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Rating:
I want to write these notes in one go, trying to recapture some of the spontaneity that, too often, flies away like a swan sick with bird flu every time I sit down to write something on DeBaser. I have just summoned this album from the fluctuating musical-digital ocean, and I, as Zaireeka, feel entitled to speak about it first.
- The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song. The early FL are back, from "Transmission From the Satellite Hearth," only more technological and somewhat more stylized. Urgent rhythms and seemingly dispassionate choruses. The clowns talking about death have returned.
- Free Radicals. They’ve done Psychedelic Punk, Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Pop. What's missing besides Jazz? Maybe Soul? Here it is for you...
- The Sound of Failure/It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark?? I don't recall a similar guitar arpeggio in their songs, it feels like Granianiello in the piece written for Murolo and Mia Martini a few years ago. A bit like a ballad flavor swaying on the sea waves. Then a light, light tune starts, somewhat typically American, a bit like a B-movie soundtrack. And finally, a surprise coda with another arpeggio and ambient and soft sounds, with a flute (or a mellotron) painting soundscapes reminiscent of the most melancholic Ravel. Very, very beautiful.
- My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion. Sound carpets. More ambient sounds. Few chords that sway like the movements of a nighttime breath painting sweet and melancholic harmonies. A guitar solo at the end full of reverberations (here comes the psychedelia again). Beautiful. Indeed, for its overall effect, extraordinary.
- Vein Of Stars. A simple guitar ballad with relaxed but clear rhythms, with wha-wha sounds and a very suggestive interlude melody. It reminds me a bit of "In the Morning of The Magician," but maybe I like it better. Actually, I definitely like it better.
- The Wizard Turns On... Instrumental, with a soft final scream. It might slightly remind of Approching Pavonis Mons By Balloon. Some parts seem like improvisations (based on flute solos, or mellotron), on the edge of jazz (are they perhaps ready for psychedelic jazz??). Very, very interesting.
- It Overtakes Me/The Stars Are So Big, I Am So Small... Do I Stand a Chance? Here we return to the music of the Transmission parts. Irresistibly rhythmic and also somewhat banal. Yet seasoned with the same sounds from "Fight Test" from Yoshimi and certain vocal stratagems already used in "Talking 'bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues" (from "Hit To Death in the Future Head"). Suddenly, the second part of the track blossoms with the tranquility of two songs before that completely frees itself of rhythm and glides smoothly wrapped in sound carpets, voice, and cold and soothing sounds. Finally, a simple guitar arpeggio to close it all. Beautiful.
- Mr. Ambulance Driver. The song they sent out as an advance a few months ago to gauge the public. I don't find it extraordinary and maybe a bit banal. Yet this piece also has a very suggestive insert (including the wailing ambulance siren). And then, I don't know what the lyrics talk about, but I think they imply the same philosophy as "In a Priest Driven Ambulance". And I get emotional. It's not bad at all.
- Haven't Got A Clue Once again (the third time) the rhythms of Transmission revisited with Yoshimi's sounds. At first, continuous harmonic shifts (very peculiar). Bell sounds make the atmosphere very psychedelic. And in the end, the usual calm returns to rest this time on sound carpets evoking sounds and choirs typical of "The Soft Bulletin". Very beautiful.
- The W.A.N.D. A dispensable track that gives the impression the album is taking a break. Even though it is very well orchestrated and full of sound inventions. Let’s move on.
- Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung. A driving rhythm traced by a bass for a building track that seems to evoke a gallop or maybe an eruption... Decent.
- Goin' On. It ends with a very pop song albeit in the Flaming Lips' way. The harmonic progression, very beautiful, strongly recalls a track from the latest Maximilian Hecker, "Summer Days in Bloom", also very beautiful in truth. It all sounds very much like a melancholic farewell.
See you in five years. Long live the Flaming Lips.
PS. By the way, the album, as soon as it comes out, I'll run and buy it.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading With a Suicide Bomber) (03:41)
04 My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action) (04:51)
They tell us "Autumn's a comin' and soon everything around us will die
Only a fool believes that he is different from the birds in the sky
All those birds go chasin' some better sunny days
You can't hear them singing 'cause they've all gone away"
But this one bird didn't leave you
It stayed through the wintertime
You can't hear it sing but you can hear it as it flies
So don't you believe them
They'll destroy you with their lies
They only see the obvious
They see the sun go down but they don't see it rise
This one bird didn't leave you
You can hear it as it flies
It's not very loud but you can hear it if you try
So don't you believe them
Yes it's true someday everything dies
We won't let that defeat us
We can't hear them singing
But we can hear it as it flies
05 Vein of Stars (04:15)
Who knows
maybe there isn't a vein of stars callin' out my name
they'll glow from above our heads
nothin' there to see you down on your knees
25, 26, 27
back from the future maybe there aint no heaven
there's just you and me
maybe that's just as well
& if there aint no heaven
maybe there aint no hell
who knows
maybe there isn't a vein of stars callin' out my name
who knows
maybe there isn't a vein of stars callin' out my name
who knows
who knows
who knows
who knows
callin' out my name
who knows
who knows
callin' out my name
06 The Wizard Turns On... The Giant Silver Flashlight and Puts on His Werewolf Moccasins (03:41)
07 It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big... I Am So Small... Do I Stand a Chance? (06:50)
08 Mr. Ambulance Driver (04:21)
Waitin' for the ambulance to come
Hopin' that it doesn't come too late
Hearin' the sirens in the distance
Hold on help is on the way
Mr. Ambulance Driver I'm right here beside her
And though I'll live somehow I've found
Mr. Ambulance Driver I'm not a real survivor
'Cause I'm wishing that I was the one that
Wasn't gonna be here anymore
Oh we can't trade places
Our lives are strangely our own
Mr. Ambulance Driver tell me
For everyone that dies, someone new is born
09 Haven't Got a Clue (03:25)
Oh man!
Oh right!
1, 2
3
You haven't got a clue
And you don't know what to do
You used your money and your friends
To try and trick me
But you won't trick me
As far as I can tell
You've created your own hell
Now you walk around this place
Expecting pity
Every time you throw a fit
I can't decide if you're full of it
And every time you state your case
The more I want to punch your face
I go
Doo-doo doo (x8)
I stil can't believe
All your plastic surgery
Now it's everybody's problem
That you're unhappy
Oh, come on!
And every time you state your case
The more I want to punch your face
And every time you state your case
The more I want to punch your face
And every time you state your case
The more I want to punch your face
I go
Doo-doo doo (x24)
11 Pompeii am Götterdämmerung (04:21)
Running to the station holding hands
Now the volcano is flowing red
Something there will change us into sand
Now we'll be forever holding hands
Lava and tephra will form our bed
Now the royal flames of Pompeii bless
All our senses...
12 Goin' On (03:39)
We hold our breath 'till the morning comes
& at last the sun shines through
but the night's so hard that it seems impossible but what else can we do
goin' on
goin' on
listen you'll hear it
we're gettin' near it
it's comin' i can feel it
cause i know we're gonna win
listen you'll hear it
we're gettin' near it
i know i really fear it
but we pretend it's just another day
goin' on
goin' on
we tell ourselves it's all just normal
the worst of it is gone
& you get up
& you get up
& you just cant take it
how we keep goin' on
goin' on
goin' on
listen you'll hear it
we're gettin' near it
it's comin' i can feel it
cause i know we're gonna win
listen you'll hear it
we're gettin' near it
i know i really fear it
but i pretend it's just another day
goin' on
goin' on
goin' on
goin' on
we're goin' on
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