Black Lips' First Album: Black Lips!

So I'm going back through the Black Lips' catalogue...I've got this year's Arabia Mountain & Good Bad Not Evil (2009?), but I decided to start at the beginning with their self-titled debut from 2003. Two words: love it.

It's retro surf/garage rock at its best: simple, repetitive, loud, fun, stupid. Kind of reminds me a little bit of the vibe that local Indianapolis bands The Kemps and Vacation Club are going for. They even get a little psychedelic occasionally, which of course is great. I have absolutely zero problem with bands who play simple, choppy, fast riffs and who like to get weird. Its bands like this that Rock and Roll was built on.

We must never get so geeky or opinionated that we can't appreciate a good garage band who just likes to rock and whose music has the power to make people move and--occasionally--make their heads hurt.