flaming lips

[washing machine]

Serious question with a maybe obvious answer, but what shortcomings do their recent albums (let's say from Embryonic onward) actually have?

I found the songs on Embryonic to be too repetitive. Those first few songs are A+ material. But they sort of beat the horse to death by the time the album is over.

Agreed. Editing that one down would have been a stellar idea. Though there's a weird thematic payoff if you stay 'til the end.

[diesel]

Serious question with a maybe obvious answer, but what shortcomings do their recent albums (let's say from Embryonic onward) actually have?

I found the songs on Embryonic to be too repetitive. Those first few songs are A+ material. But they sort of beat the horse to death by the time the album is over.

Agreed. Editing that one down would have been a stellar idea. Though there's a weird thematic payoff if you stay 'til the end.

layers of music / instrumentation and lyrics that are insightful if albeit simple

Long answer: Drozd is a real treasure and the instruments these guys use are out of this world. One of the Lips best strengths is the ability to play with texture and mood in a way that makes you almost literally feel their music in your body. If you happen to dive into any of that ancillary non-album stuff, you'll no doubt find passages that move you in the moment. You just won't remember them later.

I feel like this can apply to there entire catalog.

bullshit. SB and yoshimi are a complete and comprehensive listening experience, but each with standout songs.

[washing machine]

To that point, I've taken to adding "The Castle" to my happy hour bar playlists. It stands up well alongside Alt-J, Ariana Grande and 21 Pilots. Say what you will about those groups, but they've got a certain production going for them that really lends itself to day-drinking.

[washing machine]

I was just listening to My Cosmoc Autumn Rebellion and I suddenly had this thought; Wayne Coyne's penchant for working the sun (rising, going down, going over me) into his lyrics rivals Eddie Vedder's fixation on the ocean. What do we make of this?

[Jammer XCI]

I was just listening to My Cosmoc Autumn Rebellion and I suddenly had this thought; Wayne Coyne's penchant for working the sun (rising, going down, going over me) into his lyrics rivals Eddie Vedder's fixation on the ocean. What do we make of this?

Both are old men who are still drunk and stoned all the time and have their best material in the past.

[diesel]

saw the lips last night at the 930 club for the first time in a small club. i've seen them a bunch of times at festivals and larger venues, most recently at merriweather with tame impala, where tame impala blew them away, but last nights show was killer! the band was super tight, pumped up, and the setlist was awesome. the new songs sounded great too! if you're a fan of these guys or are sorta 'meh' about them nowadays, do yourself a favor and go see them on this tour.

Race for the Prize
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
There Should Be Unicorns (wayne rode a unicorn thru the crowd)
Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung (awesome jam at the end)
What Is the Light?
The Observer
How??
Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
The Castle
Are You a Hypnotist??
The W.A.N.D.
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

Encore:
Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast
(First time played live since June 14, 2014)
Silver Trembling Hands
(First time played live since June 14, 2014)

Encore 2:
Waitin' for a Superman
(Coyne & Drozd only)

Encore 3:
Do You Realize??

[PHATJ]

saw the lips last night at the 930 club for the first time in a small club. i've seen them a bunch of times at festivals and larger venues, most recently at merriweather with tame impala, where tame impala blew them away, but last nights show was killer! the band was super tight, pumped up, and the setlist was awesome. the new songs sounded great too! if you're a fan of these guys or are sorta 'meh' about them nowadays, do yourself a favor and go see them on this tour.

Race for the Prize
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
There Should Be Unicorns (wayne rode a unicorn thru the crowd)
Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung (awesome jam at the end)
What Is the Light?
The Observer
How??
Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
The Castle
Are You a Hypnotist??
The W.A.N.D.
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

Encore:
Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast
(First time played live since June 14, 2014)
Silver Trembling Hands
(First time played live since June 14, 2014)

Encore 2:
Waitin' for a Superman
(Coyne & Drozd only)

Encore 3:
Do You Realize??

