1. “Constellation Dirtbike Head” – A 2. “Fresh Hex” – A
3. “Mexican Ice Cream” – B+ 4. “Lick The Witch” – A- 5. “Sweatmother” – B+ 6. “Motorlicker” – B- 7. “Unholy Demon Rhythms – C- 8. “Heavy Makeup” – B 9. “Grape Aerosmith” – C 10. “New Juices From The Hot Tub Freaks” – B 11. “Six Royal Vipers” – A- 12. “Overheater” – A- 13. “Creepy Phone Calls” – B 14. “TV All Greasy” – B- 15. “Stretch Your Face” – B 16. “Nuclear Waste Aerobics” – A-
Comments: Tobacco, the thing I really like about your music is that it is fun. While every song may not be as fun as the next, there is always at least something embedded into the pits of every tune, that makes them, at the very least, a solid listen. So, definitely props there. It’s not reasonable to expect every song on here to be straight up gold. I mean, after all, we’re talking about a man uses a vocoder. I suggested this as party music, but a die-hard fan called it “making love music.” That’s believable. Due to noise constraints, I haven’t been able to blast this music non-headphones, but I do feel like that’d be an experience. A good majority of these songs clock in at under three minutes, so if you get even slightly distracted from the music, you may notice songs finishing before you even realized they started. Word.
Check out Noam Chomsky’s latest book, Hopes and Prospects. He has another one coming out this month: New World of Indigenous Resistance: Voices from the Americas . I don’t know how he does it!
I’ve been listening to the Black Lips station on Pandora Radio for the past 30/40 minutes and what a play-list! Sometimes Pandora can be hit or miss, but today this station has been clutch:
1. Black Lips – “Buried Alive”
2. The Hives – “Hate to Say I Told You So”
3. Kings of Leon – “King of the Rodeo”
4. Deerhunter – “Heatherwood”
5. Black Lips – “Old Man”
6. Babyshambles – “Pipedown”
7. The Ponys – “Harakiri”
8. Deerhunter – “Never Stops
9. The Ramones – “53rd and 3rd”
10. Black Lips – “Stone Cold”
11. The Undertones – “Nine Times out of Ten”
12. Deerhunter – “Cover Me (Slowly)”
“I think we’re good-bad, not evil. A lot of club owners say they don’t like us, but deep down, I think they do. We like to create an atmosphere of chaos at our shows. I really hate going to shows where people just stand around and don’t do anything — you could do that at home with a video. If you come to see the Black Lips, we’re really going to do everything we can to put on a show. And if we’re going to break stuff or go nuts, we’re all really careful not to damage the club’s equipment. We do get into some trouble, but it’s never too much trouble. I think a lot of the stories people are hearing about us are blown way out of proportion.”
Comments: If you are looking to chill out and listen to some music, pop this on. If you are looking to dance like a hound or excessively head bob or pogo, you might want to pass. For what this album is worth, it’s a great listening experience. Sit back and enjoy. It’s not one of the best album’s I’ve heard in 2010 because it only offers an “in-the-now” sense of urgency. Perhaps on a rainy day or after breaking up with your girlfriend this works. The first five songs are excellently engineered and produced and are seemingly artistically flawless. After a set of three tracks (6-8) that are a little weaker than the previous five, The National step up their game with “Conversation 16.”
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 