Album Reviews

Photo

The Flaming Lips

At War With The Mystics  Hear it Now

RS: 3of 5 Stars

2008

Play View The Flaming Lips's page on Rhapsody

Last time out, these unlikely psych-rock heroes strung together gurgling electronics, widescreen space funk and cushy soft stuff for a song suite about evil robots. With producer Dave Fridmann again in tow, their eleventh full-length album draws on many of the same sounds but feels almost homespun, with more diffuse songs that eschew sci-fi glory for a hit-and-miss smattering of concept-free weirdness. Winners like the leftist call-to-arms "The W.A.N.D." and "Free Radicals" brim with darting effects and Wayne Coyne's brightly warbled melodies, but they're surrounded by murkier cuts like "The Sound of Failure." Even on fully loaded songs like "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," a bouncy mishmash of acoustic guitars, studio high jinks and ya-ya-ya backing vocals that sounds like Neil Young inside a NASA rocket, the Lips' spacious attack feels a little tired. At War With the Mystics might be one of the year's best headphone records, but for the Lips, it's a step sideways.

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Apr 12, 2006)

Advertisement

News and Reviews

Advertisement


How to Play This Album
  • Click the play button.

  • Register or enter your username and password.

  • Let the music play!

No commitment.
It's FREE.

 

Track List

Play All

Photo

 

 

 


Advertisement

Advertisement