Satan's Graffiti or God's Art?

by Black Lips

Overview

When Mark Ronson and Patrick Carney want to clean up your act, what do you do? If you're in the Black Lips, you go along, which turned out to be a good idea on 2011's Arabia Mountain, produced by Ronson, and not so great on 2014's Underneath the Rainbow, with Carney of the Black Keys at the controls. What if you're not so sure you want your act cleaned up any more? Well, you start hanging out with your friend Sean Lennon, and get him to produce an album that throws you back into the deep end of murk. Released in 2017, Satan's Graffiti or God's Art? not only reestablishes the group's former sonic personality as the fuzzy nexus between the Fall and the Trashmen, it's one of the most unhinged things the Black Lips have cut since 2005's Let It Bloom. Lennon gives the Black Lips a punchier sound than they had pre-Ronson, but ultimately this is the work of a band that was clearly encouraged to get loose after a few years of struggling to be tight. And loose is clearly the band's comfort zone, with these performances bounding all over the place between the ragged guitars, honking saxophones, and wailing keyboards, as the rhythm section valiantly labors to keep things traveling in the same direction. The Black Lips were clearly having a good time conjuring up some dirty-ass rock & roll on these sessions, and they even brought in Yoko Ono to do a guest scream on "Occidental Front." And you'll never think of the Beatles' "It Won't Be Long" the same way again after you've heard what the Black Lips do with it. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	01/27/2023
Label:	Fire Records
UPC:	0809236160416
Rank:	167314

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Black Lips   Primary Artist
Yoko Ono   Featured Artist
Sean Lennon   Drums,Piano,Sitar,Congas,Guitar,Vocals,Calliope,Keyboards,Low Vocals,Percussion,Tambourine,Harpsichord,Standup Bass,Bass (Upright),Lap Steel Guitar,Guitar (12 String)
Oakley Munson   Drums,Chimes,Vocals,Autoharp,Tambourine
Zumi Rosow   Bongos,Shaker,Vocals,Saxophone,Tambourine
Jack Hines   Organ,Sitar,Guitar,Vocals,Soloist,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Jared Swilley   Bass,Vocals
Cole Alexander   Drums,Guitar,Vocals,Talk Box,Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
CJ Camerieri   Horn
Josephine De La Baume   Vocals
Saul Adamczewski   Bass,Toms,Drums,Organ,Bongos,Guitar,Vocals,Marimba,Keyboards,Chamberlin,Vibraphone,Slide Guitar,Vocal Harmony,Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String)
Fiona Godivier   Vocals
Hala Moawad   Vocals

Technical Credits

Chris Coady   Mixing
Sean Lennon   Engineer,Producer
Matthew Cullen   Engineer
Oakley Munson   Engineer,Producer
Zumi Rosow   Design
Jared Swilley   Design
Heba Kadry   Mastering
Cole Alexander   Design
Connor Grant   Assistant
Ed McEntee   Assistant
Logan White   Photography
Saul Adamczewski   Producer
Sarah Tudzin   Mixing Assistant
Marlon Rabenreiter   Design
Nicolas Amato   Photography
Christina Swilley   Photography
Ben Rayner   Photography
Alex Cook   Design
Abigail Briely Bean   Photography
Ariana Papademetropolis   Art Direction