black lips and other such garage oriented rock.

so i found a copy of the black lips new album, 200 million thousand, online this morning.  so excited. (now you can click here for a .zip file of the album) i can't say exactly what i like about these guys, but they write interesting songs and don't give a fuck.  maybe a bit hype, but entertaining to listen to and follow their antics.  they recorded a live album in mexico, for which a mariachi band opened and introduced them.  the black lips just got back from a tour of india where they were pelted with bottles because no one liked their music.  and they set up a hotline for fans to contact them on a tour cellphone, you never know what to expect, which makes them better than most.

amanda and i are going to see them in march, hopefully they live up to their riotous reputation. but speaking of garage rock, we saw the mannequin men last night.  they're from chicago and are perhaps one of the many promising garage rock bands that hopefully garner attention beyond our hometown.  a mix between the velvet underground, the replacements and the clean...a good swirl of proto punk and garage rock.  and they have a song about not getting anyone to help them at reckless records (local store notorious for their bitchy attitudes, ben will love this song, cause he knows what they're talking about.)  anyway they have one album from 2007 on flameshovel records that should be easy to find and quite worth the listen.

also check out alex white and the red orchestra if you need some garage rock a la black velvet elvis.  from chicago and on in the red records, it's great nasty fun female-fronted garage rock.  alex has a new band white mystery that's a two piece, and as soon as i find a copy of their album, it'll be posted here, it's fucking great.....

(my new favorite record label may be chicago's hozac records.  they do mostly seven inches and have new releases by white mystery, france has the bomb (birthday suits, soviettes side project) and nobunny.  but i don't know how much hozac might interest you, if you come across any of their records, they're worth the purchase...)