Where is the love for THE BLACK LIPSTICK???

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someone mentioned them in passing on a board/blog/etc earlier today, so i came home and put "converted thieves" on. in the last two years, the rosebuds had wiped them out of a high holy place for me ["the second coming of butterglory"] but upon this listen, i think the prize has been returned to the rightful owner.

and i mean, its not even that they really sound exactly like butterglory [who really were the scrappy indie rock version of the feelies, at their finest] but its the adaptation of similar musical ideas.

anyway, ill tell you where the love for the black lipstick is: right here.

now, has anyone heard their newest record?

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 9 April 2005 00:23 (twenty years ago)

I have. I didn't think the songs were very good.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 9 April 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

I don't mean to be flippant about it. Their press sheet was talking about the Feelies and Television and such and I just really don't see how this band has the songs at all.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 9 April 2005 00:41 (twenty years ago)

Haven't heard the full new Black Lipstick album, but the single "Bob Fosse" (available as a legit mp3 in numerous places) is one of my favorite songs this year. Lead singer sounds like Tom Verlaine, so there's the Television bit. They steal blatantly from Eno and The Velvet Underground, which probably partly explains the Feelies thing.

I thought Butterglory were the scrappy indie rock Pavement anyway.

― dlp9001, Saturday, 9 April 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

That's weird. I don't hear much of anything similar between Black Lipstick and The Rosebuds, but I can get you their newest records next time you're on slsk, mts.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 9 April 2005 01:10 (twenty years ago)

They also have a remix (kind of) album out on Peekaboo, the Black Octopus Lipstick Project Foam Party. Not so good.

I've mentioned my Black Lipstick love on other threads (the pre-BL Kiss Offs moreso), but the EP was better than the first LP and the first LP is better than what I've heard of the new one. I think maybe they're best live and/or in small doses.

Everyone should go buy the two Kiss Offs records on Peekaboo, they're damn good.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 9 April 2005 01:50 (twenty years ago)

I just noticed that all the Black Lipstick and Kiss Offs material is also available through iTunes and the older stuff is on eMusic too.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 9 April 2005 01:52 (twenty years ago)

i really like the new album. they don't travel much from track to track, but what they do they do well. dlp9001's description is pretty much OTM.

― Lee F# (fsharp), Saturday, 9 April 2005 10:26 (twenty years ago)

butterglory were a scrappier pavement except when they cleaned up their act. i mean, did you actually pay attention to "rat-a-tat-tat"?

also, all of you sucked out the joy of this thread. way to go.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 9 April 2005 12:49 (twenty years ago)

butterglory [who really were the scrappy indie rock version of the feelies, at their finest]

I never thought of them this way but I really like that description. Love the Feelies, haven't listened to Butterglory since '96! I'll have to pull those out again. Black Lipstick - that first record Four Kingdoms I dug a lot, it was scrappy, maybe more like a paint-spattered looser Velvets to these ears. I haven't heard anything else.

― mcd (mcd), Saturday, 9 April 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

its the final record thats pretty much a note-for-note reinterpretation of the feelies. you dont hear it as much on the previous releases.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 9 April 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

I saw them live not that long ago and they were so bad that they almost stopped in the middle of their set. The crowd (including me) was not feeling it.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Saturday, 9 April 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

thats a shame. we were supposed to do a show for them two summers ago but they had to cancel their entire tour.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 9 April 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

I only know two songs, "Serpentz" and "Hot Sinners," but they sound good on my little white music box. I love how the totally hooky chorus on "Serpentz" comes out of nowhere.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 9 April 2005 21:28 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

so, i'm on the bus this morning thinking to myself "where is the love for the Black Lipstick?" so i was a good boy and did my search, and lo i came here, but there's precious little in the way of love.

i've been listening to the newest album a lot recently. i was steeled to dislike it when it came out because of the lukewarm critical reaction, where it hit the radar at all, and the concensus elsewhere (and, it seems, here too) that it wasn't a patch on their previous stuff.

but ho boy, i'm calling that one. i think the new record is fabulous, one for the year end list. i've got that no-bad-songs feeling about it. admittedly, it reaches new heights in being derivative, but if you're going to shamelessly ape other bands, they might as well be VU and Television.

anyway, i needed to officially declare my love, and that need is sated. thank you for your time.

― Lee F# (fsharp), Thursday, 15 September 2005 11:25 (twenty years ago)

love them hardcore...
alas, the newest one just isn't up to the previous snuff.
no infectious hooks, no subliminal things that make me wanna play it over and over.
no "Texas Women" type blowouts.
not to say it's BAD, but it's just a definitely more sub-dued album compared to the prior ones (4 Kingdoms being one of the BEST things that came out that year and BL should beat the shit outta the Strokes and take they're beer and drugs!!!).
foam party was "EH!" in a big way. long wait for it didn't help...

i'll keep listening and waiting for em to come thru here.
travis is REALLY nice, tho!!!
very friendly fella...

― eedd, Thursday, 15 September 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

I saw them live and they were beyond terrible. They probably would have been booed off the stage in a less polite city.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 15 September 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

They have some good influences, but they simply can't play their instruments. The drummer has atrocious meter! I'm all for DIY, but they just err on the side of incompetence.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 15 September 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

That sounded kinda snobby and rockist. I mean, I can handle Beat Happening, because they know how to stay within the parameters that their skills define. Black Lipstick seems like they're trying to achieve something pretty cool (that VU comparison again), but it's retarded by their lack of competence.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 15 September 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

since when is indie rock about competent playing?

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Thursday, 15 September 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

I would like to state for the record that their competence was not an issue for me. But the songs were really boring and they didn't offer much in the way of energy or charisma. Maybe they were just very, very nervous. That seems weird though, as San Francisco fans, in my experience, are very forgiving.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 15 September 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

since when is indie rock about competent playing?
-- maria tessa sciarrino (mari...), September 15th, 2005.

Believe me, I'm much more accepting of incompetence than most. But when it came to Black Lipstick, I could think of 20 bands over the past 20 years who do the same thing MUCH better. With a drummer who could keep a beat.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 15 September 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

I've only seen them twice, both in Austin, but they were fine each time. Their situation (band on the side, I think two of them are lawyers during the day, etc.) probably doesn't make for a great touring situation. They were a south-central Texas band that just happened to get more press than expected with the garage/VU/etc. revival.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 15 September 2005 21:19 (twenty years ago)

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