Black Lips: Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Atlanta rockabilly punks the Black Lips are one of the best live bands in America, a fact they prove on their debut for Vice Records, Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo. This twelve-song sonic apocalypse -- recorded live, as the story goes, at a mariachi club in Tijuana -- serves as an excellent introduction to these debauched rockers, who already have three albums out on various small labels. Tracks like "Dirty Hands" and "Stranger," with their elegantly layered vocal harmonies and deranged sock-hop vibe, showcase the Black Lips' classic pop sensibility. Rougher, messier inclusions like the terrifically catchy "Boomerang" and the frenetic, naughty "Fairy Stories" (on which the band members collectively coo, "My daddy has a gun/It's not a toy but it's loads of fun") remind listeners that the Black Lips are one disturbed collection of twenty-two-year-old dudes. Unlike an actual Black Lips show, Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo won't leave you covered in any bodily fluids, but otherwise it's just as good.