FLAMING LIPS Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.) cd 14.98
The Flaming Lips return with yet another gem and it's beginning to look as if they are only getting better with age. We used to think that about Tom Waits, Stereolab, and (some here think) Radiohead, but all those folks have released mediocre (perhaps bad?) records, whereas Flaming Lips' career-long consistency through 12 albums is pretty amazing. Certainly many of their indie rock, pre-Warner fans have long since abandoned their current efforts just as many who discovered them via their hit "She Don't Use Jelly" (or possibly more recently with "Waitin' For A Superman") probably don't find much to enjoy in their early drug addled, psychedelic bombast. But with such a continually evolving yet uncompromising sound, they're bound to alienate some. There's a striking resemblance on Yoshimi to the recent works of Radiohead, but then again there's definitely much that parallels the Lips' career with that of our faves from across the Atlantic. Like Radiohead, The Flaming Lips have chosen ever more increasing studio experimentation, combining electronic music elements with lush arrangements and cohesive album-oriented productions. But more significant perhaps is that Yoshimi, a semi-concept album, shares a similar paranoid and alienated angst that Radiohead has been honing these last several albums. But where as Radiohead takes a decidedly maudlin, Orwellian approach in their song writing, the Flaming Lips work in an absurdist, comedic fashion more akin to Philip K. Dick. "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21" could have been cut straight out of a P.K.D. story: "Unit three thousand twenty one is warming / makes a humming sound - when its circuits duplicate emotions - and a sense of coldness detaches as it tries to comfort your sadness..." All this arranged about as close to a Sade song as Coyne and the Lips can conceivably get (which I also see as a friendly jab at the sterile audiophile machinations of modern "soul".) The humanization of machines vs. humanity stripped of love and hate is the theme that's mulled over throughout. Most of the songs on the album are in direct reference to a painful breakup (either real or concocted) and the fictional battle between Yoshimi and the Pink Robots is more of a parable for struggling in the aftermath of having one's heart dashed to pieces. The two themes are intertwined on the album, but loosely enough so that you aren't forced into a Pink Floyd Wall of a concept album. While not as completely rife with hits as The Soft Bulletin, there's a lot to be warmed up to with Yoshimi. At first listen it seemed as though the Lips and Mercury Rev-ifier Dave Fridman had produced nothing but 45 minutes of studio wizardry and ear candy, but continual listens finds these songs opening up like a veritable flower blossom. "In the Morning of the Magicians" with its recurring, heart rending instrumental bridge will even bring a tear to the most desiccated of eyes. And "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Part 1, *not* part 2) will have you singing along in your best cracked falsetto soon enough. I imagine the bean counters at AOL/Time Warner had a hard time listening to this more than once, if at all, as they neglected to print up enough copies in the first run and now we - and stores everywhere I suppose - are struggling to find a distributor with remaining copies on hand. And we're not sure of the significance or if the title and her appearance on this record are mere coincidences or -gasp- something more, but AQ fave/crushworthy drummer/vocalist Yoshimi of the mighty Boredoms is a musical guest!!
RealAudio clip: "In the Morning of the Magicians"
RealAudio clip: "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21"
RealAudio clip: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1"

FLAMING LIPS Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl! Here's the description again: The Flaming Lips return with yet another gem and it's beginning to look as if they are only getting better with age. We used to think that about Tom Waits, Stereolab, and (some here think) Radiohead, but all those folks have released mediocre (perhaps bad?) records, whereas Flaming Lips' career-long consistency through 12 albums is pretty amazing. Certainly many of their indie rock, pre-Warner fans have long since abandoned their current efforts just as many who discovered them via their hit "She Don't Use Jelly" (or possibly more recently with "Waitin' For A Superman") probably don't find much to enjoy in their early drug addled, psychedleic bombast. But with such a continually evolving yet uncompromising sound, they're bound to alienate some. There's a striking resemblance on Yoshimi to the recent works of Radiohead, but then again there's definitely much that parallels the Lips' career with that of our faves from across the Atlantic. Like Radiohead, The Flaming Lips have chosen ever more increasing studio experimentation, combining electronic music elements with lush arrangements and cohesive album-oriented productions. But more significant perhaps is that Yoshimi, a semi-concept album, shares a similar paranoid and alienated angst that Radiohead has been honing these last several albums. But where as Radiohead takes a decidedly maudlin Orwellian-like approach in their song writing, the Flaming Lips work in an absurdist, comedic fashion more akin to Philip K. Dick. "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21" could have been cut straight out of a P.K.D. story: "Unit three thousand twenty one is warming / makes a humming sound -- when its circuits duplicate emotions -- and a sense of coldness detaches as it tries to comfort your sadness..." All this arranged about as close to a Sade song as Coyne and the Lips can conceivably get (which I also see as a friendly