Black Lips @ Other Music, NYC 3/10/08

Prior to checking out Black Lips free in-store at Other Music I had heard very little of their music, but of the very little I had heard, I liked it a lot - or at least enough to wait on line for over 40 minutes outside on a chilly early March evening for a set that would last only half as long. Was it worth it the wait? Hells yeah!

For those unfamiliar with the band, Black Lips play fast, brash, ramshackle indie rawk. Their scrappy aesthetic is busting with energy. Just listen to "Bad Kids" with its call-and-response vocals, playful fuck-all lyrics and elastic-y bassline it's the sonic equivalent of a superball manically bouncing off the walls before erupting through the ceiling. Every song sounds equally effortless, as if crafted from the ether with agile drunken ease.

Being one of the last people in the tiny 100-person capacity venue, as well as being incredibly short, I didn't actually see much of their quickie performance. (Note the above photo of the video camera taping their set - if you squint and look at the screen you can see the band, that was essentially my view.) But boy did they sound great.

Brooklyn Vegan did nab some amazing pics though:


Bad Kids - Black Lips Off last year's Good Bad Not Evil
Not A Problem - Black Lips