Album review: The Flaming Lips' 'Embryonic'

"People are evil, it's true," sings Wayne Coyne on the new album by his long-running Oklahoma psych-rock outfit, the Flaming Lips. That kind of observation is typical of Coyne, who in the Lips' 2002 hit "Do You Realize??" wondered if we were aware that "everyone you know someday will die."

Yet since the band's mid-'90s breakthrough (when it famously performed "She Don't Use Jelly" on "Beverly Hills, 90210"), Coyne's bad vibes have come coated in candy. Albums such as "The Soft Bulletin" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" had heart-swelling melodies by the dozen, while each of the Lips' live shows featured more confetti than a 6-year-old's birthday party.

The effect was not unlike a kindly grandfather filling in his grandson on the injustices of the world -- alarming but ultimately reassuring.

There's no such sweetening on "Embryonic," which finds Coyne and his bandmates stripping down their warm-and-fuzzy sound to its cold, hard essentials: synths, guitars, bass and lots and lots of drums. At times the result is bracing. "Silver Trembling Hands" toggles between an ominous space-punk verse and a lush R&B chorus; "I Can Be a Frog" features appealingly goofy animal noises from Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; "Convinced of the Hex" works up to a clattering jazz-rock climax that suggests Pink Floyd covering Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew."

In these cuts the Lips offer proof after 2006's ho-hum "At War With the Mystics" that they haven't lost their edge. At 18 tracks, though, "Embryonic" includes an awful lot of filler, much of it of the meandering-soundscape variety. That stuff isn't depressing -- it's just boring.

-- Mikael Wood

Flaming Lips
"Embryonic"
(Warner Bros.)
Two and a half stars (Out of four)

Related:

Comments

[Mike]

What an awful review. Find a new career.

[jw]

lol every piece i read on latimes.com gets crapped on by one or more commentators. and i agree...what a crap review

[John Saltsman]

If you know what you are talking about, this is the Lips' White Album.

[Zac]

Thank God the Lips came back with another good album. "At War with the Mystics" was awful and sad for a band so many people love. Great to have them back in good form, loud, catchy, and weird as ever.

[Ray]

I disagree with this review as I don't find this music "boring" at all. In fact, it's often exciting, dynamic and intense. By the way, Steven Drozd sings the track "If," from which you quote in your first sentence, not Wayne. Jeez.

[Damon S]

I have to say, as a big fan of The Flaming Lips, i find myself disappointed with this album. Theres some excellent sounding songs on here, but its hidden behind awful layers of distortion. Why does EVERY damn song have to be like that? I can't listen to it without getting annoyed by the amount of fuzzy crap being pumped out my headphones. I really hope they release a newer version of the album, because there are some great songs hidden behind all that noise.

[JC38]

I think this is a fair review. There are great parts of this album. Some aspects are not so great. The Frog song is possibly the most annoying song released by a major indie artist this year. Really, I prefer the source material - Can, Bitch's Brew, JD..... JD had the songs. Can and BB truly jam - the new FL never quite gets there, except for the bassist. The drums are so over done, and over compressed. The guitar is meh...

[bob]

come on people. this review is bang on. the lips have made an incredibly boring album. it's all distorted bass lines and tuneless melodies. it is not their "white album" nor is it their "kid a" album. i've been a lips fan for a long time and own all their albums except for this pile and at war with the mystics. i've been listening to this new one through various means and it really does sound incomplete, dull and meandering at best. bob.

[Frank]

Embryonic takes some getting used to. I didn't like it at first either.

Now, after 15-20 listens, I'm beginning to appreciate the album as a whole. One of my favourite Lips records.