The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

"We think it's gonna be called Embryonic but we don't know if it's gonna just be called Embryonic or it's gonna be called Embryonic and...something else, but we think it's gonna be called Embryonic. You can write that if you want and not be humiliated later."

http://stereogum.com/archives/progress-report/progress-report-the-flaming-lips_067682.html

and now we have this from Billboard:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/flaming-lips-stretching-out-for-mystics-1003972098.story

Sweet! A Double Album! I scoring a bag of LA Confidential!

The other day I listened to this bootleg called "Shit shooting with Wayne" and it was basically this long interview with Wayne right after Transmissions came out when they were on tour with Tool. They asked him what the Lips would do if they ever found a mainstream audience and Wayne said they'd probably fuck it up on the next album cos they're too into doing their own thing.

I thought about that last time I listened to At War With the Mystics. Even the songs that annoy me on the album ("YYY", "Haven't Got a Clue"), I still have to give them props cos they are weird experiments.

Can't wait for this one. I'm hoping it'll be like a return to Zaireeka-style long-form psychedelia, songs interlaced with stuff like the end of "Riding to Work in the Year 2025".

Low expectations after Mystics but what the hell, I'm sure I'll buy it anyway. Seeing them at ATP New York. Please don't disappoint, guys.

Speaking of Zaireeka, I wonder if they'll ever mix it to one CD.

Well, some of it was, onto b-sides.

I think a couple made it onto the Race for the Prize single... forget where else.

I predict this will sound like MGMT.

this is how those songs came out:

Waitin' For A Superman

Single/EP info

Warner Bros. Records UK, 1999
9362-44746/44747

Warner Bros. Records US, 2000
9362-44793

US CD

01. Waitin' For A Superman (Radio edit) (Original version from the album The Soft Bulletin) (Is it gettin' heavy??) Listen
02. Waitin' For A Superman (Album version) (From the album The Soft Bulletin)
03. Waitin' For A Superman (Mokran remix) (From the album The Soft Bulletin)
04. Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (Stereo remix; original version from Zaireeka)
05. Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair (Stereo remix; original 4CD version from Zaireeka)
Plus Quicktime videos of Waitin' For A Superman, Race For The Prize, and Be My Head.

UK CD1

01. Waitin' For A Superman (Radio edit) (Original version from the album The Soft Bulletin)
02. Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (From Zaireeka Disc 3, 1997)
03. Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair (From Zaireeka Disc 3, 1997)

UK CD2

01. Waitin' For A Superman (Radio edit) (Original version from the album The Soft Bulletin)
02. Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (From Zaireeka Disc 4, 1997)
03. Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair (From Zaireeka Disc 4, 1997)

Perhaps the saddest song from 'The Soft Bulletin', 'Waitin' For A Superman' is one of the most impressive combinations yet of Steven's music and Wayne's lyrics. The orchestration of the song provides an awesome atmospheric backdrop to the forlorn piano melody that underpins the song. Within this powerful and sombre sonic tapestry, Wayne's lyrics convey a piquant personal sadness, pinned back by just a small element of hope.

That hope lies in the idea that, even when you are facing a vast darkness in your life, the solid people you rely on are still there for you, even if they can't actually change the way things are going. Maybe they can't bring back the light, but they can be there for you to hold onto in the darkness...

The B-sides of the UK release complete the 4CD set for '35,000ft Of Despair' and 'Riding to Work in 2025', with these tracks making up CDs '3' and '4' for the 'Zaireeka' structure, thus providing the first full UK release of any of the material from 'Zaireeka'. The first two CD parts for these songs can be found on the two UK 'Race For The Prize' singles.

The US release has something extra though, besides the shortened and speeded up edit of the main track and the two album versions, in the form of the stereo mixes of '35,000ft' and '2025'. These mixes date from the early versions of 'The Soft Bulletin', and are adaptations of the 4CD versions found on 'Zaireeka'. Both tracks are fully remixed and re-edited, with some of the 4CD elements discarded, and with some minor additions. They remain as weirdly futuristic visions of the human condition, and work out sounding almost as good as the original versions, but somewhat less expansive. They're also only otherwise available on the Japanese version of 'Race For The Prize'.

As if that wasn't enough, the US CD5 also has QuickTime 4 files providing both versions of the video for 'Waitin' For A Superman' and the videos for 'Race For The Prize' and 'Be My Head' (the latter from 'Transmissions From The Satellite Heart'). The full version of the 'Superman' video never made it onto MTV etc, as result of 'too much blood' being involved. Pretty dumb really, for such a beautiful video...

----------

Race For The Prize

Single/EP info

Warner Bros. Records UK, 1999
9362-44718/44719

Warner Bros. Records Japan, 1999
WPCR-10594

UK CD1

01. Race For The Prize (From the album The Soft Bulletin) Listen
02. Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (From Zaireeka Disc 1, 1997)
03. Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair (From Zaireeka Disc 1, 1997)

UK CD2

01. Race For The Prize (From the album The Soft Bulletin)
02. Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (From Zaireeka Disc 2, 1997)
03. Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair (From Zaireeka Disc 2, 1997)

Japan CD

01. Race For The Prize (Flaming Lips version from the album The Soft Bulletin)
02. Race For the Prize (Remix from the album The Soft Bulletin)
03. Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) (Stereo remix; original 4 CD version from Zaireeka)
04. Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair (Stereo remix; original 4 CD version from Zaireeka)
05. The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now (Stereo remix; original 4 CD version from Zaireeka)

The first single from 'The Soft Bulletin', this single made the official Top 40 in the UK, as well as receiving plenty of drive-time airplay on Radio 1.

There's little wonder why this was the case - from the instant the drums come whacking in underneath squealing strings and a twinkling piano, it is clear that the Lips kept on walking through the sunset after they finished making 'Zaireeka'. The song is a tale of two scientists who venture to the brink in their competitive search for a cure to some deadly disease. It's a tale of woe coupled with hope. The instrumentation is a melodic rush, periodically driven by those drums, periodically lapsing into a string-backed lament. For the scientists must sacrifice all - love, their families, life itself - to achieve the goal of saving humanity, and so instead fulfil their greater love for all mankind.

The telling refrain is, "Theirs is to win if it kills them, they're just humans with wives and children." Pretty thought provoking for a glorious pop song, wouldn't you say?

As for the B-sides of the UK singles, these are nothing new to the US fans, but represent a necessary effort to release the 'Zaireeka' concept onto the domestic UK market, given the high price to be paid for an import copy of the 4-disc album. These two songs are the ones that have been carried into the new live performances and are perhaps the most 'conventional' tracks from the simultaneous playing experiment. Here we have the tracks from disc 1 on CD1, and disc 2 on CD2. The tracks from discs 3 and 4 appeared on the subsequent UK single, 'Waitin' For A Superman.'

Trainspotters will notice that (on both CDs) the sleeve lists the Peter Mokran remix of 'Race', while the version included is the Lips own...

As for the Japanese CD, this covers both LP versions of 'Race', plus the bonus of three of the stereo mixes of songs from 'Zaireeka'. Originally slated for inclusion on the early working version of 'The Soft Bulletin', these tracks are essentially remixed and re-edited versions of the 4CD originals. They still sound glorious, and you don't need four CD players to hear them, although you do trade off the startling effect of that total surround sound, and lose some of the depth and orchestration in the process. '2025' and '35,000ft' later turned up on the US CD5 for 'Superman', but this is the only commercial release of the stereo 'Big Ol' Bug' mix, otherwise only available on a limited WBR (US) promo CD.

I thought it was the other way around, with "Race For the Prize" originally being a "Zaireeka" track. Right?

wrong.

Nope ive been following the Lips online since 99 and i remember them saying they tried "Race For the Prize" when they were doing Zaireeka. Didn't fit on the format (too short/poppy) but they definitely tried it out. Listen to the drums/synths. They both have the sound that they got in "March of the Rotten Vegetables".

OK.

I had Zaireeka mixed to one CD at one point in the past.

I just bought Zaireeka!

Zaireeka is one of the most amazing records I've ever heard. Using just discs 1 ands 3 is a pretty good experience and a hell of a lot easier than doing all 4. Figuring out different ways to play it is part of the fun!

http://download.wbr.com/flaminglips/Silver-Trembling-Hands-DMD_SMALL.jpg

Anyone heard the new Stardeath and White Dwarfs album?

(Not sure I wanted to start a new thread, so figured I'd ask here since they are former Lips road crew, singer is nephew of Wayne Coyne, plus all the sonic similarities, etc.)

new album cover?

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/98/l_211eeb7f33c94d2aa47e3ec2b0c1ab9c.jpg

Was just about to post that! I was gonna care about this album at all but that's ridiculously cool.

Yeah wow holy crap cool

Fuuuuuuck!

