A few years back I was flipping through some music magazine at a newsstand. In one article, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne was asked to name his top 10 all-time favorite albums. Tied for #1 were The Beatles' White Album and the soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz.
If you are not familiar with the music of the Flaming Lips, Wayne's choices give you a pretty good sense of their sound: melodic, unpredictable, fanciful, odd, fun and bursting with original ideas.
The Flaming Lips, who hail from Oklahoma City and have been together since 1983, have been on perhaps the longest upward trajectory in rock history. While many would argue that their apex thus far was 1999's prog-y The Soft Bulletin, their new 2 record set, Embryonic is equally challenging and rewarding, a White Album to The Soft Bulletin's Sgt. Pepper, if you will.
Actually, a better comparison to Embryonic would be Miles Davis' Bitches Brew or the Kid Amnesiac two-fer by Radiohead.
All are full of funky wah-wah guitars, glistening Fender Rhodes piano, haunting instrumental interludes and ominous musical landscapes. The words experimental, challenging and rewarding come to mind. The terrain is mapped out from the opening track "Convinced of the Hex", seen here on The Colbert Report:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Flaming Lips - Convinced of the Hex | ||||
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In addition to being sonic studio magicians, the Lips are also a fearsome live act, as evidenced by this amazing Tommy medley from a VH1 tribute to The Who a couple years back.
The Flaming Lips stand proudly on the vanguard of forward thinking music with Radiohead, Beck and Wilco (among others). Pick up Embryonic, see them live and join them there.
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