Flaming Lips bring 'Embyronic's' rock 'n' roll edge to Hollywood

The Flaming Lips' brief appearance in Hollywood on Thursday night was almost more notable for what was missing than what transpired.

Gone were the confetti machines, and nowhere on stage was anyone dressed as Santa Claus. Giant metallic spaceships didn’t descend from the ceiling, and if fake blood and puppets were present, they stayed safely tucked away backstage.

Also gone was the Flaming Lips’ more recent electronic-laced pop songs. Performing a mini-set at the Ricardo Montalbán Theater, the Flaming Lips were plugged-in, but considering this is a band whose lead singer generally walks across the crowd in a giant bubble, the set was downright stripped-down.

Yet none of the trappings were missed. Initial reviews of the band's “Embryonic,” which was released this week, may have been mixed, but performing a handful of the songs live on Thursday night at a free promotional concert, the Flaming Lips proved that a return to harder-edged, guitar-driven soundscapes can make for riveting drama, even if the double-LP, 18-track “Embryonic” doesn’t necessarily have a song ready for a car commercial.

Set-opener “Convinced of the Hex” put the band immediately on the assault. Stephen Drozd’s guitar wasn’t used for riffs; instead, the instrument was sending out distress calls. Paranoia already reigned by the time leader Wayne Coyne took to the microphone. “She talks to the ceiling,” he sang, just as drummer Kliph Scurlock and bassist Michael Ivins locked into a militant groove.

It’s harsher than the hand-clap beat of 2006's “The W.A.N.D.,” and significantly removed from the snyth-pop orchestra of the hit “Do You Realize??” Yet it’s filled with more tension than any other cut in the Flaming Lips’ recent songbook, building with precision-like force to a grand finale in which Coyne was smattering maracas on the stage floor.

“When we decided we were going to make a double record, we knew we were going to do this self-indulgent thing, and it truly was us putting aside our experience and our discipline and our second guessing and our craft,” Coyne told Pop & Hiss in a pre-show conversation. “We should just be weirdo musicians, and see what happens. My fear was that you do that, and you sound like the idiot you know you are, so you try it the other way. But I think we just got lucky.”

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)

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Flaming Lips return to Hollywood on Thursday: Last gig till 2010?*

Word is the Flaming Lips will return to their whacked-out psychedelic experimentations with the release of this week's "Embryonic," and Los Angeles-area fans will get the first shot at hearing much of the album translated to a live audience. The Lips will appear Thursday night at Hollywood's Ricardo Montalbán Theatre near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

But getting in won't be easy. It's a free gig sponsored by MySpace, and tickets will be made at the theater on a first-come, first-serve basis Thursday. The venue will also hold a Lips pop-up store, which promises "unique artifacts" (read: fur-encased CDs) for sale. The store is open from noon to midnight, and fans who score tickets will need to be in the venue by 7:30 p.m.

A press release teases that it will be the Flaming Lips' last U.S. show until 2010 (apparently that doesn't include festival appearances, as a commenter reminds us the band will be in San Francisco this weekend for the Treasure Island Music Festival and then later in New Orleans for the Voodoo Fest). Here's hoping the band is retooling its live show to match "Embryonic," moving away from the goofy-cute -- yet, admittedly, awesome -- live celebration that has become the norm, and bringing back a hint of edginess (the "headphone concerts" of "The Soft Bulletin" era, for example).

Flaming Lips: Are they too communist for Oklahoma?

Throughout their 25-plus-year career, the Flaming Lips have donned spacesuits and animal costumes on stage. But a T-shirt bearing the symbol of the Communist Party may have been over the line, at least according to some Oklahoma politicians.

The Oklahoman reported earlier today that Michael Ivins' decision to wear a shirt emblazoned with the symbol of the sickle and hammer of the Communist Party (picture here) almost derailed an effort to name the band's "Do You Realize?" as the official state rock song. Approved by the Oklahoma Senate last month 46-0, the resolution was shot down by the Oklahoma House today.

Reports the Oklahoman:

Rep. Corey Holland, R-Marlow, debated against the resolution, saying he was bothered one of the band members wore a red T-shirt with a yellow sickle and hammer on it when The Flaming Lips came last month to the Capitol when results of an online voting contest showed their song to be the clear-cut winner. "I was really offended by that," Holland said.

Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, also spoke against the measure, saying the band has a reputation for using obscene language, recalling band members used offensive language several years ago when the city of Oklahoma City named an alley after the band.

