Black Lips

The Black Lips have a way of catching you off guard, even though you've seen and heard most of it before. They look like run-of-the-mill hipsters with the skinny jeans, unkempt hair, and occasional ironic mustache (seen it). The music sounds like 1967 San Francisco (heard it). But unlike most other bands in this vein, their take sounds authentic, as if their records have been lost in the back of some long-forgotten corner of a warehouse for the last 40 years. But this is where they catch you looking at the third strike: Even the mighty Brian Jonestown Massacre sometimes gets sidetracked by musical stylings that came after the music they mostly peddle (bits of early-'70s arena rock seep into their brand of '60s psychedelia), but the Black Lips seem to have never, ever even once paid attention to anything that was released before 1963 or after 1970. Their stunning, 99 3/4 percent pureness is unrivaled in any genre and is something to marvel at, to be sure.
Thu., Feb. 28, 8 p.m., 2008