The Flaming Lips: Embryonic

    It is almost the one year anniversary of Oklahoma alternative neo-psychedelic space rock experimental band The Flaming Lips's release of Embryonic (October 13, 2009). That's a lot of genre to swallow, so let me explain a bit. Their sound is very "lush" as some have put it while grungy (hence alternative, think Radiohead OK Computer), while at the same time brash with metallic or bell sounding electronics (hence the space rock) and trippy (hence the neo-psychedelic). I always thought, without really knowing The Flaming Lips, that they were a UK band, because in my own experience, the British groups tend to be more melodic and unique, while American rock is sort of one note; but, the Lips (short name people often refer to them by) have broken through that mold and in doing so put out a pretty interesting album.
    The sound of Embryonic also differs greatly from their other critically acclaimed releases Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) and At War with the Mystics (2006). I guess their older stuff has been called more polished, which I agree with to a degree. Embryonic is perhaps merely a great collection of ideas akin to a movie soundtrack, not so much complete songs. What I mean is that it seems that as soon as a song gets really cooking, it is over and never really completes its thought. Or, as with many other bands any album contains a few shorter tracks that are meant to fill, a short jam or chordal idea; this is somewhat how many of the tracks could be described. But their older albums seem more popish or neo-60s-70s and do not push the envelop of experimentation as much, so I like Embryonic the most.
    Embryonic is a double album, 18 tracks split between two discs. Some notable featured artists on the album are MGMT on the track "Worm Mountain" and Karen O, lead singer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on a few tracks. The Lips have been known to try different things with their releases. One album, Zaireeka (1997) was a true listening experience that few could afford. The music was split between 4 discs, which were meant to be played simultaneously on 4 different stereo systems to create the whole. Discs could even be left out to create a completely different version of the song. Obviously, this idea did not please critics or bring the Lips any real success, and they were almost dropped by their record label. But, their next release, Soft Bulletin (1999) brought them much more into the forefront of the music industry at the time.
    Highlights of Embryonic for me are: "I Can Be a Frog", which has a really cool music video to go along with it. Also, I love "The Impulse" and its electronically mixed vocals. I love the overall anticipation and tension of the slower songs, "Gemeni Syringes", "Sagittarius Silver Announcement" and "Evil" for example are eerie in the sense of leaving the listener expecting something to happen. They draw you into the dreamlike world of The Flaming Lips with their beauty only to bite you with the contrast of the harder songs like "Worm Mountain", "See the Leaves", "Watching the Planets", just to name a few.
    Enjoy the song "The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine" in the MixPod player!