"Their lips ought to be on fire," Reynolds said.

But Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has apparently come to the band's rescue.

The paper has updated its story to note that Henry will "sign an executive order on Tuesday naming the Flaming Lips song as the official rock song." The Official Oklahoma Rock Song Advisory Panel organized the vote for the official state song, and the Lips' tune received more than 10,000 votes.

Henry said he will honor the vote of the people, and added that the Flaming Lips are "a truly iconic rock 'n' roll band" and "are proud ambassadors of their home state." Amen, governor, as a recount could have put the All-American Rejects against the Call and Leon Russell, and the results probably would not have been pretty. The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" is pure pop romanticism, a mediation of life, love and death, and one that comes with a rather grand orchestration.

From a cubicle in Los Angeles, it's a worthy choice, even if the Flaming Lips are getting a bit ornery these days.

-- Todd Martens

Photo credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Kids, don't fight: Wayne Coyne slams Arcade Fire

The economy's been flopping around like a stunned perch with seemingly no end in sight, so everyone's a little edgy. But, what better way to distract yourself from depressing unemployment figures than a good ol' fashioned gossipy musician feud?

Flaming Lips frontman and longtime musical birthday party host Wayne Coyne was quoted in Rolling Stone indicating he's had it up to here with those Canadian indie favorites, poking holes in the armor of indie infallibility that Arcade Fire has earned since its much-beloved debut, "Funeral," with an expletive-filled tirade that we can only partially publish here:

"I'm a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness. We've played some shows with them and they really treat people like .... Whenever I've been around them, I've found that they not only treated their crew like ...,  they treated the audience like .... They treated everybody in their vicinity like .... I thought, "Who do they think they are?" I don't know why people put up with it. I wouldn't put up with it. I don't care if it's Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like ..., I'd be like, "... you, get outta here.

"People treat Arcade Fire like they're the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they're ... so ... 'em."

The full quote is also available from Sterogum and the good people at Pitchfork, who also reported that Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett jumped into the fray with a (since-deleted) Twitter post that read, "Win (Butler) might not be all hugs and rainbows and kittens, but neither is he drug culture, confetti, pot paraphernalia and ...." (It may not be accurate, but it's far more fun to imagine this being delivered with Pallett in his full-on elfin archer gear.)

Pallet has since updated his Twitter feed to read, "[Insert snarky comment about Flaming Lips here.]."

Let the next step be the trade of good ol' fashioned diss tracks in the tradition of LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee back in the '80s. With a little luck, this will escalate into a long overdue culture war between the U.S. and Canada that both sides have been dreaming of since Gretzky came to L.A. and one of us built a mostly functioning health care system.

Place your bets, the winner gets to keep Neil Young.

-- Chris Barton

Photo credit: Associated Press

Flaming Lips' 'Christmas on Mars' gets L.A. free screening with Wayne Coyne, Jimmy Tamborello

The Flaming Lips' long-awaited sci-fi film "Christmas on Mars" finally has a DVD release date (Nov. 11), and now it has a Los Angeles premiere.

The film will screen day-and-date with the DVD release at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood (1615 Vine St., just south of Hollywood Boulevard). Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening, which will begin at 8 p.m. It's free, but you have to RSVP at this site. The Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello (or Dntel, if you prefer) will DJ after the event. For those who RSVP, admittance will be on a first-come, first-sever basis, so get there early.

As noted last week, "Christmas on Mars" puts atmosphere first. It's a moody, B-level sci-fi film, and one that's almost horror-like in its vision. Focused on a doomed space station during the holiday season, the film features Coyne as an alien, and all sorts of demented visions, such as walking, life-size genitalia.

Filmed entirely on Coyne's Oklahoma City compound, "Christmas on Mars" turns household items into pieces of a spaceship and is graced with an eerie, classical-inspired score. There's no proper Flaming Lips-like songs in the movie, but Coyne noted in a recent interview that music helped shape nearly every scene. He took inspiration, he said, from the way Stanley Kubrick used the music of Richard and Johann Strauss in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"In the beginning, we would start off filming it like a music video, in that we already had the music and we’re going to shoot a scene knowing it has a certain mood," Coyne said. "There were a couple scenes where that stayed true, where there was a piece of music and then I shot the scene and cut it like a music video. You can see that in some of Stanley Kubrick’s stuff. I think we thought we could create the music, and it would give us the mood. But as we went, I think that fell by the wayside."

