When The Black Lips set off to record their latest studio album, they decided to try something new—working with a professional producer for a change. Though the album will be the band’s sixth studio album to date, they’ve always chosen to produce themselves. Surprisingly, pop wunderkind Mark Ronson topped their wish list of “dream producers,” which may seem like an unlikely choice for the lo-fi, garage rock sound of Black Lips, but Ronson’s old school, ‘60s recording style and Grammy-nominated work on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black proved that he had the proper aural aesthetic to capture and refine the band’s vintage-inspired sound.Intrigued by this unique creative collaboration, we followed the band into the studio where they quickly established a common language with their newest addition. The guys found that Ronson not only had the objective distance necessary to suggest tweaks and improvements that could take the music to the next level, but more important, he just got the sound. How often can you say to someone, “Dude, can you make it sound more spooky? More ghostly?” and have them know exactly what you mean? Those kinds of bonds of understanding are rare, especially with musicians from such different backgrounds.We may be getting ahead of ourselves here, but after watching the video above, we have the feeling this may be the beginning of a bee-yoo-tee-ful friendship. Look for the album out on Vice Records in 2011.