Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Luke Waller discovers an album of surreal and dirty garage rock from Black Lips
Fire Records
Released: 19.09.25
Filthy, dirty garage rock returns – with more than a healthy helping of surreality in tow. Ten albums on from their 2003 debut, Atlantan ensemble Black Lips prove their signature cinematic sonic palette, steeped in the American avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s, to be as potent and strident as ever. Whilst cohesive as an album, there is no dearth of variety, ranging from the spaghetti-western-stained lamentations of Wild One to the insistent (and groan-peppered) Too Far Gone.
Leading single Tippy Tongue, marked by its twisted, unmistakeably Zappa-tinged Americana, both epitomises the album and stands out within it. Distorted vocals and guitar meld together to produce a corrosive quality, acidic and somewhat nauseating – just as doubtlessly intended by its ever-provocative creators.