The style of these tracks will be different to the previous albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and At War with the Mystics, and has been reported to be similar to the style of Joy Division, a Miles Davis group, and John Lennon.

from wiki, but still, o_0

a Miles Davis group

BE SPECIFIC! WHICH ONE???

The one with the cosmic vaginas.

The three new songs have been posted

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X9JMFTHZ

Downloading them now....

"Convinced of the Hex" sounds like they directed the drummer to impersonate Jaki on Can's "Vitamin C"! The song over the top of it doesn't really go anywhere, though, not that it's intended to. Still, it's immediately apparent that this isn't going to be At War with the Mystics (thank god).

"The Impulse" is slow and breezy and has lots of vocoder all over it. This isn't like Jamie Foxx in your face, though, it's soft.

"Silver Trembling Hands" is cool! The verses sound like a punk band rehearsing in another room with echoed out Wayne over the top, but the choruses are half-time lite 70s rock.

I dig the production on these songs.

i just hope its not so abrasive sound qualitywise, mystics is damn near unlistenable

Man, on second listen I'm struck by how all three songs sound like imitations of songs I like by other bands.

"Convinced of the Hex": Vitamin C by Can
"The Impulse": A number of early Air songs
"Silver Trembling Hands": the bassline is directly lifted from The Wipers' "Youth in America"

And I like all three, I guess, but each of them makes me want to put on the original source material instead.

So happy this stuff is definitely a new direction. Just hope they aren't the best songs on the record...

Good god I love the drum sound on "Hex". It's got that Zaireeka/Bulletin-era distorted single-mic'd flavor but with a nice and crisp and juicy high end. Can, yeah, but also "Okay I'll Admit That I Really Don't Understand"...

Love Wayne's vocals on "Silver Trembling Hands". Kind of wish the levels on the distorted guitar were alot louder during the verses though.

Pretty good listen so far. Like the new direction. Hope it doesn't disappoint

this is great, thanks.

i just hope its not so abrasive sound qualitywise, mystics is damn near unlistenable

OTM!! I don't care what the songs are like as long as the production is decent. The last record couldn't have been worse.

it was a bit... loud.
other than that, i had no problem with the sound of awwtm.

"Convinced of the Hex": Vitamin C by Can
"The Impulse": A number of early Air songs

― ya'll are the ones who don't know things (Z S), Saturday, June 27, 2009 12:37 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think they sound a little like Oneida and Black Moth, respectively. Cool they're paying it forward and invited em both to ATP.

I pretty much love everything I've heard on this record. Very psyched for it.

yes i agree Whiney all the songs that have leaked so far are amazing.

why some publications on the internet want to do a decade list before the year is out is beyond me...

there's an insane push to be OMG FIRST even if its at the cost of artists. Its stupid. That's why a lot of blogs did "Best of the first HALF OF THE YEAR" lists this year. It's gonna get dumber and dumber until it defys all logic. We're gonna start seeing year end lists in August in 2010, i assure you

Scottpl gave a good answer as to why Pitchfork's starting their best-of-decade stuff soon on this thread: Pitchfork's P2k: The Decade in Music

^ That links directly to his post.

why the fuck aren't you at 51 yet?

Because I care about this place, music, and music criticism and I'm trying to contribute to the board?

Why are you always so negative towards me, Whiney? Am I really that bad? (Plus, I'm a fan of your writing! I follow you on Twitter!) Jeez dude, seriously.

I sincerely think that Scott gave a good explanation for P4k doing their year-end stuff early, and I wanted to post a link to it here in case some people who are interested in that particular issue were also interested in seeing how someone very eloquently spoke to it!

I really shouldn't even bother to explain myself to haters anymore, it's tiring.

it's just tough love, kshighway

Hahaha, thanks Whiney! I half believe you. :-)

Here it is laid out.

My problem is not with Scott's argument--I definitely think Scott made a valid point, Scott's a smart dude, and that's totally a fine decision for the fork. I assuredly will be checking their list, even if i'd personally prefer that it came out in Jan/Feb 10.

But I was talking about a reactionary trend that's sweeping through the ENTIRE MUSIC MEDIA CYCLE. You responded with what sounded like, "Well, Pitchfork says this..." Which to a media professional (yeah, yeah, LOL, I know, STFU) is the equivalent of having an argument with someone about a band and they reply "Well, it's pitchfork's best new music, so what do YOU know?"

People find that annoying, and you should generally do less of that if you want ppl to like you on this borad. That's the less snarky version. Sorry I snapped at you.

it's so hard to stay mad at this guy

Whiney, no problem!

Just for clarification, I didn't post that link to Scott's explanation as an appeal to any authority Pitchfork might have, and I wasn't asserting that his position is the "correct" one. I just wanted to call attention to the fact that he gave compelling reasons "as to why Pitchfork's starting their best-of-decade stuff soon," because I thought doing so would contribute to the discussion as to whether it's good or not that pubs publish these lists early. I don't think his is the definitive word on the subject at all, but I do think he gave compelling reasons for why Pitchfork is doing what it's doing. I generally agree with you though that the trend of pubs' publishing list early is a really annoying one, although I'd also say that the list deluge that usually comes late in the fall is very overwhelming, and I'm not sure how it would stop unless publications either waited until early next year, stopped doing lists, or whatever. Maybe we should just all learn to filter the deluge. Not sure.

But anyway, yeah. I know I'm an avowed P4k booster, but I don't think they're right on everything, and I definitely wasn't doing a "Well, it's pitchfork's best new music, so what do YOU know?"

Really like the slowed down ending of "See the Leaves" but the rest of it kind of seems like part 2 of "Convinced of the Hex". That's probably not a bad thing cos that song kicks serious ass but as a song it isn't as memorable.

I'm really liking the rough sound of this new stuff though. It's like they taped it on a 4-track and then went back in Ableton for overdubs and remixes.

My problem is not with Scott's argument--I definitely think Scott made a valid point, Scott's a smart dude, and that's totally a fine decision for the fork. I assuredly will be checking their list, even if i'd personally prefer that it came out in Jan/Feb 10.

Thing is, Pfork is like the godfather of all these blogs that are publishing their lists earlier and earlier. People are gonna check out the Pfork decade list en masse, whether it comes out in August 2009 or February 2010 (or even later). I'm a bit disappointed to see Pfork bending over to the early-publishing routine... but I suppose if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

Much as I loved the Flaming Lips transformation during the 'Zaireeka'/boom-box experiments/'Soft Bulletin' era, I would never have guessed by 2000 or so that in late 2009 I'd be excited for a Flaming Lips release. But the four tracks from this new thing are really promising, kudos to the band for breaking from that huge-happy-day-glo-wall-of-sound approach of the last decade+. Stripped down (relatively), a little feral and scratchy, a little menacing--very nice work for a group of weirdos approaching 50.

Stream up on colbertnation.com, now through next Monday night.

WoW!

On first listen it sounds kind of meandering. Opposite direction of their last one.

Opposite direction of their last one.

Exactly what a lot of people would like to hear, I would expect.

This is roughly 101230019248098409183409812301242187012340897213490872134 times (go here for full number) better than At War with the Mystics imo

And contains their most psychedelic songs since Zaireeka and Clouds Taste Metallic, easily. It's like something snapped and they remembered they could be awesome again.

Yeah it seems closer to Christmas on Mars to me. I wasn't saying an opposite direction was bad.

At least on the less song oriented parts.

I really want this one to be good - for the moment, I like the three new songs and the cover is great.

When does it come out?

thought the song on COlbert sounded kinda great! Sorta a Syd Barrett-era Floyd thing? A little bit? I think I listened to At War With The Mystics once ... Still love most everything up to Soft Bulletin. And I like about half of Yoshimi

I think I listened to At War With The Mystics once

me too.kind of makes me not so interested in listening to entirety of this crappy rip from the Colbert thing.

Embryonic:At War with the Mystics :: Dumbo : doing your taxes and finding out you owe $852

Don't let AWWTM put you off. As posted above, they really seem to have moved in the opposite direction, not just in terms of songwriting style, but production too. Loads of space and detail and the huge Drodz drums are back. He's got the boom bap, he's got the space-rock canter. It's a glorious sound. It's also got some of their most interesting guitar work since the Ronald Jones days. Rather than try to replace with mindbending fuzz attacks they've gone for filtered and phased stabs of fidgety space funk on tracks like Convinved Of The Hex. And there are all manner of processed synth, guitar and vocal noises floating around the mix. There are no big pop tunes on here, which is good in the sense that they've ditched the jaunty nonsense from Mystics, but obviously a shame when you consider what good pop tunes they can write. The songs work their magically slowly though, and the arrangements are compelling and unusual enough to draw you in. That said, Evil, is a return to the gloomy balladry of Soft Bulletin, but it's less polished, with more Martian interference.

