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BBefore moving on to Flaming Lips' 15th studio album, we have to consider the extremely special path that brought the Oklahoma trio to this point. They started life as a minor psychedelic alternative rock band with seemingly zero commercial potential beyond day-to-day survival, on the same American post-punk concert circuit that supported many groups with great commercial potential. public in the mid-80s. When they signed with a major label in 1991, it looked like one of the greatest acts of madness to date in the mad research of the upcoming Nirvana: their first album as part of their new contract was an EP titled Yeah I Know It's Drag. But Wastin & # 39; Pigs is always radical. Like a number of groups that signed a contract in the group after the grunge goldrush, they had a minor hit – their 1994 record, She Do not Use Jelly – and this seemed to be the case.
And then, the most damning thing happened: The Flaming Lips released the awesome The Soft Bulletin album from 1999, developed an equally amazing show and became a real hit. Yoshimi (2002), his successor, sold half a million copies in the United States and won a Grammy, which the Flaming Lips seemed to take to give the impression of giving free rein to their imagination. They released unbearable Christmas movies, 24-hour songs, experimental double albums promoted by singer Wayne Coyne, suggesting that he "would have made a better single album if only the artist had been able to concentrate A series of cover stories on The Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the eponymous Stone Roses debut, as well as a collaboration with Ke $ ha leaning on a vinyl containing blood. Ke $ ha menstrual, etc.
On one side, bravo for a group that resolutely refuses to yield to commercial pressure. On the other hand, many of these things have definitely blurred the lines between "fearless and unrestrained artistic experimentation" and "seemingly just to test everyone's patience for the sake of it".
Kings' Mouth was hailed as a concise return to form: a conceptual album accompanied by an immersive art exhibit and a children's book, about a giant-headed monarch that contains galaxies and weather conditions. Systems, commented by former Clash guitarist, Mick Jones. The latter's contributions go very much in the direction of Stanley Unwin's appearances in the psychedelic opus of 1968's Small Faces, Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, and, it must be said, is not the case. It does not make more sense than the inventor of the Basic Engly Twenty Fido to ask you if you are sitting comfortably two on your botty. He has no reason to know if Jones seems to marvel when he reads, or as a man who has no idea what he is supposed to do.
The cover of King's Mouth. Photo: advertising image
Yet, after stopping for a moment to reflect on the audience's reaction to the Roxy carpet in 1977, it was announced that Clash's guitarist would end up telling a psychedelic concept album about a monarch with a head containing galaxies. , it's hard not to admit that advanced advertising on King's Mouth (originally published in a limited edition vinyl-only Record Store Day) is correct. Despite the concept and the accompanying folder, a series of songs more appealing than anything the Flaming Lips have composed for years is at the heart of his heart. Only the brief instrumental universe of the Mother speaks of the kind of self-indulgence that characterized their recent publications. It's nothing as fearful as going straight back to the sound of The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – it's comparatively bare-bones, less expansive in its musical ambitions, obviously based on electronics. which sounds like electronics rather than a dense patchwork of samples – but it shares with these albums the feeling of a group that gathers their energies and abundance of its ideas in relatively short bursts, treble and lush.
At their best – Mouth of the King, All for the life of the city – the songs here are a total joy, making you discover some strengths that the Flaming Lips have tended to conceal in recent outings. Multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd has the ability to shape an extremely varied set of musical backgrounds into a coherent whole. Decked out with ornate instrumental funerals without seeming disjointed, largely because whatever style they try, it always sounds like the Flaming Lips. Wayne Coyne can always project childish wisdom and craft wisdom without seeming ridiculous. Do you realize? For Waitin 'for Superman, Flaming Lips' biggest songs are often intended to present lyrical ideas that seem a bit mundane on paper, but that gain a special weight, affecting the emotional weight, when interpreted with a voice fragile and capricious. This is something we talk about a lot here: Giant Baby finds him thinking about his mother's death and concludes that "life is sometimes sad"; on the conclusion of How Can a Head, he marveled at the powers of the human brain.
How Can a Head is the highlight of the album, with a melody as beautiful as the band has ever written. By taking advantage of it, you are struck by the feeling that you should probably enjoy it while it lasts. If the recent story of Flaming Lips has taught us anything, it is that their next album will probably be disconcerting: an abnormal service has resumed.
What Alexis listened to this week
William Doyle: No one else will tell you
The artist, formerly known as East India Youth, continues her own career as a singer-songwriter in a psychedelic exploration of suburban life.
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