Tag: The Flaming Lips

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Best albums of 1999

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

The year that marked a new millennium and new possibilities

The year 1999 will go down in history as one of the most underappreciated years in music. As overlooked as the year is, though, it also stands as the most transformative. With a slew of albums that literally changed the course of some genres, 1999 is bound to stand the test of time.

The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I

The Dismemberment Plan’s third album is a firework of passionate songwriting, wrapped tightly in a sheen of indie rock bombast and emotion. The D.C. quartet left little-to-no breathing room in these compositions, packing every song with a hard-to-pin-down genre. The band wore their influences proudly, flexing their knowledge in everything from old-school soul to hip hop and especially techno. The final mix is a brilliantly catchy and thrilling look at what the future sounded like in 1999. Yet, it’s a sound that’s so effortlessly executed you could make the argument that it’s the very future manifested in song.

Wilco – Summerteeth

Jeff Tweedy’s project, Wilco, is known for melding alt-country elements with the heart of indie rock. On his most accomplished album to date, Wilco decided to strip all of those old-school elements in exchange for a more synth-heavy sound. What resulted was an album of classic pop and sheer ambitious musical breadth never before heard from the band. Summerteeth blazes with sharp insight. If Tweedy still isn’t considered the next Bob Dylan, Summerteeth could be his calling card. The album is chock-full of lyrics that are so beautifully relatable and sentimentally simple they could take a jab at your heartstrings with nearly every listen. “Over and over and over again I say that we’re just friends / Forget the implications / Infatuations end / If love’s so easy, why is it hard.”

Number Girl – School Girl Distortional Addict

If given enough time and an international following, Japanese cult favourite Number Girl could have taken over the world. School Girl Distortional Addict is a record marked by pure teenage emotion, and the band couldn’t make those influences more obvious. With songs named after The Pixies, and a sound reminiscent of 90s noise bands, Number Girl was a band by and for the kids. Don’t let that sway you, though. These songs are jagged and include emotional twists and turns that navigate the very centre of teenage heartache. The vocals are buried among the mix, but lock into a core that’s riveting when at its most climactic.

The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin

In typical Flaming Lips fashion, The Soft Bulletin points towards a band teetering on the edge between gonzo experimental pop and straightforward rock catchiness. As the follow-up to their ambitious four-disc album, Zaireeka, The Soft Bulletin marked the band’s most daring and emotionally complex work. The compositions are loaded to the gills with lush orchestral pop. Atop that, there’s an otherworldly undertone gliding along these songs, clearly reflecting the band’s more refined sonic palette. The sound is like a multi-layered cake, rich in texture and expansive in its beautiful grandiosity.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Quickspins – Freelove Fenner, The Flaming Lips,

Freelove Fenner- Do Not Affect A Breezy Manner– (Fixture Records;2013)

For their first full-length studio album, Montreal’s Freelove Fenner serves up over a dozen carefully crafted tracks on Do Not Affect ABreezy Manner. The local musicians’ debut album displays a cool and relaxed vibe that sinks deep into the guitar lick and drum beat. Lead singer Caitlin Loney’s vocals are reminiscent of Metric’s Emily Haines, with its dreamy and introspective quality. On tracks like “All Things Break Through,” the reverb on the vocals are especially prominent, giving them an ethereal, dream-like texture. Short musical interludes like “Pilgrims Astray” are laced into the album between short, yet sharp tracks. On songs like “Shepherdess” and “Glad Beneficiary,” slick guitar riffs and deep basslines are embedded with meshed in synth sounds. The title song, definitely one of the album’s highlights, is a romantically relaxed two and a half minute instrumental interlude with several sets of ‘Ooohs’ serving as background vocals. Do Not Affect A Breezy Manner, which dropped earlier in November, is a dynamite debut effort by the Montreal trio.

Trial Track: “Dr.D”

Rating: 7/10

-Jessica Romera

The Flaming Lips- Peace Sword EP (Warner Bros.; 2013)

The Flaming Lips’ newest EP draws its name from a track that made its way onto the soundtrack for the 80’s sci-fi remake of Ender’s Game. As a result, the band threw together a few more tracks and birthed a 6-song, 36-minute EP. The EP kicks off with “Peace Sword,” beginning with symphonic, almost heavenly tones and branches out into what sounds like a kaleidoscope of laser beats.

“Is the Back At The End Good” is the softest song on the album. Simplistic piano keys start it off, eventually giving way to a more instrumentally heavy beat, elevating the song to psychedelic highs. “Think Like A Machine, Not A Boy” comes next as the heaviest song on the album; the hallucinogen inducing bass-heavy beats drown out guitar strings. “Wolf Children” is a bit more alternative rock sounding, but the awkward piano keys and involving tones keep the song from properly evolving. It’s a decent EP with a couple of good tracks, but there is definitely room for improvement leading up to the release of their next album.

Trial track: “Is the Back At The End Good”

SCORE: 7/10

-Alex Melki

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Music

Music in the News

For the very, very patient vinyl enthusiasts

In celebration of his Third Man Records’ third anniversary, Jack White hosted a big soirée with an unusual party favour for the guests. Following in the label’s tradition of unusual vinyl creations, each person present was given a special 3 RPM record containing all 56 singles from the 28 bands that have taken part in the label’s Blue Series. The label has called the record “easy to play but impossible to hear […] we estimate it would take 333 days of 33 hours training per day for your finger, hand and arm muscles to spin at a continuous speed of 3 rpm for X hours and X minutes.”

More like Ultra Music Feudstival

Madonna irked a number of prominent electronic dance music icons at the Ultra Music Festival last week when she asked “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” a slang term for the drug MDMA, which is similar to the name of the pop star’s latest album MDNA. Paul Van Dyk called the reference “the biggest mistake in her career” and prompted Deadmau5 to tweet “You’re a role model to 100’s of millions. You have a powerful voice, EDM [electronic dance music] could use your positive influence, not ‘molly’ talk.” Madonna claims she was unaware of the implications of her comment, and tweeted in reply “I don’t support drug use and I never have. I was referring to the song ‘Have You Seen Molly’ written by my friend Cedric Gervais who I almost worked with on my last album…” Deaudmau5 applauded her for clearing up the situation “personally,” but advised Madonna to “be a little more aware of what you should represent at EDM events.

Crashed and burned

Australian rockers Jet have officially called it quits, according to a post on the band’s official website. “After many successful years of writing, recording and touring we wish to announce our discontinuation as a group,” wrote the group. “From the many pubs, theatres, stadiums and festivals all across the world it was the fans that made our amazing story possible and we wish to thank them all.” Jet first came to prominence in 2003 with the release of their first album Get Born. It quickly went platinum in the U.S., U.K. and Australia and netted them their most recognizable song, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” The band’s last album was Shaka Rock in 2009.

‘Ke$ha bled all over my record!’

The Flaming Lips have decided there’s just not enough bodily fluids in records these days and they’ve decided to do something about it with their new collaborative effort The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends. “What I’m going to try to do — and I’m collecting stuff for it as we speak — is I’m going to try to make a record that has every person’s blood in the record,” said frontman Wayne Coyne in an interview with MTV. “I don’t have everybody’s blood just yet, but I collected quite a few vials of blood and it’s actually sitting in my refrigerator as we speak.” The record itself will be a picture disk and be on a very limited run of five or six at the most. Though he wouldn’t divulge exactly whose blood he’d already taken, Coyne mentioned his favourite collaborators so far have been Bon Iver and Ke$ha, but with a long list of “fwends” helping out on the record, it’s anyone’s guess who will be bleeding for the band.

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