On one sleepy half-listen to an internet stream--shock: Flaming Lips revived from the dead making visceral, purposeful, interesting music after 25 years. And not even the "gracefully growing older" kind a la Yo La Tengo.

If you heard that almost any other band was assembling a group of people to get naked and ride bikes around a mountain, you'd probably dismiss it as a hoax. When it's the Flaming Lips doing the recruiting, though, you wonder what took them so long. For a band like this, a naked bike-riding video shoot is just another Wednesday. (Thanks to Kenny Boyett for the tip.)

BikePortland reports that the Lips are getting the naked cyclist mob together for the video for the Embryonic track "Watching the Planets". Next Wednesday, September 23, they'll be shooting on Portland, Oregon's Mount Tabor. Wayne Coyne told BikePortland that the idea came from the musical Hair: "You know how it's a bunch of freaked out naked people climbing some mountain with blood and fire and finding some new civilization there-- so I thought of Portland, right?" Of course.

Here's how Coyne describes the video's concept, which sounds, in a word, ridiculous: "I'm having one of my giant space bubbles covered in fake fox fur. It's going to look like some giant fur egg, and the people on bicycles are gonna sort of be born and erupt out of this fur, vaginalistic thing." Ew, yo.

Also: "Maybe I'll even get naked for the video, too. I don't even know how it ends-- maybe it ends with them all getting clothed and making me get naked and shoving me back into the giant fur egg. I just came up with that right now."

This video is already going to have a tough time competing with the one in our heads.

BikePortland has all of the info for anybody who's interested in participating. Here are the basic details:

Flaming Lips naked bike video shoot
Wednesday, September 23, 10am - 10pm (drop-in)
The top of Mount Tabor, by the basketball courts
No RSVP needed. Just show up wearing clothes, please.
For more information, contact: bikeforthel✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧

Godspeed!

And speaking of Flaming Lips videos, their one for the Embryonic track "I Can Be a Frog", which features guest grunts from Karen O, will make its debut on MySpace on September 22, next Tuesday.

Posted by Tom Breihan on September 18, 2009 at 5:40 p.m.

On one sleepy half-listen to an internet stream--shock: Flaming Lips revived from the dead making visceral, purposeful, interesting music after 25 years.

completely agree. none of the child-like saccharine quality that they've been abusing recently. did sound a little harsh at times, but i'm assuming it will sound better on cd. will definitely buy.

listening to the stream. Talk Talk meets Trans AM meets Air.or something.

I'm looking forward to this new album immensely. Will say, though, honestly, that the new songs at ATP didn't really grab me in a live setting.

^ yeah, the excitement in this thread makes me keener to hear the new record than seeing them live last month did!

xxxpost Out in Europe around half October.

After listening to it a couple of times, Stew and Soundslike OTM: I'm liking this album a lot.

this album is fucking incredible and will even get better. too bad pitchfork won't have it in PK2 because they did it way too soon...

I agree. I thought the flaming lips had died in all honesty

I'm now pretty certain this is the best album ever made by a rock act in its 23rd year, probably by a long shot. Probably the best thing the Flaming Lips have ever done--and it's not that I dislike earlier phases of the group. I was pretty hugely into 'Zaireeka,' and this album is everything I liked about that one, minus excess goofiness, plus bits of just about everything I've grown to love over the dozen or so years since it was issued.

I think I'll make a mix for my Musicophilia blog tracing some of the sonic background (as I hear it, not necessarily as Coyne & Co. actually absorbed) of this album. But fortunately, it's also far more than a Tortoise-style pastiche--it has real strength all its own.

Actually, the vibe of the album, if not all the specific sounds, is pretty similar to what I was going for on this mix, 'Tall Stories of Evil Gris-Gris'--dark, sometimes heavy and sometimes still, occasionally menacing but often beautiful. . .

Can't wait for this one. I'm hoping it'll be like a return to Zaireeka-style long-form psychedelia, songs interlaced with stuff like the end of "Riding to Work in the Year 2025".

Wow, I think you pretty much got your wish, yeah?

once upon a time this guys had a sense of humour

Whoops--didn't know that the download link for the 'Tall Stories of Evil Gris-Gris' mix was down--get it here if you tried to get it before.

once upon a time this guys had a sense of humour

coming on stage by descending a staircase from a giant, pulsating, psychedelic vagina is pretty amusing

Yeah, arms-crossed po-faced seriousness is not an accusation I think can be successfully leveled at Wayne Coyne & Co.

Especially a few posts after a quote of a Flaming Lips press release calling for naked people on bikes to converge en masse. . .

Lips have always been deadly serious on some levels ("There You Are", "Love Yer Brain", hell "You Have to Be Joking") and silly on other levels. It's just the lyrics have shifted from being majority 'random stupid shit' to majority 'deep/stoned insight'.

And holy shit this new record is awesome. Just listened to the first few tracks and then in "Evil" Wayne came in and said "Wish I could go back in time" after that beautiful and simple synthesizer intro. WOW moment for me. Definitely Zaireeka + Soft Bulletin vibe here.

Wow, and now "If". I had written off there spacey ballad mode but this is so cool. Buying this on vinyl when it comes out!

FF to "I Can Be a Frog" fearing the worst and....wow, this is actually pretty fun. The whole album has a really consistent sound to it that feels like an all-night psychedelic jam with the Flaming Lips, songs kind of sharing each others sounds and blending together. I admit I was a little concerned at first that everything would sound like "Hex" but that's a place I don't mind being in and at least everything doesn't sound like "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song".

thought the song on COlbert sounded kinda great!

yeah me too ... because of that I will check this out ... pretty much hated their last couple releases after being a huge fan for a long time

I liked that they had a full on rock band up there instead of just the gtr + synth + Wayne combo

Btw if you haven't listened to Priest in a long time, "There You Are" is more heart-wrenching than all of Soft Bulletin.

Listening to this again before bed on good headphones. The first few songs make me think of "Okay I'll Admit That I Really Don't Understand". Also I think maybe "Sparrow" samples "Are You a Hypnotist"??

"okay i'll admit that i really don't understand" kind of sums up the album for me nicely, actually. i've only listened once, though

It's weird, cos I've now listened to this a few times and it at first my criticisms were that it was way shorter than I expected, and then that all the songs sound the same. But after a few listens I realized these two points don't really bother me at all cos I really like the pure sound of the thing; the crunchiness of the drums, the room distance in the vocals, it really sounds like someone taped an epic improvisation on a 4-track (live drums, vocals, bass and sampler) and then they went in and overdubbed in Garageband or Ableton.

There are a few parts where they slip into heavy orchestration or soaring minor key balladry but they are so few and far between that when they arrive it is actually a welcome surprise. The synth strings are more synthetic but with more of the room sound it seems like it flows with the material easier. The harp sweeps on this record are like a damn metallic waterfall.

Someone on a board somewhere mentioned this is a concept album is it really? I mean in any sense more than, say, Soft Bulletin is a concept album?

can't believe i missed the leak in june! new stuff sounds uncompromising and awesome :-)

Have not listened to any streams or leaks, but if the colossal Hit To Death In The Future Head drumming is back, I will buy this unheard.

from Amazon:

Embryonic (2 CD/1 DVD) [LIMITED EDITION]

Product Description
2CD+1DVD set will include: 2CD set with over 70+ minutes of music! Bonus audio DVD of the full album (The 96k 24 bit audio has 256 times more resolution than a standard CD which provides greater detail reproducing the music in it's full dynamic range. You can now experience exactly what the artist and producer hear in the studio.); Custom 'hard-cover book' with 24 pages of full color art, lyrics and band photos. This is a limited edition run that was custom designed by the Flaming Lips.

"Someone on a board somewhere mentioned this is a concept album is it really? I mean in any sense more than, say, Soft Bulletin is a concept album?"

Can't properly understand the lyrics, but song titles have this weird astrological theme.

It sounds like it was mastered by a lunatic. Even more so than their other notably noisy albums. However, this works to their advantage on most of it.

Much of this record sounds hopeless but resigned to it, and I really like that.

1st listen - this is so freaking good. I'm been a Lipshead since Oh My Gawd... and was even way into the Mystics, so WOW. love how they stretch out and let the songs breathe within the hyper-produced Fridmann sonics. should definitely bring the psych fans back into the fold.

the first record in years that I'll actually go out and buy on the release date.

This is quite easily my favourite album of the year.

Haven't really paid attention to this band for the last decade, but I really liked a new song I heard on the radio this week.

Btw if you haven't listened to Priest in a long time, "There You Are" is more heart-wrenching than all of Soft Bulletin.

― Adam Bruneau, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:15 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

Agreed, first album I'll be making a trip to a record shop for on release date in many years, Arthur Russell reissues aside.

Seems like it's going to be a divisive album--many responding like some of us here, really pleasantly surprised to hear the old band do something new; but talked to a few music geeks, even fans of Flaming Lips, who think it's awful. I guess I was so floored the first time I heard it I thought it'd be a real across-the-board surprise winner, like Portishead's '3'. But I guess it's "challenging" (aka ugly, unlistenable, etc.) music to people whose ears aren't shaped by the sorts of things many of us take for granted--some even calling it "lazy," because it's got some stretched out, minimal groove elements.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13522-embryonic/

9.0

Not really seeing this a left turn, it's pretty much a 180º

That review makes me want to hear the Christmas on Mars soundtrack. Should I?

Also, I really like when Wayne Coyne laughs on the delivery of "She said I could be a wolf." It's charming.

Never thought I'd say such a thing, but that Pitchfork review is spot-on.

NPR is offering a full-album stream for those who aren't willing to rush out and buy (though you should):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113403123

If anyone is interested, I've finished the mix I started working on during the Colbert Report stream, inspired by 'Embryonic' (the cover is an homage to the album's, but it looks more like my awed response to the Lips making a truly great record in 2009:

http://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/zygotic-small.jpg?w=500&h=500

Various Artists - 'Zygotic' (2009)
(After the Flaming Lips' 'Embryonic')

"‘Embryonic’s central production feature is the classic Lips technique of very heavily compressing the drums, creating a distorted, absolutely massive sound, this time devoted to more intricate and sexier beats than ever before. Other sonic “solids” are created with stabs of distorted guitar, swooping harps, distant bells, and subtle percussion. But despite these distorted and compressed elements, the music is (literally) highly dynamic, and around and between these sonic boulders and rocks is a beautiful and melodious stream of electric piano and organ, treated vocals, strings and xylophones, and ambient texture. ‘Zygotic‘ recreates this blend from two major strands. First, art rock (Krautrock especially,) sound library and soundtrack music, and fusion jazz–all with drums as huge as possible–recreate the bursting energy and ferocious beats. And second, work from minimalists, hazy psychedelia and musique concrete artists creates the contemplative web of melody and texture that holds the mix together.

From the heavy camp, we have artists like Led Zeppelin (who created the original mammoth rock drum sound) and Miles Davis (with the insanely heavy “Rated X”), early Kraftwerk, Ennio Morricone’s The Feed-Back, the Silver Apples, Jaki Liebezeit-led Can, This Heat’s Charles Hayward, White Noise, Heldon, Joe Ufer, Janko Nilovic and Faust. Adding texture and experimentalism are Tod Dockstader, Jon Appleton, Yoko Ono, Erkki Kurenniemi, Pierre Henry, Dick Raiijmakers, Alvin Curran, Tangerine Dream’s Klaus Schultze, Francois Bayle, and Bernard Parmegiani. And tying it all together with moody beauty are David Axelrod, Roy Budd, Pierre Arvay, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co., Neu, Cluster, Alice Coltrane, Nino Nardini, Egisto Macchi, Joe Meek, Bernard Estardy, Brian Eno, Luciano Cilio, and the United States of America. Of course, none of these is segregated from the rest, and hopefully it is their intertwining which makes this mix a successful homage to ‘Embryonic‘."

[Total Time: 71:09]

I think it makes a nice companion piece. Get it here at Musicophilia.

I've never paid attention to TFL before. To me, they were always the amaturish, un-funny band that sang She Don't Like Jelly (or whatever it was called) in the 80s. Seems like they are much more than that, tho.

So is this new disc an especially good place to start with TFL?

Daniel, Esq.--

I can't imagine what it would be like to start with this album--but if dispelling a cartoon image is what you need, this one will do it more than any other. Only downside is if this album thrills you--you won't find this precise combination of qualities anywhere else in their oeuvre. 'Zaireeka' is my second favorite, but unless you've got four CD players and some people to help, it'd be an unwieldy first listen--though, if you've got those things, it's a genuinely unique experience.

Another really solid review that gets at more of the feeling of the album in historical context:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=32834

I'll be all contrarian and suggest that the best place to start with the Flaming Lips is Hear It Is, their 1986 debut LP. Song for song, one of the best records they made in the 80s (maybe thee best, though it lacks Priest Driven Ambulance's experimental production), and an interesting reference point for almost everything they've done subsequently. Lyrics to "Godzilla Flick" directly anticipate "Do You Realize" nearly 15 years prior. On the other hand, you'll probably need to have a deep interest in gloomy 70s rock (Exile-era Stones, Neil Young) and heavy/gnarly 80s indie to really get the full effect.

Also recommended: In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (which, yeah, contains that Jelly single, but is otherwise amazing), Zaireeka and The Soft Bulletin.

I've got 25 web-song credits from Lala (whatever that means (n.1)), and I think I'll use them to sample TFL.

_______________________________
(n.1) I think it means I get to listen to the disc whenever I want online, but it isn't -- like they used to say on The Price Is Right -- "mine to keep."

Suggested prep for a doomy, heavy-psych Flamic Lips album:

She Is Death
Jesus Shootin' Heroin
Godzilla Flick
One Million Billionth of a Millisecond On a Sunday Morning
The Ceiling Is Bendin'
Love Yer Brain
U.F.O. Story
Lucifer Rising
Take Meta Mars
God Walks Among Us Now
There You Are
Felt Good to Burn
You Have to Be Joking
Hold Your Head
Pilot Can at the Queer of God
When Yer Twenty Two
Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus with Needles

Zaireeka in general

I've always said the best place to start for heavy, guitar-noise Lips is Hit To Death in the Future HEad and the best place for Pet Sounds-y symphonic MELLOFUCKINGTRON Lip loveliness is The Soft Bulletin. If you don't like either of those two albums you probably won't like anything this band ever does.

That being said, my personal favorite Lips song is the title song on their side-project country EP "The Southern Oklahoma Cosmic Trigger Contest"

Randomly, I started with The Soft Bulletin this morning (via Lala).

I like it. It's not the novelty-stuff I remember from this band. It's . . . psych rock, I guess? Dreamy soundscapes, layered vocal harmonies, and I love that drum sound (it reminds me of a bunch of 70s songs I can't recall by name at the moment). Not at all what I expected.

Wait till you hear Kim's Watermelon Gun.

Just finished the song Feeling Yourself Disintegrate (second time through). Loved it.

Well, if you like that (and it's by far their best-loved record), then Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is yr next logical step. Very similar in sound. I'd recommend avoiding At War with the Mystics, but that's just me...

a bunch of 70s songs I can't recall by name at the moment

You should give the mix I posted upthread a listen, then : )

"In a Priest Driven Ambulance" and "Hit To Death in the Future Head" I would recommend most for fans of "Embryonic".

I will check out yr mix, Soundslike.

I will also sample all these Flaming Lips discs; I am intrigued.

tried to pick this up today, not out yet :( guy in store said there's gonna be a triple LP?? considering getting this on vinyl, the cover should be awesome

hmmm i heard a song off this on the radio this AM...i'd pretty much given up on the lips after "mystics" which i like really really really hated...

but yeah it was some song "consider a hex" or something, man it was kinda cool, like a heavy psych Can kinda thing but more cut and paste style...anyway interesting made me wanna hear more.

Floored by how much I like these two discs (Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi), on first casual listens.

i'm not. both are great albums!

not really into 'convinced of the hex', is the rest along those lines?

I'm really really stoked to pick this up tomorrow! Btw, bargain hunters and those of you who want the physical copy and don't mind chain stores, this'll be at B3st Buy for $7.99 tomorrow.

I want to buy but I really want the vinyl for the big artwork! It looks like it was supposed to come out before Halloween but has been pushed back apparently??

Listening to this now. It's pretty good, but after all the talk, I'm disappointed to find it a bit less heavy and band-oriented than I tricked myself into expecting. It's mostly a mix between "live" elements and psychedelic soundscaping (strings & things), which is cool, but the fragmentary and/or ambient passages seem to dominate the Can-style throb. My big problem with The Flaming Lips for quite some time has been their insistence on foregrounding Wayne's sorrowful-inner-child thing. That's always been an element, but it really took over after Transmissions. A lot of his more downbeat songs suggest Piglet as an unhappy, middle-aged stoner living in his mom's basement. As a result, I'm not sure I want to hear anyone singing about how "people are evil" ever again.

Anyway, after a long stretch of stuff I was only half into, "Powerless" is fucking kicking my ass. GREAT song. My favorite Lips thing in forever, along with the similar Convinced of the Hex, which kicks things off. Actually, everything I like about this record so far (halfway through) sounds like it could have been culled from a single epic psych jam.

