Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin" (1999)
The Lips had been mining experimental veins of musical exploration, which could be seen to
culminate with the "Zaireeka" album consisting of 4 discs designed to
be played simultaneously on 4 different players. Where to go from
there? Obviously the answer was to make a transcendent baroque pop
album.
The Lips did it in their own way though, so interesting sonic
manipulation is evident throughout more traditional instrumentation and
lush arrangements.
The highlight for me is the mostly instrumental, wordless track "the Observer".
"Feeling Yourself Disintergrate"
starts with a repeated, ping-pong vocal somewhere between beatbox and
scat that is then enveloped by treated keyboards, reverby vocals and a
general warm blanket of music. Despite its seemingly bleak title, the
track in fact dwells on love, life and the universe in a dreamy, tripped
out way. That approach seems to be the bent of many of singer Wayne Coyne's
lyrics: filling with hope instead of the cynicism and nihilism of some
of his musical peers.
This trippy pop approach and psychedelic yet uplifting lyrics would go
on to be further developed on follow-up "Yoshimi Battles the Pink
Robots".
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