Exclusive Download: Black Lips' Mark Ronson-Produced 'New Direction'

Atlanta garage rockers the Black Lips teamed up with producer Mark Ronson and Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt for their latest album, Arabia Mountain, due out June 7th. The album marks the first time the band has ever worked with outside producers, and though the sound is more refined, the Black Lips haven't toned down their style or smoothed out their rough edges. Ronson, who is best known for producing hits by Lily Allen, Adele and Amy Winehouse, brings out the best in the band's rhythm section, resulting in rocking psychedelic rock songs with a danceable swing. You can get a sneak preview of Arabia Mountain by downloading "New Direction," a tuneful British Invasion-style number with a brisk, uptempo beat.

Click to listen to the Mark Ronson-produced Black Lips' song 'New Direction'

Click here to download 'New Direction'

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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