Okay, now we're a few minutes into The Ego's Last Stand, and it's as least as good as what's come before...

It's on Spotify for UK users here if you want to try before you buy.

A little further along. The Ego's Last Stand kinda went Piglet in its closing minutes, but Worm Mountain was satisfyingly heavy. On The Impulse now -- drifty electronic psych w/ vocoder. Very nice, reminiscent of the more dreamy tracks on Air's Premieres Symptomes.

Silver Trembling Hands is a another winner (backloaded?). Suicide/Spacemen 3 synth bass propulsion with space age bachelor pad music over the top. Really nice chorus, closest thing to a pop song yet.

Could do with a few less harp glides overall...

Aaaand into Watching the Planets. Big thumping drums, "oh! oh! oh!" groop vocals, psychedelic gospel vibe -- kind of a 21st century Night Tripper thing. Dunno if it's been mentioned, but there's a vague trip-hop influence buried in here somewhere. Not anything too direct, but there in the background somewhere. Record is definitely backloaded. Heavy slump up front redeemed by a really strong second half. Wanna hear it again.

I like the Lips as a surging rock band with unspeakably heavy drumming. Hit To Death In The Future Head is my favorite. All reports have me real interested in hearing this (alas we are not allowd to stream at work).

"Surging rock band with unspeakably heavy drumming" is definitely represented here, much more so than on recent albums.

On relisten, 1st three tracks really throw into relief what I like and don't like about this band. "Convinced of the Hex" and "The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine" might as well be the same song, musically. Dark, pulsating, bass-driven riffs with minimal melodic variation. The vocal approach is the only thing that really separates one song from the other. On "Convinced", the vocals are wet, roomy, and seemingly unprocessed, very immediate. Wayne speak-sings in a restrained manner, no reaching for notes or emotions, and keeps things cryptic. Sounds fantastic. On "Sparrow", however, he emotes and yearns about the Big Ideas in his patented 21st century style, close miked with plenty of gooey reverb. Moderately annoying, but redeemed by the music. Evil, finally, gives us the full-on heartbroken whimper attached to warbly electronics, no wicked psychedelic throb to back it up, and it's just horrid.

A bleak--

As much as the album excited me on first listen, largely because it was clearly much, much better than I would've hoped for, the surprise factor--it's the definition of a grower. So give it some time, I bet even the non-beat-oriented parts will start to seep in.

Dunno that I'll ever dig Wayne's resemblance to late-Floyd Roger Waters in his moments of whispery heartbreak ("if I show you my dark side, will you still hold me..."). But on the second pass, I'm finding a LOT more to like than to complain about.

I think you're taking Wayne WAY more seriously that he hisself ever could. The Fearless Freaks documentary will deflate any notion of po-faced Waters pomposity.

yes, a total grower - it gets better with every listen as my ears adjust and start to distinguish all the myriad of sounds, textures and ambiance that are obscured by the haze. I listened over the weekend on my actual stereo through normal speakers and it totally opened up in the room. what I thought was just harsh, yet cool-sounding, mp3 and laptop over-compression became a rainbow of high-definition fuzz and static, giving extra dimension and weight to the mix. really looking forward to the real thing.

Not so much a matter of how seriously I take it (though that plays in, and I think there's a core of sincere sentiment there), just that I don't much like the sound/feel.

On the THIRD pass, I can see much more clearly how the record is arranged. I'd say that it consists of 14 "proper songs" and four pieces of conceptual filler. Three of the filler bits ("Aquarius Sabotage", "Your Bats" and "Scorpio Sword") are short bits of chaotic rock noise drizzled with strings and harp glissandos. The fourth is the penultimate "Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast".* I like the way it plays much better without these songs -- much leaner and tighter. Given my distaste for Wayne's whispery humanist agony stuff, Evil and If can go, too. That leaves a much more manageable 12-track record. Just over 50 minutes, long enough for immersion, but not a serious chore to get through.

Of the 12 remaining tracks, 6 are heavy/dark psych-rock jams, and six are quieter and/or more experimental pieces. Standouts so far: "Convinced of the Hex", "Powerless", "Sagitarius Silver Announcement", "Silver Trembling Hands" and "Watching the Planets".

* Suppose some might describe "Gemini Syringes" as filler, too, but I really like the feel of that one. Similar to "Virgo SEB", but more hypnotic.

ipod approach to album appreciation: deciding first which tracks I don't wanna have clogging up the machinery

okay i'm totes getting this tomorrow at best buy

Reading all this today made me really want to hear this record again. And I am!

I love "Evil" with all my heart though; I'm weary of that trap too and the boys have released a half dozen or so snoozefests in the past few years; midtempo minor chord piano ballads with little melody and lot of stoner philosophizing. But here I really love it. I think it's far more minimal than they usually go on that route: the simple synth line makes me think of "Ruckzuck" by Kraftwerk or "Lady Godiva's Operation" or something clinical and spooky. I also like how it is short and the beginning and ending of the song takes up a good bit of it. Taping a double album I'm sure they were tempted to make every track a 5 or 6 minute-long epic and I feel like this could have been one of the prime contenders. Glad it didn't turn out that way.

Actually it's funny because my only real complaint at first was that the record was much shorter than I would have liked but now that I think about it, by having so many tracks that AREN'T drawn-out 'epic track's maybe it just feels shorter. It's an odd record; condensed yet sprawling at the same time.

ipod approach to album appreciation: deciding first which tracks I don't wanna have clogging up the machinery

I'm still an ''album'' guy, e.g., I like the filler, the semi-successful genre experiments, the half-baked efforts to draft an epic song. I like the album as artifact, despite this being an age of singles.

OTOH, you're right -- full albums do clog up the machinery. I have a maximum-memory iPod, and I have filled it to roughly 55% capacity in just a few years. Don't know what I'll do when I fill its memory to capacity.

my only real complaint at first was that the record was much shorter than I would have liked but now that I think about it, by having so many tracks that AREN'T drawn-out 'epic track's maybe it just feels shorter. It's an odd record; condensed yet sprawling at the same time.

― Adam Bruneau

It's just over 70 minutes, what I think of as a longish album, though not an epic undertaking. And only a handful of the tracks are really what I'd call short (2-3 minute range). Average track length is just under 4 min. Funny thing I notice is that with the three noisy chaos-rock interludes I mentioned above excised, it feels like a MUCH more cohesive and subtle record, overall -- a good deal less choppy, rocky and assaultive. Which may be an argument for their inclusion, since that's clearly the vibe the band is trying to get across. Without them, the record's standout quality is its fondness for glassy-eyed psychedelic propulsion -- relatively restrained spacerock with electronic and acid jazz detailing. And I'm much more okay with "Evil" than with "If", the latter being almost twice as long. Though I'm inclined to complain about songs like this, several of my favorite Flaming Lips songs belong to the genre ("You Have to Be Joking", "Stand In Line").

Current 13-track "home use" version (54 min):

Convinced of the Hex
Worm Mountain
Sagittarius Silver Announcement
The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine
Gemini Syringes
Evil (optional)
See the Leaves
Powerless
The Ego's Last Stand
I Can Be a Frog
The Impulse
Silver Trembling Hands
Watching the Planets

I've definitely whittled down overlong albums, so I don't fault the tendency--I generally mistrust albums over 43 minutes long or so, and think the sweet spot is usually somewhere around 34. But with 'Embryonic,' I wouldn't cut a thing.

Maybe it's because I love a lot of non-song-form abstract/ambient/whatever music, but I find the instrumental tracks essential to creating the immersive feeling of the album. If it were just an album of the heavies, it'd still be impressive--but I don't know if it would have the staying power, for me. Without the light between the dark, I don't know if it would feel like it reveals something new every listen through. For example, "See the Leaves" is obviously stellar through its main section--but what really took my breath away when I heard it on the 3-song leak earlier was the minimalist coda--that's when I suspected the album could be something special, and would deserve its 70 minute running time.

Another spot-on review:

http://thehurstreview.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/the-flaming-lips-embryonic/

So far most of the negative reviews I've seen seem to have one of two things going on:

1) their authors probably hate Miles Davis' fusion era, or probably dislike any music that dares to get ugly and beautiful at the same time;

2) or they're written by ADHD Millenials who earnestly say things like "to be honest, in the modern days of the iPod, individual songs are really what matters, anyway" as though there's not also room for something that isn't designed to stand out on "shuffle" mode.

So not to cop the "they just don't get it" card--but they clearly just don't get it. And that's fine--obviously criticism, even bad criticism, really affects nothing, when people have the freedom to listen for themselves. But I do feel a little sorry for their narrow-band ears.

Unsurprisingly, this album is turning out to be my favourite this year.

