Lips

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Hypnotist 12” EP by The Flaming Lips. 2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and, to celebrate, Warner Brothers has embarked on an impressive campaign to re-examine the album (stay tuned for more on that later) but, without question, one of the most unusual parts of that endeavor is exhibited in the standalone release of The Hypnotist – a sort of unusually paced creation (one mammoth, 23-minute...

The Flaming Lips American Head (Warner Brothers) From the moment they have the opportunity to hear American Head, there’s no doubt that Flaming Lips fans will rejoice at the band’s return, for several different reasons. Some fans will just be happy the band is back with new music. Other fans will be thrilled that, for for the first time in over a decade, the Flaming Lips have returned to a more rockist permutation of their sound (last time was on...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Flaming Lips’ Greatest Hits Volume 1 LP. As a general rule, I must confess that Best-Of compilations seldom thrill me. While the odd set does prove to be the rule’s exception (like Nirvana’s black album, the set that Morphine released several years ago, ChangesoneBowie, Hot Rocks and All For Nothing/Nothing For All turned out to all be great sets) and which does present the band in question at its best, most...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Oczy Mlody LP by The Flaming Lips. It has been pretty evident that The Flaming Lips were in need of a change over the last few releases, the band just wasn’t sure what needed to happen in that capacity and so elected to throw everything at the wall to see what might stick. They tried getting darker and more dissonant on The Terror, but that didn’t work out so well because...

The Flaming Lips Heady Nuggs 1994-1997 – 20 Years After Clouds Taste Metallic (Warner Brothers Records) As most fans know, The Flaming Lips had already gone through a few semi-seamless transitions by the time they were ready to begin making Clouds Taste Metallic. By then, they’d already been DIY Okie punks and goth-y pseudo rockers, and had even managed to sort of put together an arresting estimation of their first genuinely golden sound (see Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, released...

Artist: Black Lips Album: Arabia Mountain Label: Vice Records Every two years when Black Lips re-surface, each new recording is slightly more polished than the last, each managing to sound as though it cost nothing make. Sometimes it costs a lot to sound cheap, and with in-demand producer Mark Ronson helming their new opus, the trashy garage sound synonymous with the Lips was in question. However the result is perfect with Ronson’s diverse musical taste fueling the integrity of their...

Artist: Black Lips Venue: The Phoenix – Toronto, Ontario, Canada Date: April 2011 No decade has produced more relentlessly touring bands than the 2000’s. Since the decline of record sales, bands have had to work harder to get noticed and get paid, and there is no better way than to play live shows all over the world all of the time. Every time The Black Lips return to Toronto they get bigger and more fantastic. Even though their show remains...