Trail Blazers: In its latest album, ‘Embryonic’ The Flaming Lips stayed ahead of the game with its experimental tunes
The Flaming Lips know what experimental music sounds like.
Their 1997 album, ‘Zaireeka’, came on four discs to be played on four stereo systems simultaneously. While few things are able to top the outlandish idea that was ‘Zaireeka,’ Wayne Coyne and his Flaming Lips have unveiled their first double album, ‘Embryonic.’
All 70 minutes of the album could have fit on one disc, but the Lips used a double album concept to allow for more freedom in their music. The result is 18-songs packed full of bizarre, acid-soaked rock. From the album’s opener to its spacey, groovy closer, ‘Watching the Planets,’ The Flaming Lips provide a variety of sounds, pulsing tones and effects that differ heavily from 2006’s ‘At War With the Mystics.’
Their new album, ‘Embryonic’ genuinely is a product of hard work. Everything is buried beneath layers of distortion. Wayne Coyne sings, hums, and wails through numerous effects, themes of madness, isolation and hallucinogenic horror. He is describing an environmental holocaust in the unaffected monotone in ‘See the Leaves.’ Then he is not saying anything in the psychedelic, onslaught instrumental ‘Aquarius Sabotage.’ MGMT lends a hand on the stoner-mental, ‘Worm Mountain.’
Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs does her best to provide animal noises in ‘I Can Be A Frog’ and a thumping, repetitive bass riff dominates ‘The Ego’s Last Stand’ until there is an explosion of guitar, harps and feedback. The Lips even try their hand at a jazz instrumentals (‘The Impulse’) and an airy, new-wave one (Gemini Syringes).
Of course, being the Lips, even amid the squalls of noise and synthetic surges, there are beauteous melodies. It is their least accessible material in a while, but it is also their best. While ‘Embryonic’ may not breed new fans, it should satisfy their already established fan base. ‘Embryonic’ captures the group at their most ambitious point and boldly pushes themselves towards more adventurous horizons.
There is no hit single, and the freedom and free form jam sessions that Coyne and company lay down will certainly not sit right with people of most musical tastes, but it’s refreshing. In a year where most artists played it safe, The Flaming Lips once again reinvent themselves in time to usher in a new decade.
While the album would be better as a single disc, it would miss the point of who The Flaming Lips are. They are chart-topping, festival-headlining, musical freaks. They produce album after album of strange progressive and acid rock filled music. ‘Embryonic’ is no exception. The album is all over the place, but is easily the Lips finest in years.
Published on October 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm
