2. music
  3. 1039512299

The Flaming Lips are Go Manifesto

Anybody catch The Flaming Lips on CBS's Late Late Show last night, playing their single "Do You Realize?" (from their current album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots")? How about the same song being featured in a new Hewlett-Packard TV commercial? Anybody see one of these who's never heard The Lips before? If so, what did you think?

IMO The Lips are, bar none, the finest rock band - artistically speaking - in the world right now, and the only currently-active group or artist still in their prime (and maybe just entering it their case) whose best work I would classify as being up there near the cream of the all-time greats. And it's funny to think that they came out of Oklahoma City, of all places, over fifteen years ago as a charmingly amatuerish and noisily raw poppish hardcore band with a humorous streak, and have steadily evolved (what other band or artist in the field can you name who has put out ten albums, each one a clear advancement beyond the last?) into the sublimely tuneful and powerfully lyrical art-pop group they are today, seamlessly mixing equal parts experimentalism and classicism in a sound that's uniquely original and yet timeless in its sheer creativity.

They are lauded around the globe as The Best Band In The World by the international rock press (surpassing even Radiohead I think), yet when they're not touring with Beck as they are now, I can still see them play in a reasonably-sized club gig in their own country. Maybe this will be changing now, I don't know, but if they do finally move up the rock food chain, they will have deserved it long ago (their only semi-hit came back in '93 with the hilarious "She Don't Use Jelly").

To me, it's The Flaming Lips, not Nirvana or The Smashing Pumpkins, who in the end truly represent the possibility for the ultimate triumph to be secretly carried out on behalf of America's seminal underground 'indie-rock' explosion of the 80's. Nirvana signaled the movement's artistic death at the same time that it hailed its commercial breakthrough, while The Lips - there before Nirvana, still here (and growing) after - continue as the genuine surviving spawn and blossoming link to Rock's continuum (now reduced as it is to the desicated thread of an art form whose golden age was in twilight even long prior to today's utter [and utterly disgusting] industry/market squelching or co-opting of any remaining original artisitc impulse that kids raised on MTV and video games can possibly muster) of dynamic creative expressionism that exploded for the second time in the 60's and then again (and for the last time, but mostly underground) a decade later.

Whereas Nirvana exuded the youthful (even if realistic) rage of nihilism, and the frustration of (and eventual defeat by) unavoidable compromise, The Pumpkins the fascination of mere narcissism, and bands like Pearl Jam the comforts of conventional arena-rock (oops, better make that 'alt-rock' nowadays) career-mongering, The Flaming Lips have quietly metamorphosed from their earlier ironist and obscurist leanings into an encouraging exultation of optimism and celebration of universiality not seen at this level since the early days of U2, but without the preachiness, humorlessness, or social-commentary pomposity. In fact, the bands whose unfulfilled larger-market promise I see The Lips as potentially inheriting more successfully than they could manage in their time - and with more artistic integrity than the grunge cohort - are the original casualties of indie-rock's doomed flirtation with the big-time, bands such as Sonic Youth, The Replacements, Husker Du, and Dinosaur Jr.

Can I get a witness from any members who are fans? I know that perhaps not many audiophools have this kind of taste in music (and none of The Lips' recordings are audiophilic aurally), but anybody who loves the legacy Rock at its best has given us as a truly modern art form and has a yearning for the adventurous and the expressive, could definitely do worse than to bend an ear to this most accomplished yet promising group of middle-aged bubbling-unders we have on Earth today. For the curious uninitiated, good places to start are either their present release mentioned at the top, their previous album (and breakthrough record, sound- and approach-wise) "The Soft Bulletin", or for those with a good tolerance for guitar-noise, 1995's great "Clouds Taste Metallic".
zaikesman

Showing 4 responses by phild

phild
603 posts
 
I like the Flaming Lips quite a bit and have for ten years or so. Unfortunately, Wayne Coyne's voice still grates on me after extended listening (like a bad Neil Young, if that's possible). I still find myself getting a little bored by the sameness of The Soft Bulletin, but I think they added much more variety to Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot. I don't think I'd say that they're the "finest rock band artistically" (there are so many), but I do find them to be consistently inventive, interesting, and always improving, which says a lot these days.

