The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
This Record Store Day round-up of collaborations conducted over the past year features a cast that includes Ke$ha, Chris Martin, Nick Cave, Yoko Ono, Bon Iver, Neon Indian, and Lightning Bolt, among others. Amazingly, it hangs together well as a front-to-back album.
After the release of their freaked-out twelfth album, Embryonic, the Flaming Lips went on a predictably unpredictable musical bender.
In days gone by, describing a Flaming Lips album as “bewildering” could easily have passed as an endorsement, such was the dazzling nature of their pre-2010s output. Since then, however, their star has fallen – coincidentally just as frontman Wayne Coyne’s head seems to have taken permanent flight for the clouds.
Following last year’s over-indulgence of EPs, including a six-hour long track, it’s back to normality for Wayne Coyne and crew, although ‘normality’ is not a word that sits comfortably with an
The Flaming Lips collaborate with pop stars and oddballs on a madcap album that's surprisingly unified, writes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
Oddly for an album featuring collaborations with artists as diverse as Yoko Ono and Lightning Bolt, the Flips' newie lacks variety, writes <strong>Maddy Costa</strong>
Wayne Coyne's wigged-out band links up with some A-list kindred spirits. CD review by Bruce Dessau