Beulah Land

The Black Lips-Los Valientos del Mondo Nuevo

The day I moved to Portland, as in a half an hour after I got off the train, I was introduced to the Black Lips' Let It Bloom while puttering around the city for the first time as a resident with Mark and Eric. Mark would drunkenly go on to declare to the band themselves at a gallery after hours that their music "changed our lives". I pretended I didn't know him.

Here is what you need to know before listening to the Black Lips:

They are a garage band from Atlanta.

Like most good garage bands, their records are hard to place in a particular time period (in other words, they sound vintage).

Let It Bloom is the best one, but the others are good too.

They wear grills and play the guitar with their penises live.

Los Valientos del Mondo Nuevo is their upcoming Vice Records debut. It's a live album, laid to tape in a bar in Tijuana. If you've read the above then you should understand that this is in fact the quint-essential Black Lips listening environment.

that's it.

go forth, and spread the word.

(post-script: Many glaring clerical errors due to the need to make a hasty exit from an awkward coffee shop situation have now been corrected...)(there are still many grammatical imperfections in this, well, all beulahland posts. I leave them in to make kari cringe)