At War With The Mystics
Published April 5th, 2006 in Uncategorized
I promised myself I wouldn’t talk about music much on this blog. But The Flaming Lips have released a new album, and I love them so I have to take at least one moment to talk about this album. After all, The Flaming Lips are most definitely my favorite Okies (sorry Mom).
Initial reaction to new album: It’s about damned time. Not to denigrate the illustrious Lips, but they certainly take their sweet time making a new album. Then again, Dave Fridmann’s studio isn’t exactly on NW 23rd St. either. Each Lips album has taken its time to grow on me. The first time I heard Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, I was terribly unimpressed. Now, I don’t know what I would do without that album.
This new album is very different, like every other Lips album. I knew that they were going for a more guitar-based sound for this album, and was expecting a cross between Clouds Taste Metallic and The Soft Bulletin. Expectations are terrible things to have when it comes to the Flaming Lips, as they will always hand you something completely unexpected. Surprise surprise, this album is not at all what I thought it would be. I hear sounds that remind me of Talkin’ Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues, but it’s all been infused with some serious space funk. There are moments that recall Pink Floyd’s Meddle side by side with songs that remind you of Black Sabbath.
Like all post-Dave Fridmann Flaming Lips albums, this one is heavily (and beautifully) produced and is guaranteed to be a pleasant headphone experience (break out the noise cancelling headphones), that is, if you can accept an album that doesn’t sound much like the last two LPs or really much like anything before them.
There are sadly no songs about Jesus on the new album (a fault noted in every album since Transmissions…), but perhaps Wayne Coyne has exhausted that theme. There are still lots of songs about outer space and what it is to be alive though. There’s a bit of political content in these lyrics that I was not expecting and did not think was possible, but somehow Wayne Coyne was able to take his “We’re so small, the universe is so big” ethos and incorporate that into a discourse on politics in America that doesn’t sound overly stupid.
Still, the album is at its best when the songs talk about the annoying things (some) people do, using magic wands to fight evil, death and outer space. In that respect, it is not so different from a lot of the band’s earlier work, except for the no songs about Jesus part. I’m happy with my purchase, and I expect that I will become happier with it as time passes. So don’t listen to Pitchfork on this one, they’re wrong.
Oh, yeah. I _so_ am digging this album. Unlike you, I heard none of the tracks nor the hype before the release, so came at it much like baby Jesus would have - well a browner baby Jesus - all innocent like.
dang, i like it.
as some one who first saw the lips in 92 opening for STP at mowhawk, then again in 94 at edgefest, and countless times after that, i have seen many versions of this band. i can not lie- when ronald left and they chose to go on without him, i was weary. zaireeka was amazing though, maybe the concept more than the songs. when SB came out, i dug. i had a promo and then later bought the record because it had a different track order, one less song, and different artwork. ok, maybe the art was just a different color. i became suddenly disillusioned with the overnight stardom SB brought my fellow oklahomans. for so many years the world did not get it. all they thought of was “that jelly song.” suddenly, they were EVERYbody’s favorite band. and of course deserters songs did the same for mercury rev. coincidence they were recorded simultaneously by the same people, in the same studio. regardless, i became happy for them, but at the same time saddend. the shows changed tremndously. they were and still are amaing experiences. the success hasnt changed their outward selves… but the even the most hardcore of the new fans dont seem to get the genious that came before. jonathan donahue’s playing on priest and hit to death, ronald’s brilliance on transmission and clouds… and the amazing simplicity of ‘love yr brain.’ so, point, when yoshimi came out, i didnt even buy it. i like what i have heard well enough, but it isnt the same for me anymore. i have heard the W.A.N.D though and liked it very much. i do plan to buy this one, and ill get around to yoshimi once my jaded-ness calms down.
i still maintain, though, some of the best shows were on the headphone experiments tour- 35 people in fayetteville, 49 in boston.
what i wish, more than anything, is that mercury rev and the flaming lips would tour together playing songs from both bands past and present albums…. that would be fucking amazing.