Postman,” “I Saw God” — comes “You Keep On Running” a subdued track that sounds like a bunch of dudes in need of some kind of closure. They do tend to expend a lot of energy on the great majority of their records, so maybe it is only natural for them to end with something like this.

I entertained the prospect of judging this record against the band’s other five. That seems a bit silly at this point. They’ll all about equally messed up. This one just came out more polished and layered. Still the Black Lips, the Black Lips we’ve known and loved for years.