Sounds awesome. Put me in the category of a former big fan who lost interest after Embryonic, but this sounds/looks promising.

[verb_to_trust]

I'm seeing them in Madison next month. I'd take that setlist.

[RussellManiac12]

saw the lips last night at the 930 club for the first time in a small club. i've seen them a bunch of times at festivals and larger venues, most recently at merriweather with tame impala, where tame impala blew them away, but last nights show was killer! the band was super tight, pumped up, and the setlist was awesome. the new songs sounded great too! if you're a fan of these guys or are sorta 'meh' about them nowadays, do yourself a favor and go see them on this tour.

Race for the Prize
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
There Should Be Unicorns (wayne rode a unicorn thru the crowd)
Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung (awesome jam at the end)
What Is the Light?
The Observer
How??
Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
The Castle
Are You a Hypnotist??
The W.A.N.D.
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

Encore:
Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast
(First time played live since June 14, 2014)
Silver Trembling Hands
(First time played live since June 14, 2014)

Encore 2:
Waitin' for a Superman
(Coyne & Drozd only)

Encore 3:
Do You Realize??

Sounds awesome. Put me in the category of a former big fan who lost interest after Embryonic, but this sounds/looks promising.

The show here in Portland sold out quickly, I wasn't able to get tickets. Too bad because that setlist is great.

[washing machine]

That's a very nice looking set. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton seems like an awkward way to close the main, though. How did it work out?

[Kevin Davis]

Pretty "Soft Bulletin" and "Yoshimi"-heavy, yeah? Okay by me.

[diesel]

Sounds awesome. Put me in the category of a former big fan who lost interest after Embryonic, but this sounds/looks promising.

same here. went to the show expecting something of a spectacle visually but musically mediocre and left with the biggest smile on my face. they delivered on all accounts. it was a work night so i didnt even party too hard.

That's a very nice looking set. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton seems like an awkward way to close the main, though. How did it work out?

good, its a slow builder with a fun middle section. they pulled it off during the last tour too.

[bodysnatcher]

finally getting around to listening to their latest album... really digging it and the mood so far. i'd lost a lot of interest in them the last few records, but this one is solid halfway through the first spin

[PHATJ]

Wayne Coyne on “The Soft Bulletin”:

”At the time, we didn’t really give a fuck anymore what anybody thought. And we truly thought, and I say this all the time because it’s absolutely true, we really thought this was going to be our last record. Warner Bros. wasn’t going to let us make any more records. We were making records that were too expensive. We spent months and months making them. We weren’t interested in playing live, just making records. The deal was, we did what we wanted to do, and it didn’t matter what anybody thought. That proved hard, to get that intense and that free at the same time. I think we had just been working really hard and long, and trying, and then we just got lucky.

Some of the things on this album really worked, and when we went out to play shows after that, we just didn’t care. When I say we didn’t care, we didn’t care to be a normal rock group. So that’s when we started to do confetti and balloons, and I would pour blood on my head. We just thought, “We don’t really care what people say, and we’re just going to be like these characters that we created.” When we stopped being a rock group is the moment when we became the real Flaming Lips. We were singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” that summer, man. We would sing that to people. That is a real song that we would sing. We thought we might as well do exactly what we want, because it didn’t really matter. I think that changed the entire process. You don’t know how much power you feel when you don’t care.”

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[PHATJ]

if you like that quote you should definitely watch the doc.

Which doc?

[tragabigzanda]

[PHATJ]

if you like that quote you should definitely watch the doc.

Which doc?

Fearless Freaks. It's really good, it covers them from their beginnings up to when they were still awesome.

Oh yeah. I own that and I’ve watched it a couple of times. Totally forgot about it though. It’s been years since I saw it. I do remember it being great, and I remember a part where Wayne is walking around his old neighborhood telling stories, but that’s about it.

[washing machine]

It seems like every time I check out the FL page on Spotify, there's about a million new releases. That live album from the recent tour looks good.

[washing machine]

Really feeling this on a Monday afternoon...