soundslike1981
Well-known member
Hey Dissensians--been a while. But I've got an album that's very likely going to create a strong dissensus--but which has absolutely shocked me by being laser-guided-missile brilliant, to my tastes.
The Flaming Lips, acid-washed weirdos from the definitive hinterland who had a string of mainstream success with gilded but still weird pop, who became beloved cartoon characters of stage performance (bunny suits, confetti, 10-foot bubbles), have stripped all of it away and created a truly remarkable album.
Stream it here.
While it sounds (literally and figuratively) not quite like anything else, it has roots in all the sort of stuff that drives off-the-deep-end music geeks wild--fusion-era Miles Davis, early Kraftwerk or Can, Bernard Parmegiani and Brian Eno, Raymond Scott and the BBC Radiophonic, Italian and French prog, early Pink Floyd and This Heat, etc. But it really adds up to a lot more than that, to my ears.
A lot of people seem to be reporting that it takes them a few listens for what initially seems sprawling and diffuse to reveal its immersive intensity. It hit home immediately for me, but with repeated listens its taken even deeper hold. I'm not one to become "fan-ish" about any new release--but this album has compelled me to listen to it probably 15 or more times since I first heard it last month. It's a sound-world unto itself, and I keep wanting to get lost in it.
If anybody here just remembers The Flaming Lips as "those guys that did that song about Jelly" or for the sunny grin of "Do You Realize?!?," this album could dispel all misgivings. It's seriously muscular, thoughtful, penetrating--something I would not have expected by a rock band, especially in its 26th year.
(I've also created a "response mix" that attempts to reflect the feeling of the album, by pulling together Krautrock, musique concrete, sound library stuff, soundtrack music, fusion jazz, careful psychedelia, and even a little Led Zeppelin: http://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/one-off-zygotic-after-the-flaming-lips-embryonic-2009/ )
Give it a shot, you might be surprised to hear anything like from "rock," in 2009. If you were at all pleasantly surprised by last years Portishead revival, the Flaming Lips have captured that resurgence and doubled it. I'd be very curious to hear what you think.
The Flaming Lips, acid-washed weirdos from the definitive hinterland who had a string of mainstream success with gilded but still weird pop, who became beloved cartoon characters of stage performance (bunny suits, confetti, 10-foot bubbles), have stripped all of it away and created a truly remarkable album.
Stream it here.
While it sounds (literally and figuratively) not quite like anything else, it has roots in all the sort of stuff that drives off-the-deep-end music geeks wild--fusion-era Miles Davis, early Kraftwerk or Can, Bernard Parmegiani and Brian Eno, Raymond Scott and the BBC Radiophonic, Italian and French prog, early Pink Floyd and This Heat, etc. But it really adds up to a lot more than that, to my ears.
A lot of people seem to be reporting that it takes them a few listens for what initially seems sprawling and diffuse to reveal its immersive intensity. It hit home immediately for me, but with repeated listens its taken even deeper hold. I'm not one to become "fan-ish" about any new release--but this album has compelled me to listen to it probably 15 or more times since I first heard it last month. It's a sound-world unto itself, and I keep wanting to get lost in it.
If anybody here just remembers The Flaming Lips as "those guys that did that song about Jelly" or for the sunny grin of "Do You Realize?!?," this album could dispel all misgivings. It's seriously muscular, thoughtful, penetrating--something I would not have expected by a rock band, especially in its 26th year.
(I've also created a "response mix" that attempts to reflect the feeling of the album, by pulling together Krautrock, musique concrete, sound library stuff, soundtrack music, fusion jazz, careful psychedelia, and even a little Led Zeppelin: http://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/one-off-zygotic-after-the-flaming-lips-embryonic-2009/ )
Give it a shot, you might be surprised to hear anything like from "rock," in 2009. If you were at all pleasantly surprised by last years Portishead revival, the Flaming Lips have captured that resurgence and doubled it. I'd be very curious to hear what you think.
