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New Flaming Lips Album Now Streaming


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One gets the feeling that a lot of their peers working on material right now just said "awww shit" and started over after hearing Embryonic - and that's not even getting into the song quality of it, just the sheer energy and vitality of how the thing sounds.

 

BTW, in case anyone didn't know that's Wayne soloing on Powerless and playing guitar on Worm Mountain.

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I am being honest when I say that I am not directing this at anyone here, but I have certainly noticed that the chorus of praise for this album has gotten much louder and much more hyperbolic since Pitchfork's 9.0.

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I am being honest when I say that I am not directing this at anyone here, but I have certainly noticed that the chorus of praise for this album has gotten much louder and much more hyperbolic since Pitchfork's 9.0.

 

i don't think it has anything to do with it. i knew it was great and was pretty sure they'd agree as well. there are several artists they don't praise - Richard Swift for one - that I know are great. it's nice when a popular website backs it though. it will help spread the word of the album no doubt. i haven't checked MetaCritic, but i would assume it's got a high average all around, and i doubt they checked Pitchfork before doing their reviews.

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I am being honest when I say that I am not directing this at anyone here, but I have certainly noticed that the chorus of praise for this album has gotten much louder and much more hyperbolic since Pitchfork's 9.0.

 

that, or the fact that the album released yesterday and people who do not download music illegally first got their hands on it and actually got to listen to it.

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that, or the fact that the album released yesterday and people who do not download music illegally first got their hands on it and actually got to listen to it.

 

Well, to be fair, I was referring to conversations about the album with people who had heard it. Maybe it hadn't sunk in yet. Not looking to start a fight. I just found it odd that general consensus seemed to go from "on the fence" to "hyperbole" so quickly. Could be, as you said, that as more people listened to it (when it got released), the cheers drowned out the mehs.

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I am being honest when I say that I am not directing this at anyone here, but I have certainly noticed that the chorus of praise for this album has gotten much louder and much more hyperbolic since Pitchfork's 9.0.

 

I'd give more credit to the album actually being released.

 

edit: I see that point has already been made.

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Wayne Coyne needs to be sending Jeff Tweedy Christmas and Birthday gift for the rest of his life.

 

If WB hadn't received so much flak for canning Wilco, The Lips would be toiling away on a much lower profile label.

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Wayne Coyne needs to be sending Jeff Tweedy Christmas and Birthday gift for the rest of his life.

 

If WB hadn't received so much flak for canning Wilco, The Lips would be toiling away on a much lower profile label.

 

I doubt it. The Lips and WB always seemed to have a special kind of relationship. I mean, they let band produce Zaireeka fer christsakes.

 

And even if they were on an indie label, I doubt the Lips would care much. That seems to be the route most bands are taking these days anyway.

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This album is amazing, no bones about it. If you don't like it, that's fine, probably not your thing.

 

Sagittarius Silver Announcement alone is worth the price of admission. Evil, If, and I Can be a Frog are the only tracks I'm not in love with.

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just listened to this album for the first time last night. first off, i'd have to say that i'm a casual lips fan, never really thought yoshimi and soft bulletin warranted the praise they received although i dug both albums. anyway, i got really stoned last night and threw this album on in the dark, and just listened to it straight through. it absolutely blew me away. i've only heard about 4 or 5 lips albums, but this is on another level than anything i've heard from this band. usually experimental stuff like this takes a few listens to sink in for me, but this one just hit me immediately. i'd have to say this is already one of my two favorites of the year along with middle cyclone. i have nothing much to say about individual songs, or favorite moments, just listen to this one straight through, that's the way it's supposed to be heard.

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just listened to this album for the first time last night. first off, i'd have to say that i'm a casual lips fan, never really thought yoshimi and soft bulletin warranted the praise they received although i dug both albums. anyway, i got really stoned last night and threw this album on in the dark, and just listened to it straight through. it absolutely blew me away. i've only heard about 4 or 5 lips albums, but this is on another level than anything i've heard from this band. usually experimental stuff like this takes a few listens to sink in for me, but this one just hit me immediately. i'd have to say this is already one of my two favorites of the year along with middle cyclone. i have nothing much to say about individual songs, or favorite moments, just listen to this one straight through, that's the way it's supposed to be heard.

 

I think the best way to put it is that this album is a return to the dark/weird Flaming Lips stuff of yester-year. If you dig this album, check out some of their older stuff (Hit to Death in the Future Head, In a Priest Driven Ambulance, etc.).

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A- from the AV Club

 

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-flaming-lips-embryonic,33921/

The Flaming Lips begin the new Embryonic with “Convinced Of The Hex,” a stunted, herky-jerky, head-trip anthem that would’ve fit well on the Lips’ previous album, the splattery At War With The Mystics. “Convinced Of The Hex” may be the worst song on Embryonic, but it’s a necessary transition to where the band then travels. The next track, “The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine,” sounds like a coda to “Convinced,” except that it’s more fluid, melodic, and rhythmic, using just a few words and a rolling beat to convey the wonder of the organic being dwarfed by the electronic.

 

From there, Embryonic continues into the abstract and the abrasive while re-committing to the sense of awe and beauty that made The Soft Bulletin such a breakthrough a decade ago. The Flaming Lips do a lot with a little here, beginning nearly every track with a low pulse and a scrap of a lyrical idea, as though each song were a footnote to the one before. Because of that digressive approach, Embryonic is a song-cycle with no summary and no climax. Instead, the album is full of small moments of release: an overly loud harp-strum here, distorted bass and drums there, celestial synths and funky bongos everywhere.

 

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne said during the making of Embryonic that this was going to be the band’s most experimental record, but it isn’t that far off the beam, really. Parts of it sound like the futuristic soundscapes of Zaireeka, and parts like the mellower passages of Mystics. The Lips nod to Neil Young, Pink Floyd, and Walt Disney as always, but also to Joy Division, Santana, and Gary Numan. Defying its own title, Embryonic presents a band discovering that the far edge of an idea is often more compelling than its core.

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Well, to be fair, I was referring to conversations about the album with people who had heard it. Maybe it hadn't sunk in yet. Not looking to start a fight. I just found it odd that general consensus seemed to go from "on the fence" to "hyperbole" so quickly. Could be, as you said, that as more people listened to it (when it got released), the cheers drowned out the mehs.

I haven't seen much hyperbole in this thread if any. No one is calling it the greatest album ever or anything.

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where can the LP be purchased? I can't find it anywhere.

 

According to Kliph, Michael forced Warner Bros. to redo the mastering on the vinyl to make it sound better. Therefore its release has been pushed back to late October/ Early November.

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This album may be great (don't know as I have only heard a few songs) but not sure why "challenging" records with more weird noises and strange sounds is somehow "cooler" than something more accessible like "In Rainbows" or "Wilco (the album)". I know that's not what everybody is saying but the subject always comes up.

 

 

I'm fairly certain that if Wilco had put out a version of the last album with weird noises and screetches but kept the lyrics and vocals the same, some people would have said it was the greatest thing ever recorded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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