While our film critics haven't offered their take on the film, early reviews of the film have been mixed.

Meet the real Lil Wayne: WBR bets on Stardeath and White Dwarfs

Hard-core Flaming Lips followers are likely already aware that Dennis Coyne, the nephew of Wayne Coyne, has a band called Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Starting next year, even casual fans of the Lips will have more opportunities to hear the Oklahoma City-based quartet -- a band that actually sounds a lot like the Lips did in the early-'90s (think the heavier, guitar-orientated "In a Priest Driven Ambulance"). Stardeath has officially finalized a record deal with Warner Bros. 

While the Lips are nearing the end of their contract with WBR, Stardeath signed a multi-album deal earlier this year. Before signing them, WBR helped fund some demos in 2007. A push from the label will likely come as early as spring.

The band’s A&R representative, Rachel Howard, says Stardeath’s debut will feature all new material, noting that none of the tunes currently appearing on the group’s MySpace page will be on the record. It is expected to be out by summer 2009.

Bonus fun facts:  Stardeath, who have been together since 2004, serve as the Flaming Lips’ road crew when they are not recording or touring. The band has also opened up for the Lips on several occasions.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo: Even French

Flaming Lips on 'Mars,' label future: 'We’re never going to be Radiohead'

A Flaming Lips concert in many ways plays out like a B-level sci-fi film. A makeshift flying saucer descends on the stage. The lead singer walks atop the audience encased in a giant ball. All sorts of costumed characters dance around the stage, and fake blood and puppets are a given.

It's not necessarily a surprise that the band would extend that wildly colorful and ambitious vision into the cinematic world -- only, perhaps, a surprise that it took this long. The Flaming Lips have been publicly talking about making a sci-fi Christmas film since around 2001/2002, and it's finally being released on DVD on Nov. 11 via Warner Bros. Records.

While it takes its namesake from a holiday, "Christmas on Mars" is not the New Year's Eve-like lunacy that is a Flaming Lips concert, where every grand pop orchestration, electronic freakout and manipulated guitar note is a mini celebration. Instead, "Christmas on Mars" is dark, almost horror-like in its vision. The message, ultimately, is positive, but it's a moody, somewhat demented trip, albeit one with amateur actors and giant genitalia in astronaut suits.

"When you go see a movie that cost $100 million to make, that movie should always be good," says Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne. "For $100 million, it should never suck, even if you don’t agree with it. I go to the theater all the time, and I know in the first 10 minutes that the film is a disaster. But I knew going into this we didn’t know what we were doing. We were just doing whatever ... came to our minds, and so this could really just be dumb, boring arty bull."

INSPIRED BY MUSIC: "IT REALLY DOES SOUND PRETENTIOUS"

If the film was about eight years in the making, its score dates even longer. Coyne and multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd say the ambient, classical-inspired sounds of "Christmas on Mars" stretch back to 1996, when the band was conducting its "parking lot experiments," an odd sonic happening in which up to 40 cars were used to play different pieces of music to form one composition.

STREAM: "Space Bible With Volume Lumps" (Quicktime)
STREAM: "Space Bible With Volume Lumps" (Windows Media)

"We wanted to do a movie soundtrack," Coyne says. "We would have done this music even if there wasn’t a movie. Bands do that all the time, I think, wanting to make music for some imaginary film. You don’t always want to have to worry about some structure.

"It really does sound pretentious. But the longer you’re in it, you realize that you just do it and it’s not pretentious and you hope that it works. The main theme that we use, which plays through six or seven different scenes, is a piece of music Steven came up with in 1996."

At that time, the band had recently released its last guitar-centered record, "Clouds Taste Metallic." It wouldn't be until 1999 that the Flaming Lips would be re-imagined as an orchestrated pop act with "The Soft Bulletin." The music on "Christmas on Mars," which is included as a separate CD in a deluxe edition of the film, doesn't really sound like either, with its lulling, spacey notes and subtle melodic textures that develop out of an electronic hum.

"I wouldn’t play this to an 18-year-old who wants to rock," Coyne says. "I wouldn’t say, ‘You got to check this out! It’s deep and moving!’ I understand this is strange, abstract, moody weirdness. But we would have felt really frustrated if we couldn’t just go in every tangent we got obsessed with. If we weren’t able to pursue this, we’d be an old bitter rock group, or at least more bitter than we are now."