The amalgamation of my favorite band + two of my other two favorite people/bands (ie: Black Lips, King Khan & BBQ/Mark Sultan) have been playing some small shows here and there inbetween their respectively crazy touring schedules. They did a show at CMJ and Brooklyn Vegan put up a nice review that I felt like sharing with you, with photos added. Then maybe some amazing videos that are killing me, and then maybe, possibly some of my thoughts on their album:

While the previous two bands might have strived to achieve an organic quality to their electronic landscapes, The Almighty Defenders had enough of it to start a West Village co-op. Perhaps a little too much; at times their choir-robe sporting performance came off as mildly contrived attempts at irreverently performed traditional gospel-tinged rock sprouting out of the soil. Their dynamism as performers couldn’t be discounted however, as they stirred the crowd into a frenzy with a nearly hour long drunken sermon of soulful garage bliss.

This indie “supergroup” has stumbled on a unique dynamic; coupling the best elements of the ultimate divisiveness that is the Black Lips’ style – an undying energy and a solid rhythm section – with the grandiose stage presence and musical abilities of King Khan and his long time partner Marc Sultan (BBQ Show). To all that add the Kentucky-fried-church sing-a-long, ebulliently spilling from the stage. Songs full of cheering, Bible-quoting, and plucky reverb-heavy guitar lines with lots of claps and tambourine sparkle defined their whole performance for the most part. Not that the crowd at Roots Studios seemed to mind; if anything, they might have seen the light.

The baptismal experience was nearly complete with the addition of a “communion ceremony,” where guzzles from a Jameson whiskey bottle were administered to parishioners, that is audience members in the front row, poured with a steadfast hand by Black Lips member Cole Alexander.

It provided a fitting image for a show that might have sparked the first born-again revival in Williamsburg’s ever-growing cultural history. Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

I’m Coming Home

Bow Down & Die

The Almighty Defenders – Self Titled Debut

So the very premise of The Almighty Defenders in all likelihood is going to split the world’s constituents into two categories. The first will probably be pissing themselves thinking the amount of talent contained in the members: King Khan himself, the BBQ aka Mark Sultan, and the entirety of the Black Lips. It’s like a match made in a disgusting Berlin garage. Oh wait… The second group will probably be rolling their eyes in disgust that the kings of the current garage revival all got together after the purported international incident where Black Lips got kicked out of India and recorded and album. I happen to be of the first persuasion. By that I mean, I was waiting on the edge of my seat until this album got released, and finally it’s here.

So the story goes that Black Lips went to India, got their cocks out and got kicked out of the country under threat of jail time. They were not heard from for a few days until “word” got back to Vice that they were holed up with King Khan and BBQ in a studio in Berlin, where Khan lives with the Shrines. Whether or not that whole incident was a plea for more publicity matters not, for the Almighty Defenders came out of it – a pairing which was made in Heaven (yes, the nightclub in London) and which many people were clamoring for long before Black Lips had even made a name for themselves. So it is with great pleasure and a fair amount of liquor, weed, and dirt under their fingernails that King Khan, BBQ and the Black Lips bring to you the Almighty Defenders debut.

‘Bow Down and Die’, although one of the first tracks released to promote this album, never gets old. It’s straight up hand clapping gospel Sunday morning tune with Cole’s dirty vocals and enough “harmonizing” to make it seem like a cat dying, this tune is grade A. But more importantly, I love how each song in its own way showcases the amazing things about each member of the band – things that may not necessarily get such a showcasing whilst they play in their day job bands. ‘Cone of Light’ showcases the elements that BBQ (Mark Sultan), Joe (Black Lips), and Ian (Black Lips) do quite well respectively: BBQ belts it out, making him currently the only singer in garage rock who can actually fucking sing; Joe is a machine behind the drums, urgent as ever; and Ian is rock solid on guitar, sneaking up on you making you think he’s a messy guitarist but actually working some type of magic. The Ghost With The Most is swampy sounding, with Jared getting to show his vocal muscles with a fair amount of reverb, “It takes a wicked man to blindly lead the blind”, sounds most like a Black Lips song probably due to Ian’s most underappreciated guitar line taking the back seat to Jared’s wailing. I’m Coming Home unites all their talents into a ‘love tune’ about a man coming home from war, syrupy bass line drives the tune forward with Cole, Joe, King Khan and BBQ taking scratchy vocal duties over a fairly blues guitar line. Gospel is not forgotten with everyone shouting, “I’m coming home, oh yeah!”

But make no mistake, this record is not polished. It’s cohesive in its almost otherworldly, saintly in a dirty way, gospel garage heavenly feel, but it’s still a product of those who make up the band. And what I mean by that is that these men are ridiculous, crazy, and like to fuck around and this record does have a few WTFuck moments, as we all knew it would. ‘Death Cult Soup ‘N Salad’ consists solely of weird noises (most I’m assuming made by Cole and Joe) over some pretty heavy, and by heavy I mean distorted and rudimentary, riffing that together make up this delectably titled song. ‘The Great Defender’…. All I can assume about this song is that crack was a main component in it’s creation.

So what remains to be seen is whether or not the material will play out live. The group has played less than a handful of shows, including the Sell Out Festival, oh excuse me, Scion Garage Fest in Portland. But with the busy touring schedule each band keeps, with Khan and BBQ touring America in the fall, Black Lips touring the world for ever and ever, Mark Sultan coming out with a new album and the Shrines supposedly coming out with a new album soon – it doesn’t look good for the Defenders live show, but performances like the aforementioned CMJ prove that I may not know what the fuck I’m talking about. ‘Mon the Almighty Defenders world tour of 2010.

8/10