Flaming Lips - Embryonic

that'd be the colbert site version

I'd really like to reserve judgement until I listen to this properly but first impression is a lot of filler. The good songs are really really good but the rest could have been cut down. Maybe they are growers though...

  On 9/23/2009 at 2:54 AM, pigster said:

that'd be the colbert site version

The bitrate won't make that big of a difference over your impression of the album, if that's what you're getting at. I liked it, but it's less melodic than anything they've made since the early 90's.

no no, i'm just saying that the mp3s that were put up on the colbert site are 160kbps, which is definitely high enough for a leak.

  On 9/23/2009 at 11:50 PM, pigster said:

no no, i'm just saying that the mp3s that were put up on the colbert site are 160kbps, which is definitely high enough for a leak.

yea, and i was just saying i want to give it more time. i have only really listened at work and a bit in the car. havent cranked it at home on my house system whilst firing back 2 to 12 beers.

silver trembling hands is fucking great

shit is hot

aoty?

excellent album

wasn't a fan of how saccharine the past 3 albums were. new ones really messy and i love it

if the fat was trimmed this could be an amazing amazing record.

So where are all the brickwalling complaints. I'm a Clark fan but must admit I think this album goes way too far

yeah.

there's a vinyl version coming out. don't have a proper system to play it, but maybe just maybe, the vinyl will be mixed differently :)

fantastic album. i skipped their last one after i saw that ambulance driver video. might go back and check it out..

and as far as mercury rev are concerned, deserters songs is great, but all is dream is much better. almost classic in fact. that was their last good album..

  On 10/17/2009 at 2:16 AM, pigster said:

yeah.

 

there's a vinyl version coming out. don't have a proper system to play it, but maybe just maybe, the vinyl will be mixed differently :)

do you think there's a good possibility of that?

just depends if it the compression was part of the mixing or mastering process.

This is awful

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:20 PM, Grizz said:

This is awful

this is useful

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:34 PM, barbara planar said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:20 PM, Grizz said:

This is awful

this is useful

this is useful

  On 10/19/2009 at 7:11 PM, Grizz said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:34 PM, barbara planar said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:20 PM, Grizz said:

This is awful

this is useful

this is useful

use this fule

  On 10/18/2009 at 12:53 AM, Z_B_Z said:

fantastic album. i skipped their last one after i saw that ambulance driver video. might go back and check it out..

 

and as far as mercury rev are concerned, deserters songs is great, but all is dream is much better. almost classic in fact. that was their last good album..

gay

  On 10/19/2009 at 8:01 PM, Glass Plate said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 7:11 PM, Grizz said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:34 PM, barbara planar said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 6:20 PM, Grizz said:

This is awful

this is useful

this is useful

use this fule

Issue Flush It

this thread went to shit

Okay, that really was an example of a thread going to shit. Come on guys, this is album worth discussing! Not necessarily because it's a great album, but it's interesting for all its flaws and a million other things that really do set it aside from anything else released in 2009.

The transition between Evil and Aquarius Sabotage has got to be one of my favorite moments. You go a from painstakingly slow reflective momentum killer to the loudest glass shattering whatever-the-fuck-harp stab ever recorded. There's a constant back and forth power struggle throughout the whole album like that. And I like how it sounds like Wayne is just sort of caught in the middle of it and is just letting it take him along for the ride. Which, to be fair, is kind of what's happening. This album is all Drozd (I mean even more so than past releases)! And I'm kind of glad he's in a band where he can pretty much take the musical captain's chair. It's a symbiotic relation between those two for sure. You need the musical talent of a guy like Steven Drozd combined with the work ethic and super likable persona of Wayne Coyne for a band like this to work at all. You can just tell they're having so much fun working together with everything they do.

Jules is spot on when he mentioned it could be a great record if the fat was trimmed. Now, the version I have is on one CD, and there is absolutely no reason for this to be a double album. If either half were released as a single album it would be an utter disappointment, a joke even. But put it all together and it becomes a work of intrigue. They kept in all the imperfections, and honestly it doesn't sound like any thought or deliberation went to arrangements, melodies, etc. It's just unrestrained inspiration of some good friends having a party. At War with the Mystics is one of my favorite albums of all time for the opposite reasons. I mean, they still sound like friends partying together, but they obviously put so much thought into the song arrangements, concepts, production ideas, and to me there's absolutely no filler on that album (unlike most people it would seem). I guess I just have a love for songcraft, and that's the album where it sounds like they did everything they could to compose and produce each song to the best of their abilities. That and the emotion really carries though for me. My favorite track on this album is, predicably, the one that most resembles a song in the traditional sense, Silver Trembling Hands. But it's the absense of anything else crafted like it that makes it stick out as strongly as it does.

There's a lot I could say about this album. I could literally spend all night discussing it and analyzing it, and that's one thing I love about it despite the fact that I don't think it's exceptional music. It's exceptional more as an anomoly, a product of spontenaeity rather than of careful craft. And that is really refreshing to hear. You don't get much of out of seasoned musicians, who actually know what the fuck their doing but also know how to keep their own mastery at bay sometimes. I'm so glad we have The Flaming Lips.

I think At War With The Mystics fell down lyrically but was great everywhere else. The Soft Bulletin is still my favourite Flaming Lips album and I wish I hadn't missed the boat on them playing songs from it live :(.

On a similar note, Embryonic has fucking great songs for gigs. The power in the songs really comes through without having to be distorted to death to do it. Evil was particularly good live, as was See The Leaves.

Drozd does need more respect. Fantastic musician.

I'm just glad Wayne remembered how to write lyrics again.

  On 11/28/2009 at 11:06 AM, Cheeez said:

On a similar note, Embryonic has fucking great songs for gigs. The power in the songs really comes through without having to be distorted to death to do it. Evil was particularly good live, as was See The Leaves.

 

Drozd does need more respect. Fantastic musician.

 

I'm just glad Wayne remembered how to write lyrics again.

Yeah, I can imagine this material would be a blast to bear witness to live. There is a fantastic noise element to the songs that would be tremendous through a huge soundsystem. Plus of course the show would capture all that LIVEness that the album is rife with, despite not being live. Music of a live nature existing in its element, as opposed to a close approximation of something originally designed for the studio. (I mean, obviously good songs are meant to be heard live, but these songs are centred around that quality of being "live" rather than carefully orchestrated).

Drozd seems to get most of the respect a musician of his talents deserves, but that's not to say he shouldn't get more! The man's top notch in my books. One thing I love so much about the Flaming Lips is that they're one of the only bands where one master musician is the engine behind what is essentially kids in a candy shop. Wayne's imagination runs wild and he's got capable hands behind him ensuring that every idea gets realized to its full potential. So you've got the one guy who's very much in control of what's going on musically, but there's still that element of wonder, surprise and happy accident that comes from having less technically proficient performers also taking part in the creative process. It doesn't get lost in predictability, and there's a messy sense of charm about it. They're like an old beater car that's been fixed with a jet engine.

i'm still hanging out for the vinyl version to come out. with fingers crossed for an alternate mix. but yeah, totally amazing album and among the greatest of 2009 for shure!