Non-Prog Album Reviews

I'm honestly shocked that no one else is jumping on this, but it only just came out and not everyone is a diehard, so I’ll gladly do the honours.

For those who don't know them, the Flaming Lips are one of the oddest bands to have any kind of mainstream following. They began in the 1980s and for the first part of their careers; they were an unorthodox and somewhat self-loathing alternative rock band. What little I've heard from their early discography hasn't really been to my tastes so I haven't killed much of my time on it. Their first glimmer of success did come in this period however. The song "She don't use Jelly" off of their 6th album, released in 1993, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, was a left field hit. While I am partial to this single and the album as a whole, the best track is hidden away on the B side however. It's a fairly short number clocking in at a little of 4 minutes called Moth in the Incubator. It is a clear break from traditional rock/pop song structure. It mounts from a quavering grungy introduction through a rocky and claustrophobic middle section before bursting into a triumphal finale; truly, an excellent track and a sign of even better things to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA9z5Jq2f_w

Fast forward to 1997 and the Lips are on the verge of breakup. Car crashes, relationships, drugs and most curiously a spider bite almost put the band permanently on ice. This year the Lips release the extremely experimental album called Zaireeka. A 4 album set whose disks are meant to be played simultaneously or in 2s or 3s. It isn't much of a hit, but it is a crossing of the Rubicon (or should I say Rubycon?) away from their traditional alt-rock domain. By the time 1999 rolls around, the band has overcome its travails and releases its newest and some would, validly, argue finest artistic statement, The Soft Bulletin. The Soft Bulletin is delicate and dark and at once prismatic. Lots of people have favourite songs from this album, like the "Spiderbite Song" which serializes their recently overcome travails or the colourful electro-pop of "Race for the Prize" or the breezy summer ode "Buggin'", all great, but those aren't the ones for me. No, my favourite is the two part combination of What is the Light and the Observer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsTbgxh7oTM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2YdIQeVZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKbJpngxzc0

In the later years of band, they've become notorious for the length of time between albums. It was 3 years from Soft Bulletin to Yoshimi, 4 more to AWwtM and 3 again to 2009's Embryonic. Embryonic bears some resemblance to its most recent forbearers in that it is densely layered and sparklingly produced, but in many ways it is a throwback to their older, darker more angst ridden work. The title itself is taken from a line in Moth in the Incubator. The crunchiness is back in a big way and lead singer Wayne Coyne's trademark falsetto is faded well into the background. I and others would argue that Embryonic actually marks a new phase for the band. The raw, manic depression of Embryonic is probably best heard on The Ego's Last Stand, but my favourite is actually one of the bonus tracks, the chilling and beautiful Anything you say now I believe you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyp_UBJut6g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5PphNl1BTQ

After Embryonic they embarked on some humanist movie making adventures and paid tributes to prog giants with their covers of Dark Side of the Moon and In the Court of the Crimson King. Word started to spread that a new studio album was in the works in 2011. During the intervening period a lot of people were wondering if the new mood for Embryonic would last or if it was passing. Last year the band named the album and confirmed that it would be very dark. The only question left was how dark is that? Well, this month we've finally found out.

THE TERROR
The Flaming Lips (2013)

5/5

... is upon us! In short, the only thing traditionally Flaming Lips about this album is the incredible degree of artistry. There is nothing popularly oriented on this album, and scarcely anything vaguely rocking about it. This a pitch black mechanical drone from start to finish. It takes much more from the textural and melancholic schools like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd than it does from Beatles or Stones.

The album is comprised of 9 mostly long-ish tracks (by pop standards at any rate) many of which are simply continuations of one another. It is abrasive and cold all the way through and songs sport heart warming titles like You Are Alone, Turning Violent and yes, The Terror. My personal favourite is You Lust which clocks in at an auspicious 13:03. It is frighteningly cold and mechanistic with piston drumming and a central repeating synth lines. It gives me chills, in a good way. Other standouts are the Kraut-rocking the title track which features some poignant drumming, and the aptly named missing Tangerine Dream track You Are Alone, but it’s all so good.

Many of the Lip's albums boarder on the edge of concept albums (especially Embryonic), but this is the final leap. The band hasn’t explicitly called it as such, but the tight playing, narrow stylistic window, continuous nature and obvious theme (it's in the name) belie what its true naturem is. In fact, it's hard to describe each song on their own, but cause they're simply part of the whole. Helpfully, the whole album is currently streaming for free. So check it out.

http://stereogum.com/1314262/stream-the-flaming-lips-the-terror/album-stream/

Many long time fans of the band will probably be turned off by this departure, but I think potential and non-committal fans here at PA should really take notice. If you look into it, The Flaming Lips have come up for inclusion a couple of times and been rebuffed on the grounds of their insufficient progressiveness. Well, all the Observers, Gemini Syringes, Pompeii AM Goterdamerungs and Moths have come home to roost in a big way. This is a progressive rock album and a very good one at that. It is not an album for the meek. It is an unabashed artistic statement by a band overflowing with talent and direction. It is for anyone like me who wanted albums like Zeit, the Hell half of Heaven and Hell and the Hummer to really strike them to the core, this is it. This is the Terror you've been waiting for.