I would recommend fans of sonically adventerous music like Pink Floyd (earlier Floyd?), Radiohead, Brian Eno, etc. check them out. They are looser and more "Indie" sounding than any of those people, but someone looking for something new might appreciate them quite a bit. In general, I do agree with most of what Zaikesman said. I'm obviously not as big of a fan of the band as he is, but I really respect them and think they are in peak form. They are not a band that will appeal to everyone, but most people who like them, love them.
phild
603 posts
 
Hey guys, great posts! (and yes...big bonus points for no bitch fights)

I think I fall somewhere in the middle on the Lips. I've never really thought they were as good as their press, but I've always enjoyed them to some extent. I can listen to them objectively and agree with much of Zaikesman's praise, but at the same time they often fail to connect with me emotionally. There are definitely FL's songs that do, and I like them very much, but others blur together and lack the distinctiveness that made a group like The Beatles extra special (at least to me...they're my benchmark of quality). I do agree that they have the drive and creative restlessness that great bands share, and I really respect them artistically. Musically, I kinda tend to lump them together with Radiohead (and others) and label them as "Pink Floyd" for the new millenium. I do enjoy both groups, but not as much as an other artists that connect with me emotionally. Of course, that connection is completely subjective and individual. I know Zaikesman must have made that connection, or he couldn't feel the way he feels about them. I know many others that have made that same connection with the Lip's music. I understand it completely, but I don't happen to share those same feelings quite as often.

As far as the new Wilco goes, I think Zaikesman should check it out. I know where you're coming from as far as the No Depression backlash is concerned. It's not completely unjustified, but I do think you're missing some amazing music that has been labeled (correctly, or not) "No Depression" . Wilco is another band that has yet to live up to it's unbelievable press, but I think "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" brings them one step closer. Like someone mentioned earlier, everything new is derivative to some extent. YHF is no exception, but I do think it may be Wilco's most original album to date. It seems like Jim O'Rourke was able to help them make the album they tried to make on their own with Summerteeth. I actually think YHF might have more in common with a Flaming Lips album than it does most No Depression albums. It's an atmospheric, laid-back, headphone listen...not country rock.

And Zaikesman...it's about time someone mentioned the Young Fresh Fellows on this forum! Not very hi-fi, but one of my all time faves. As a matter of fact, I honestly believe that Scott McCaughey's (of the YFF) Minus 5 album, "Old Liquidator" is somewhat responsible for Wilco's non-"New Depression" direction that began on "Being There". "Being There " was recorded soon after Old Liquidator was released (and after Jeff Tweedy played bass with Scott and the Minus 5 at a show in Chicago). The YFF and Scott McCaughey are also Jeff Tweedy's wife's favorites, which also plays into my crackpot theory. :-)

And Springsteen! Yes Zaikesman...I understand where you're coming from and I agree (I read "Mansion On The Hill"). I wrote Springsteen off ten years ago, but his new album makes me think I wrote him off too early. I haven't heard it more than a few times, but it's sincere in a way that he hasn't been since "Tunnel Of Love" (his divorce album), and I don't *think* Jon Landau was involved. Both are good things in my book. I've always felt that his Woody Guthrie-like image was fairly calculated, but I can't deny the fact that he wrote some amazing songs. I happen to be one of the few who thinks none of those songs were on "Born To Run" or "Born In The USA", but that's just me...I prefer his first two albums. "The Rising" doesn't sound like his earliest work, but it does seem to avoid some of the grandstanding that bothered me since the late 70s. I look forward to listening to it more, and I never thought I'd say that about a Springsteen album again.

Phil
phild
603 posts
 
I recently picked up my first Mercury Rev album (Desserter's Songs) and I was amazed at how similar the last few Lips albums sound to it (it preceeded them). I realize that Dave Friedman (the producer of both) is a member of Mercury Rev, an obvious connection, but it's more than that...it's the way some songs are sung as well as the overall melodies and sounds. Perhaps Mercury Rev was heavily influenced by earlier Lips (Maybe Zaireeka??), but whatever the reason, I think it's very odd that two bands sound so much alike and both get praised for being so very original. Mercury Rev gets bonus points from me (so far) for being a little less grating with the vocals. They're wimpier, but not quite as atonal.
phild
603 posts
 
I think Zaireeka has been released (I've seen it new several times over the past few months and that hasn't happened for years), so no reason to kick yourself for not buying it.
More to discover