Black Lips, Satan’s Graffiti…or Is It God’s Art (2017)

By SoDak

In August, I spent a week hiking in Glacier National Park—fortunately before all the fires started. For road trips, I usually bring along a stack of CDs that I have not heard, in order to have time to really listen to a record. On the third day, we took the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the westside of the park to the Many Glacier area. For the drive, I selected the newest record by the Black Lips, Satan’s Graffiti…or Is It God’s Art. My wife and I drove along Lake McDonald, then followed the river, before starting the climb to Logan’s Pass. Periodically, we stopped to walk through fields of wildflowers, to sit by waterfalls, and to watch mountain goats climb up cliffs. We were excited to see two grizzly bears, swimming across a river. Once we arrived at the trailhead, we hiked in fog and rain to Ptarmigan Tunnel and then to Iceberg Lake. We counted the piles of fresh bear scat that we passed on the trail. Wildflowers abounded in the high meadows. This astonishing day was just one of many in these mountains. Wait, it seems that I forgot to mention anything about the Black Lips record. Well, this is because Satan’s Graffiti…or Is It God’s Art is forgettable. To be fair, someone might contend that the experience and beauty of the national park served as a distraction and did not allow me to appreciate the record. For me, music has the potential to diminish or enhance an experience, just as the place can influence how I feel about music. Throughout the week, we listened to music that complemented our experiences and that is woven into memories of these days. This is not the case with the new record by the Black Lips. It seems uninspired. It sounds like the band just showed up tired and fucked around while making the record. This is unfortunate, as I have very much enjoyed several of their previous records. Fortunately, for us, we had many other great records that satisfied us on this trip.