Flaming Lips Unleash "See the Leaves," "Embryonic" Album Cover

"See the Leaves," another new song from the Flaming Lips' 12th album Embryonic, hit the Internet today, courtesy of Pitchfork. With its sinister groove, ear-piercing guitar squeals and Wayne Coyne's lyrics about dead leaves and a trying sun, the song is one of the Yoshimi gang's darkest tracks in a while, and that's coming from a band that turned the line "Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die" into a pop ditty worthy of being Oklahoma's Official Rock Song.

The Flaming Lips also posted the Embryonic cover on their official Website, and the only way to describe the image is "hairy hippie exorcism." "See the Leaves" is the fourth Embryonic track to be unveiled in recent months: "Convinced of the Hex," "The Impulse" and "Silver Trembling Hands" were all featured on a digital EP given to fans who purchased tickets for the Lips' upcoming tour, which kicks off this weekend in Del Mar, California. The album will also feature guest spots from MGMT and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O.

Embryonic's track list was posted on the Lips' official message board earlier this month, with drummer Kliph Scurlock confirming that it was the LP's actual 18 songs. If the times of each songs on the track list is correct, even though the album is reportedly the Lips' first double-album, the entire Embryonic clocks in at about 71 minutes, making it capable of fitting onto a single compact disc. Maybe the "double album" thing refers the fact that it'll be forced onto two vinyls, but so was The Soft Bulletin. So it's a double-album in the sense that I Am… Sasha Fierce and Cold Roses was a double album. Regardless, we're excited for October 13th, the day Embryonic will be released.

Related Stories:
• Flaming Lips' Coyne Talks State Song Flap, Singing About Orgasms for Madonna Cover
• Flaming Lips' Double Album "Embryonic" Due in the Fall
• Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" Voted Official Oklahoma Rock Song

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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