jab at the sterile audiophile machinations of modern "soul".) The humanization of machines vs. humanity stripped of love and hate is the theme that's mulled over throughout. Most of the songs on the album are in direct reference to a painful breakup (either real or concocted) and the fictional battle between Yoshimi and the Pink Robots is more of a parable for struggling in the aftermath of having one's heart dashed to pieces. The two themes are intertwined on the album, but loosely enough so that you aren't forced into a Pink Floyd Wall of a concept album. While not as completely rife with hits as The Soft Bulletin, there's a lot to be warmed up to with Yoshimi. At first listen it seemed as though the Lips and Mercury Rev-ifier Dave Fridman had produced nothing but 45 minutes of studio wizardry and ear candy, but continual listens finds these songs opening up like a veritable flower blossom. "In the Morning of the Magicians" with its recurring, heart rending instrumental bridge will even bring a tear to the most desiccated of eyes. And "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Part 1, *not* part 2) will have you singing along in your best cracked falsetto soon enough. I imagine the bean counters at AOL/Time Warner had a hard time listening to this more than once, if at all, as they neglected to print up enough copies in the first run and now we -- and stores everywhere I suppose -- are struggling to find a distributor with remaining copies on hand. And we're not sure of the significance or if the title and her appearance on this record are mere coincidences or -gasp- something more, but AQ fave/crushworthy drummer/vocalist Yoshimi of the mighty Boredoms is a musical guest!!
RealAudio clip: "In the Morning of the Magicians"
RealAudio clip: "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21"
RealAudio clip: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1"

FLAMING LIPS Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Warner Bros.) lp 26.00
One of SIX new Flaming Lips lps in the recently launched vinyl reissue program for everyone's favorite psychedelic weirdos turned mainstream indie rock heroes, 2002's Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, was the record that followed the group's massive breakthrough album, 1999's The Soft Bulletin. Yoshimi found the band returning with yet another gem which saw the band maturing, but seemingly only getting better with age. We used to think that about Tom Waits, Stereolab, and (some here think) Radiohead, but all those folks eventually released mediocre (perhaps bad?) records, whereas The Flaming Lips' career-long consistency through at the time 12 albums was pretty remarkable. Certainly many of their indie rock, pre-Warner fans abandoned the group well before this record, having soured on their current efforts, and probably just as many folks who discovered them via their hit "She Don't Use Jelly" (or possibly "Waitin' For A Superman") probably couldn't find much to enjoy in their early drug addled, psychedelic bombast. But with such a continually evolving yet uncompromising sound, they're bound to alienate some. There's a striking resemblance on Yoshimi to the recent works of Radiohead, but then again there's definitely much that parallels the Lips' career with that of our faves from across the Atlantic. Like Radiohead, The Flaming Lips have chosen ever more increasing studio experimentation, combining electronic music elements with lush arrangements and cohesive album-oriented productions. But more significant perhaps is that Yoshimi, a semi-concept album, shares a similar paranoid and alienated angst that Radiohead has been honing these last several albums. But where as Radiohead takes a decidedly maudlin, Orwellian approach in their song writing, the Flaming Lips work in an absurdist, comedic fashion more akin to Philip K. Dick. "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21" could have been cut straight out of a P.K.D. story: "Unit three thousand twenty one is warming / makes a humming sound - when its circuits duplicate emotions - and a sense of coldness detaches as it tries to comfort your sadness..." All this arranged about as close to a Sade song as Coyne and the Lips can conceivably get (which we also see as a friendly jab at the sterile audiophile machinations of modern "soul".) The humanization of machines vs. humanity stripped of love and hate is the theme that's mulled over throughout. Most of the songs on the album are in direct reference to a painful breakup (either real or concocted) and the fictional battle between Yoshimi and the Pink Robots is more of a parable for struggling in the aftermath of having one's heart dashed to pieces. The two themes are intertwined on the album, but loosely enough so that you aren't forced into a Pink Floyd Wall of a concept album. While not as completely rife with hits as The Soft Bulletin, there's a lot to be warmed up to with Yoshimi. At first listen it seemed as though the Lips and Mercury Rev-ifier Dave Fridman had produced nothing but 45 minutes of studio wizardry and ear candy, but continual listens finds these songs opening up like a veritable flower blossom. "In the Morning of the Magicians" with its recurring, heart rending instrumental bridge will even bring a tear to the most desiccated of eyes. And "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Part 1, *not* part 2) will have you singing along in your best cracked falsetto soon enough. We imagine the bean counters at AOL/Time Warner had a hard time listening to this more than once, if at all, as they neglected to print up enough copies for the first run, and we're not sure of the significance or if the title and her appearance on this record are mere coincidences or -gasp- something more, but AQ fave/crushworthy drummer/vocalist Yoshimi of the mighty Boredoms was a musical guest!!
