Black Lab, Any other fans here? Options

[J.Sax]

It seems like nobody's heard of the band! They had like two hits back in like 1997 ("Wash It Away" and "Time Ago") and were billed as "the American U2" before there were label troubles and they broke up, later reforming on the independent scene.

Years ago around 2004-05, I found their first album in my dad's mess of a CD collection and fell in love with it. I looked them up and it turned out they had just released their long-awaited second album. I've been following them since.

Definitely my #2 band...and if it weren't for LIVE's older work, they'd be #1. If you haven't heard of them, check them out and let me know what you think. I want to spread the love! Here's a list of their official albums and some of their music videos...

1997 - Your Body Above Me
2005 - See the Sun
2006 - Your Body Above Me: The Director's Cut
2007 - Passion Leaves a Trace
2007 - Technologie

Side Projects:

2004 - Ten Million Years: Songs from the Nineteen Nineties (Paul Durham)
2006 - Cake or Death (Cake or Death)
2008 - Covers, Volume 1 (Mirror Ball Associates) [iTunes only]

Music Videos (YouTube):

"Time Ago"
"See the Sun" (short edit)
"Lonely Boy"
"This Night" (The Shield mashup)
"Ghost In Your Mind" (Black Hawk Down mashup)
"Transformers Theme"

This post has been edited by J.Sax: Nov 9 2008, 7:47 pm

[J.Sax]

Paul's favorite bands were Black Sabbath and Stereolab. The band was called Stereo Sabbath before, but then he later changed it to Black Lab.

I don't think one can base much of their judgment on the songs on MySpace and YouTube. I think I'll upload a few of my favorites from each album at some point. I guess they maintain a similar sound throughout their three main albums, but they tend to dabble in everything. Technologie is an electronica album with original songs and some remixes.

Their MP3 of the Month Club is my favorite. Each month, Paul uploads a new song (or several). There's been some straight up pop, some rap (hilarious), more folky songs...things that in no way would be included on a proper album, but some of them are gems.

This year's Club is going to be very interesting. The plan is to give us demos of songs he's writing for their next album and he's asking for the members' feedback on each track: what they think of the song overall, what they'd change, what direction they'd like the song to go, etc. The first two months weren't really following this: the first was a demo from the last album and the second was an old demo of a folk song that netted him his first record deal with Geffen. But this month's was specifically written for their next album and was just a basic recording of him and his guitar. I think it's a cool idea.