Soundslike - the Morricone/Feedback suggestion is particularly spot on.

2) or they're written by ADHD Millenials who earnestly say things like "to be honest, in the modern days of the iPod, individual songs are really what matters, anyway" as though there's not also room for something that isn't designed to stand out on "shuffle" mode.

― Soundslike

Well, to be fair, the "no singles" complaint has been around a lot longer than shuffle mode. I mean, I love The Art of Falling Apart, but I understand why it bummed out so many Non-Stop Cabaret fans. It's a tough listen, and Embryonic issues a similar challenge. It's clearly not designed for maximum radio appeal, so the fact that some folks don't care for it indicts neither the record nor them. I'd sum up those negative reviews as being written by disappointed pop fans.

I generally mistrust albums over 43 minutes long or so, and think the sweet spot is usually somewhere around 34. But with 'Embryonic,' I wouldn't cut a thing. Maybe it's because I love a lot of non-song-form abstract/ambient/whatever music, but I find the instrumental tracks essential to creating the immersive feeling of the album.

― Soundslike

Yeah, in posting my home edit, I didn't mean to suggest that the album really requires such "improvement". But I often resequence/trim long and difficult albums in the process of coming to terms with them. It's a product of fascination more than anything else, an indication that the record is really worth struggling with. And disassembly helps me understand what the record is, how and why it was put together in the first place. I don't know that I'd call Embyonic my Record of the Year or anything, but it's easily my favorite Flaming Lips album since Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.

You guys are really making me antsy to go pick this thing up after work.

Emerging reservation: after less than two days spent wrestling with this album, I'm starting to get the feeling that I "get it" -- that I've absorbed its lessons and processed its surprises. Often goes this way with music that's initially all-caps CONFOUNDING WTF: the mystery turns out to be a sort of mirage. (Honestly, I think I'm just hedging my bets on the wide-eyed "best since Transmission" stuff...)

And maybe it's just the shitty MP3s. Looking forward to picking up a real copy.

I have a maximum-memory iPod, and I have filled it to roughly 55% capacity in just a few years. Don't know what I'll do when I fill its memory to capacity.

^^^ THIS.

My 160GB is always chock full. For example, at the moment I really want to add my Morricone collection and a bunch of Ghost Box stuff but that's gonna take probably 3GB and I can't find enough stuff I feel like deleting to make room.

I need apple to bring out a 320GB but that doesn't seem to be the way they're going these days.

Well, to be fair, the "no singles" complaint has been around a lot longer than shuffle mode.

i blame the A&R guy that didn't like johnny depp's record in that tom petty video.

was thinking about him when I said it

nice use of cell phone signal in track 2 @ 2:30, left channel.

^^Fluxblog mentioned that:

At about 2:34 in “The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine,” you can hear my favorite bit of sonic detail in any song that I have encountered in recent months. Though I am open to the possibility that it could be some kind of synthesizer, it is very clearly the sound of cell phone interference. I know that distinct sound mainly from being in my friend’s car — it’s the noise made when signals from his iPhone disrupt the music on the stereo. It’s a very evocative thing to hear, in and out of context. It’s like a sudden headache made audible, and it imposes on you like an unwanted guest. It’s mundane, but also sort of otherworldly, and I’m sure that if you were to look at a visualization of the sound waves, it would appear unusually jagged yet boxy.

First time anyone's done this? Gets me every time...

We know that SFA used the mobile phone interference noise in a song ten years ago, right?

Fluxblog description a bit overwrought. It is a clever stunt, though.

And no we don't. We've never paid even the slightest attention to SFA, barring a moment of brief enthusiasm for "Rings Around the World", which we tired of soon after. That and a vague memory of mystification in the face of Welsh song titles.

aphex twin used it (well) in 54 cymru beats, the lead off track for disk 2 on drukqs (2001)

i've also heard it on between (2006) by nakamura/rowe. maybe it was another Erswhile release. most likely a less deliberate placement, though.

*Erstwhile

Which SFA song? I feel like I've heard it before, but can't recall where.

listened to the whole thing once from start to finish. altogether quite solid but much less exciting than portishead's 3 from last year which is covering similar wild ground. lots of tracks i skip. many songs are too dense and compressed for my likes. coyne's voice is less embarrassing than usual. not too much falsetto on this. i don't think i will purchase it. i would trade it in for the last yo la tengo though.

Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home).

I just listened to something else that employed that cell interference sound. Fuck, can't remember what, but it wasn't any of the abovementioned... might have been Dizzee?

marley marl used a busy signal on some ll cool j song i can't remember like years ago

has anyone bought the Limited Edition copy of this CD? if you have can you tell me if it is worth the extra cash?

haven't heard this yet, but the mobile interface noise was used as the basis of a max tundra track from his first album if i remember correctly.

basically everybody's been doing it since forever and I'm only unaware of this because I live on mars in a very out of the way part of mars

in a addition to living on mars I now want to make a comp only of songs involving the cell phone distortion noise

parts of this remind me of tortoise (standards, and the rough, high-energy track from Beacons...), albeit with more color. probably the drum sound, the thick, bassy guitars, and the style of the grooves/riffage. not too into the clipping of the higher frequencies, the distortion seems excessive. was inclined to skip around a lot at first, possibly a good sign.

It's just over 70 minutes, what I think of as a longish album, though not an epic undertaking.

when they were out here a few months ago they were very specifically talking about it being a double album in conception

has anyone bought the Limited Edition copy of this CD? if you have can you tell me if it is worth the extra cash?

I didn't, but from what I could tell it was just an extra disc of the album in DVD-quality audio, whatever that may mean.

listened to the whole thing once from start to finish. altogether quite solid but much less exciting than portishead's 3 from last year which is covering similar wild ground. lots of tracks i skip. many songs are too dense and compressed for my likes. coyne's voice is less embarrassing than usual. not too much falsetto on this. i don't think i will purchase it. i would trade it in for the last yo la tengo though.

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, October 13, 2009 8:37 PM

Definitely Portishead's out-of-nowhere resurgence was what I first thought of when I heard the 3-track sampler a while back. But I find the Lips' take a lot more evocative and immersive. Give it more than one listen--it's a definitive grower.

i'd like to give it another listen but the npr stream is gone...

the album in DVD-quality audio

Probably means it's split to 5.1 for a surround sound system.

best thing about this thread = all the critic rock touchstone bands mentioned as influences (yeah right), and then steven wears a fucking YES tshirt on conan last night. oh ilm

But now I see there is a deluxe version on iTunes with 4 bonus tracks. Thought about buying the extra tracks, but apparently the Lips are big enough to deserve the $1.29 pricing per song. Think I'll wait for that to drop first.

More than most albums it seems important to hear this at a high-bitrate...I first heard it streamed and found the distorted production almost unbearable. Recently got the FLAC and I think this is my favorite release of the year. Ultimately I'ma shell out for the vinyl.

people don't like Yes?

I like Yes.

anyway, this album is pretty crazy.

i don't know if i love it.

but i might later.

though...one thing that bothers me is jesus FUCK do they love horrible st. anger drum sounds...

actually the whole thing is hypercompressed, it's unbelievably loud on my stereo...i wonder if these dudes ears are shot? at war with the mystics is the same way

not to get all sick mouthy on the bit but still dang homies.

probably my main problem: there is no space in this music. it is like a sledgehammer which slays the listener. additionally i haven't really found many tunes and hooks. but there is a lot of repetition. and not so many interesting things happening, there is something flat and one-dimensional about it. i must mention that i only had one cursory listen.

yeah i think the compression and recording really diminishes what they were going for, that sense of space you mention that it might have had...

i do like a lot of parts on this...i mean, it's really something

maybe the most all over the place, messy major label album, jeez, since like a mothers of invention album or something

wow, this might be one of the worst mastering jobs i've ever heard.

the compression and recording really diminishes what they were going for, that sense of space you mention that it might have had...

― M@tt He1ges0n

Though I like this album (not as much as on the first few passes, but still), M@tt OTM here. For an album that depends so much on spaciousness and hypnotic repetition, it's incredibly busy and overcompressed. Plus, not sure what Wayne's t-shirt really has to do with anything...

It is pretty loud, aye. There's still quite a lot of dynamic movement, though; the jerks from quiet, near-ambient moments into FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKDRUMSBASSDISTORTNOISESQUIGGLEWARGH are pretty big. But yes, I quite like this, but don't see myself listening to it often.

As was mentioned somewhere upthread, this comes closest to Zaireeka in terms of the overabundance of ideas. I'm not sure it's the production that makes this sound too busy, I think its just the consequence of layering a song with 50+ tracks (a la Circulatory System). As per Sick Mouthy, there is still crazy dynamic shifts at work....And obviously, Zaireeka felt a lot more spacious (being 4 discs and all), so I'm not sure what the solution could've been here. In other words, I enjoy the layering ideas (and how each listen reveals something new) and I'm not sure sacrificing ideas for spaciousness would help.

