The Jeff Hostetler of Blogs

I was able to find an mp3 of the new Flaming Lips song, "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot", but it's sung in Japanese. Odd. Anyway, I was afraid that after The Soft Bulletin, the Flaming Lips might try to pull a Mercury Rev and choose to up the melodrama at the expense of kookiness. I really should have known better. If there's one thing you can count on from the Flaming Lips, it's that they aren't going to take themselves too seriously.

This new song sounds a lot less grand than the poppier numbers on The Soft Bulletin. That isn't to say that it sounds underwhelming or anything, it's just that the instrumentation is definitely more low-key. Instead of gongs and harps, we now get weird squishing noises and a vibraphone (??). I think it works, as the song still maintains that all-important goofball Flaming Lips feel. While I can't actually understand the lyrics, I'm pretty sure that Wayne is back to his old ways of reciting some crazy, off-the-wall story, but singing it in such a way so that it sounds pretty and lighthearted instead of overly clever. It's all really very nice. These guys rarely fail to put a smile on my face. Definitely can't wait for the new album.
- posted by Shane @ 12:32 AM
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