It is pretty loud, aye. There's still quite a lot of dynamic movement, though; the jerks from quiet, near-ambient moments into FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKDRUMSBASSDISTORTNOISESQUIGGLEWARGH are pretty big. But yes, I quite like this, but don't see myself listening to it often.

Couldn't have said it better. It's a really overcompressed listen and not pretty, but there are also dynamics somehow (much more so than Mystics, from what I recall). I've only listened once but I'm intrigued.

did any of you guys ever set up zaireeka with four stereos on four corners of a big room like they wanted you to?

damn that was seriously one of the most amazing listening experiences, various chemical enhancements notwithstanding..only heard it that way once though

I did Zaireeka about four times, generally sitting in a hallway between four rooms with a disc blasting from each.

I did Zaireeka once, but it wasn't really under optimal listening conditions -- one or more of the stereos had fairly crappy speakers, if I remember correctly. I did go to see one of the "boombox experiment" shows in NYC in 97 or 98, at Wetlands, lol. That was pretty incredible -- some pretty stunning sounds.

"worm mountain" is great.

more i listen, this harsh compression must be an artistic choice, i mean it's reaaallly extreme it's not like you could have done this and not realized you were doing it.

yea thats kind of how i feel, still wish they would give it a rest

A lot of it's just the bass and drums; much of the rest of the layers are quite precise, there's just LOTS of it. A bet there's not toomuch clipping either, if someone grabbed waveforms - is it individual instruments compressed to he'll rather than multiband mastering compression? But yeah; I'd love them to sound, in mastering terms, like Clouds Taste Metallic again.

obv. the drums sound really compressed for tone reasons, but it sounds like matt is talking about the mastering?

(i wouldn't know how it really sounds, i've only heard youtube versions)

is it individual instruments compressed to he'll rather than multiband mastering compression?

yeah i guess you could just compress the bass and drums on the master tracks...or use what's that dynamic range stuff? i think that lets you compress certain dynamic frequencies specifically rather than the track as a whole....

i have access to protools now i should load a song in and see if it's a meatloaf waveform

i will say that it is mastered LOUD though, i had my dial on my stereo at about 9 o'clock and it was comparable to other stuff with the dial was close to the middle

individual instrument compression is done during recording & mixing, not mastering. and even if a mastering engineer applies compression to one part of the frequency spectrum, it's still being applied to the track a whole.

individual instrument compression is done during recording & mixing, not mastering. and even if a mastering engineer applies compression to one part of the frequency spectrum, it's still being applied to the track a whole.

― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, October 15, 2009 7:21 PM (52 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah you're write about the first part, but my friend who masters was explaining to me that you can now actually go in during mastering and apply great compression to a certain range of the track without it affecting the other sonic regions....at least that's what i thought he was saying. he is a lot smarter than me.

like he said it was invented to correct certain recordings that might, say, have a really messy low end or something, but now was being used to go through tracks and really max out compression on certain regions.

we're saying the same thing, i think. all a mastering engineer gets is a single track, as opposed to multi-tracks of different instruments, you know? so they can isolate different frequencies for compression or eq, but they're working with the song as a whole.

xp

oh yeah okay we are saying the same stuff...i'm basically just badly regurgitating stuff i've been told by mastering dudes when we were doing records with them...but yeah...he just basically said that some the new tools can work as a more "surgical strike" on areas of a track as opposed to trad style compressors which always operate on the whole thing

I just checked the waveforms and they vary a bit...Worm Mountain is meatloafed to the max (I'm assuming that means one big rectangle) but a track like Evil shows many valleys. Granted, that is the softest song on the album, but even something like Silver Trembling Hands shows frequent dynamic shifts. And I'm not noticing much clipping.

That review makes me want to hear the Christmas on Mars soundtrack. Should I?
for sure. it's way better than at war with the mystics, and though the gentlest maybe the trippiest thing they've done since zaireeka

more and more this makes me wonder if they were a fans of They Were Wrong, So We Drowned and Drums Not Dead by Liars.

the guitar solo on "Powerless" sounds like Jandek trying to be in Jefferson Airplane

It does, and it might be my favorite single thing on the record.

In case anyone was trying to download it before but couldn't, there's a new download link for my 'Embryonic' homage/roots mix, 'Zygotic':

http://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/zygotic-small.jpg?w=500&h=500

Various - 'Zygotic' (After the Flaming Lips' 'Embryonic') (2009)

Disc I

01 [00:00]
Jon Appleton – “Infantasy” (1969)
Led Zeppelin – “When the Levee Breaks” (1971)
Tod Dockstader – “Four Telemetry Tapes – No. 1″ (1965)

02 [04:25]
Yoko Ono – “Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage” (1970)
Miles Davis – “Rated X” (1975)

03 [07:25]
Roy Budd – “Hallucinations” (1971)

04 [11:41]
Kraftwerk – “Stratovarious, Part 1″ (1971)
The Feed-Back – “Kumalo” (1970)
Erkki Kurenniemi – “Hana” (1969)

05 [13:26]
Pierre Arvay – “All Day Long” (1975)
Tod Dockstader – “Four Telemetry Tapes, No. 3″ (1965)

06 [16:04]
Kraftwerk – “Stratovarious, Part 2″ (1971)
Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co. – “Easter” (1970)
Neu – “Im Glück” (1969)

07 [22:26]
Kluster – “5″ (1971)
Silver Apples – “Water” (1969)
Nino Nardini – “Depart Pour le Cosmos” (1970)

08 [26:49]
Alice Coltrane – “Lovely Sky Boat” (1968)
United States of America – “Cloud Song” (1968)
Pierre Henry – “Valse” (1970)

09 [30:29]
Can – “Mushroom” (1971)
Dick Raaijmakers – “Canon 1: Super Augere” (1964)
Egisto Macchi – ‘Voix” (1975)

Disc II

01 [00:00]
David Axelrod – “The Human Abstract” (1969)
Alvin Curran – “From a Room on the Plazza” (1974)

02 [05:22]
Joe Meek – “The Bublight” (1962)

03 [07:33]
Klaus Schulze – “Satz: Gewitter” (1972)
Suicide – “I Remember” (1977)

04 [10:39]
Heldon – “Ballade pour Puig Antich” (1975)
Charles Hayward – “Crystal Palace” (1987)
Bernard Estardy – “Marche À L’échafaud” (1972)

05 [17:57]
Franco Battiato – “Mutazione” (1972)
Franco Battiato – “Meccanica, Part 2″ (1972)
White Noise – “The Black Mass – An Electric Storm in Hell” (1969)

06 [21:59]
Faust – “Party 1″ (1973)
Cluster – “Für Die Katz” (1972)

07 [25:35]
Francois Bayle – “Solitude” (1969)
Janko Nilovic – “Duty Free” (1970)

08 [28:45]
Brian Eno – “Through Hollow Lands” (1977)
Luciano Cilio – “Studio for Winds” (1977)
Joe Ufer – “Drums on Phasing, No. 2″ (1973)

09 [31:26]
Bernard Parmegiani – “Accidents/Harmoniques” (1975)
Miles Davis – “Willie Nelson (Insert 1)” (1970)

[Total Time: 71:09]

Get it here.

dag soundslike, honestly you are a mixmaster.

Ha, thanks!

your "adrift" mix has helped me find my bliss through a lot of stressful work days

Seriously that tracklist looks amazing and I thank you for putting it together!

Glad to hear somebody likes 'Adrift'--those weird ones are my faves.

I hope the sound lives up to tracklist expectations for you

great, great tracklist

never been too big on the flaming lips, only thing I've ever really heard is zaireeka, but maybe this new one...

i concur, regarding the exceptional tracklist of "zygotic." downloading now.

ILM is truly an amazing place.

White Noise is the motherfuckin jam

Thanks Soundslike!

Man, you guys or somebody has been spreading this mix around other messageboards--suddenly had 140 downloads in the last 24 hours. Thanks!

i posted in on a local mpls board i go to i think peeps on there were digging it

how do you guys like it? cause im considering buying it, i mean if its any better than at war with the mystics, then im sold

As the album seems to be divisive--love or hate, not much in between--I guess you should "try before you buy". But the problem is, for many it's a grower--so a single "try" might convince you, errantly, that you don't want to buy. I don't own 'Mystics,' but from what I've heard of it--it's a total about-face.

Go to the flaming lips website they are playing some of the tracks on that, if it sounds at all cool to you, GET IT. Its pretty wonderful!

awesome thanks ill be sure to check out the website

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, as much as I love those songs, they are kind of in the same mood. They're kind of mid-tempo, sad, epic songs. And you do four of those in a row and it's sort of... I think that's why we've started to play Black Sabbath's "War Pigs". We just wanted to do some fucking freakout shit. We don't really want it to be Walt Disney, you know. We want to believe in this child-like world, but we don't want it to really be a world of children we live in. We want to be adults. We're doing what we like. And I think these songs let us do that.
http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7720-the-flaming-lips/

this album is great. flawed, but great. it's remarkably cohesive, I think. even the stuff that doesn't really work for me is integral to the overall picture.

I became tired of it rather quickly. Second half still holds up pretty well.

is the digital watch chirp just a reference to soft bulletin, or does it also occur earlier on lips recordings? the one in track 6 'if'

We just wanted to do some fucking freakout shit. We don't really want it to be Walt Disney, you know. We want to believe in this child-like world, but we don't want it to really be a world of children we live in. We want to be adults.

^^ listen to this man, indie musicians ^^

They bout to drop the bomb with the new music video

is the digital watch chirp (in track 6, 'if') just a reference to soft bulletin, or is it something that has also occurred in earlier flaming lips recordings?

anyone?

also, wayne coyne sounds like will oldham after the vigorous rock-out section of track 10.

I am loving this album, and am loving that Zygotic mix nearly as much.

Their cover article in SPIN mentioned "She Don't Use Jelly" in the first paragraph and I immediately stopped reading.

good for you?

goo for you

this is great. makes a nice wacked-out companion piece with 'boces', which im playing a lot lately.

seeing them live on the 15th, for the first time since the yoshimi tour. give the excellence of the new album, I am EXCITED.

picked this up yesterday. wow reaaally dense in parts, this is BIG BIG album, epic sprawling etc. pretty overwhelming tbh

I think the second half, starting with Powerless, is my favorite.

'see the leaves' for me, even if it does shamelessly rip off a korn riff.

Also Can's "Spoon"

This album just keeps getting better and better. As does that Zygotic mix, fantastic work on that.

I finally got this! Haven't had a chance to listen too much, but I dig it. I had only heard "Killing the Ego," which I wasn't nuts about on its own, but it sounded AWESOME coming in at the end. Definitely an album that works best as a whole, not just a collection of tunes.

Props to Soundslike. Great mix.

Thanks so much, glad it's working for you : )

anyone get this on vinyl? very curious to hear about the mastering/level/sound quality on it...

haven't heard the vinyl, but i'd be curious too. but the thing is, i'm figuring that the crazy overblown mastering thing is part of the Lips' aesthetic agenda at this point, isn't it? I mean, it's gotta be a *choice* they're making ... Maybe not the *right* choice, but a choice all the same. Not like Fridmann is incapable of making a clean recording -- that Mtn. Goats record he did, for example ...

yeah i'm sure it was purposeful but i wonder if vinyl will inherently sand off a bit of the edge just because of the format itself?

probably? it is interesting though -- i sort of assume that Drozd is the main sonic architect of the band, and that he really *wants* his drums to sound all distorto and nuts. it'd be interesting to hear him w/o all that compression. he is obviously a ridiculously sick drummer.

how did I not check this out earlier? this is maybe the best flaming lips album ever

I'm not one to follow end-of-year lists or music journalism/criticism generally--but I'm curious if 'Embryonic' is getting any love in this year's polls?

at metacritic it got a consensus score of 79/100 based on 31 reviews. not too bad but not enough to make the top 30 of this year. #56 if i counted correctly. on rateyourmusic it is currently at #11 but i am surprised by the low rating of 3,77. in 1981 eg with that kind of score an album would have hardly made the top 100.

btw there is a thread on the end-of-year polls somewhere.

I figured it would be a divisive album--so I'm not surprised that averaged scores are, well, average. But for those who dig it, they seem to dig it a lot--not unlike early-70s Miles Davis : )

It's pretty high in the Potchfork and NME polls from memory.

*Potchfork*

Blame the iPhone.

Yeah, I dig it a lot. My album of the year, no contest.

dark side of the moon came out, today, on itunes.
it's actually really good.

e really *wants* his drums to sound all distorto and nuts

yeah my first time through the record from start to end and man there are a lot of really fucked up distorted noises on this (which I love).

thinking specifically about that ridiculous percussive sound on track #9.

yeah, some of the drums on here sound massive! still, my fave percussion might be the match being being struck loop thing. Kinda lovely.

Holy fuck, I like Dark Side of the Moon again and it's the fault of The Flaming Lips. I haven't liked that record since the magical mushroom age of 13.

was worried this might wear thin quickly, but i'm still in love with it. and the vinyl mastering sounds excellent. deeper, not so much brickwall distortion up front. i mean, the noise is definitely still there, but it doesn't do quite as rough a number on the tympanic membranes.

I really love their take on Dark Side, wow. "Money" is so shiny and metallic. Everything else has that nice trippy crunchy Lips 2k9 sound! Haven't listened to that record since, yeah, 13 or so....

oh dammit are you going to make me buy this Lips Dark Side of the Moon?!

Just listened to it, and yeah, it's good! It doesn't sound tossed off at all (hello Beck masturbation series), in fact it kinda sounds like they put as much or more time into it than Embryonic!

Listening to their DSOTM followed directly by Embryonic (as it is in my iTunes library is a remarkably seamless transition. I don't think I'd want them to make a habit of it, but the project's results are pretty cool. I need to listen a few more times to have something more than "pretty cool" to say about the album though.

Shit, didn't know they were actually issuing their DSOTM. Not a Floyd fan that far in, but I'll give it a try. . .

The airport stuff in On the Run is hilarious.

Funny thing is, on the Lips official message board the uniform opinion is that it is the worst thing they've ever done! Glad some people here like it, cos I think it's fine myself.

'Embryonic' or the DSOTM cover?

DSOTM cover. Some people really don't like Embryonic tho.

Ran out and bought the 2xLP version. Sounds AMAZING, even better than the CD I've been listening to. I made a 48k needledrop recording the first time I played it cos I know I'm going to wear this record out. I am obsessed with this record, particularly side 2.

any chance of uploading that needledrop? i'd love to hear the vinyl version, but my record player is out of commission for the foreseeable future ...
in other news, Sounds Like's Zygotic mix is pretty awesome -- i hadn't listened to it until recently because I wanted to digest the actual album ... but it is worth downloading if you haven't already -- the transition from Led Zep into "Rated X" is mindblowing.

Yes I might put it on the green devil this week, if my internet connection starts getting better. "Zygotic" is amazing too!

awesome, thanks! (what's the green devil? your blog?)

ayo, adam the limited edition CD version comes with a "a bonus audio DVD which features the album in full dynamic range at 96k 24 bit audio"

I got that version but still haven't played the DVD yet. Is it just like playing a regular DVD?

No green devil is mascot for a popular torrent site. But that's members only so it may end up on another instead.

Yeah, i heard about the DVD. I think it's just audio only, which is a shame cos the Lips always do such awesome psychedelic visual stuff for their DVDs. Supposedly another version is coming out that has a DVD with sessions footage but who knows when. The big problem with this album is that there are so many damn versions of it (iTunes, CD, Deluxe, Mega Deluxe, etc.).

i liked the fuzzy box :)

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b276/oliver8bit/comparison_powerless.jpg

Its up there.

is that LP on left, CD on right?

That's not at all surprising.

Never warmed to this record but it dominated their Bestival set - all but five songs - and sounded phenomenal in that context. Quite something to see how the Coyne charm and showmanship made Embryonic seem like main-stage headliner material. Clearly when you have huge laser-emitting false hands you can get away with a lot.

not feeling it... not enough production & too classic-rock inspired. just me.

HELL YES.

Havent seen "See the Leaves" yet. But "Blastula" is pretty damn cool!

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo/8402-the-flaming-lips-see-the-leaves-warner-bros

So, I'm currently listening to Embryonic in full for the first time in roughly 6 years or something, and I remember this record sounding so thrilling when it first came out, just in its messiness and its sprawl. Listening to it now, though, it just feels like a badly mastered, often near-unlistenable recording of a band pissing about - with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 tracks. I can totally see what they were aiming for, and it seemed great at the time, but this record really hasn't aged all that well.

I actually think At War With The Mystics is the superior record, even though it's plagued with a similar loudness problem.

The drums on watching the planets are worth the price of admission

There's some excellent drumming throughout the whole record, but it's a bit of a shame that the drum sound is so ghastly.

this album seemed like an attempt to use whatever effects were used to makes wayne's vocals bearable and apply them to everything else.

oh wait this isn't the zaireeka thread

It arguably all works better on The Terror.