MPEG Stream: "In the Morning of the Magicians"
MPEG Stream: "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21"
MPEG Stream: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1"

FLAMING LIPS Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 5.1 (Warner) dvd + cd 23.00
Normally we scoff at the ongoing fleecing of music lovers by re-releasing albums with a DVD of bonus crap forcing fans to buy the album twice. And we're not sure why this Flaming Lips DVD couldn't have just been released by itself, but it wasn't, so once again, fans are faced with the choice of buying the record again, or missing out. Thankfully, the stuff on the DVD is actually pretty great, so it might be worth getting rid of your old Yoshimi and picking up this new one. The cd is virtually unchanged, and the full review is below. The DVD contains the full album, but mixed in 5.1 surround sound. Two different videos for "Do You Realize?", the making of "Do You Realize?", "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1" video, a making of the "Yoshimi" video, "Fight Test" video, "Phoebe Battles The Pink Robots" video, a trailer for the Flaming Lips upcoming Christmas On Mars movie (that looks deliciously low budget), and a making of this here DVD. Also there are two animated DVD-Rom tracks, and 6 unreleased tracks (4 alternate versions and two new tracks). There's also a weird sort of trippy video jukebox. Hard to know what was all on there because the DVD was sort of hard to navigate, but it's pretty jam packed with goodies that most Flaming Lips fans will not want to be without. Now here's what we had to say about the record itself:
The Flaming Lips return with yet another gem and it's beginning to look as if they are only getting better with age. We used to think that about Tom Waits, Stereolab, and (some here think) Radiohead, but all those folks have released mediocre (perhaps bad?) records, whereas Flaming Lips' career-long consistency through 12 albums is pretty amazing. Certainly many of their indie rock, pre-Warner fans have long since abandoned their current efforts just as many who discovered them via their hit "She Don't Use Jelly" (or possibly more recently with "Waitin' For A Superman") probably don't find much to enjoy in their early drug addled, psychedleic bombast. But with such a continually evolving yet uncompromising sound, they're bound to alienate some. There's a striking resemblance on Yoshimi to the recent works of Radiohead, but then again there's definitely much that parallels the Lips' career with that of our faves from across the Atlantic. Like Radiohead, The Flaming Lips have chosen ever more increasing studio experimentation, combining electronic music elements with lush arrangements and cohesive album-oriented productions. But more significant perhaps is that Yoshimi, a semi-concept album, shares a similar paranoid and alienated angst that Radiohead has been honing these last several albums. But where as Radiohead takes a decidedly maudlin Orwellian-like approach in their song writing, the Flaming Lips work in an absurdist, comedic fashion more akin to Philip K. Dick. "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21" could have been cut straight out of a P.K.D. story: "Unit three thousand twenty one is warming / makes a humming sound -- when its circuits duplicate emotions -- and a sense of coldness detaches as it tries to comfort your sadness..." All this arranged about as close to a Sade song as Coyne and the Lips can conceivably get (which I also see as a friendly jab at the sterile audiophile machinations of modern "soul".) The humanization of machines vs. humanity stripped of love and hate is the theme that's mulled over throughout. Most of the songs on the album are in direct reference to a painful breakup (either real or concocted) and the fictional battle between Yoshimi and the Pink Robots is more of a parable for struggling in the aftermath of having one's heart dashed to pieces. The two themes are intertwined on the album, but loosely enough so that you aren't forced into a Pink Floyd Wall of a concept album. While not as completely rife with hits as The Soft Bulletin, there's a lot to warm up to with Yoshimi. At first listen it seemed as though the Lips and Mercury Rev-ifier Dave Fridman had produced nothing but 45 minutes of studio wizardry and ear candy, but continual listens finds these songs opening up like a veritable flower blossom. "In the Morning of the Magicians" with its recurring, heart rending instrumental bridge will even bring a tear to the most desiccated of eyes. And "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Part 1, *not* part 2) will have you singing along in your best cracked falsetto soon enough. We're not sure of the significance or if the title and her appearance on this record are mere coincidences or -gasp- something more, but AQ fave/crushworthy drummer/vocalist Yoshimi of the mighty Boredoms is a musical guest!!
MPEG Stream: "In the Morning of the Magicians"
MPEG Stream: "One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21"
MPEG Stream: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1"

FLAMING LIPS Zaireeka (Warner Bros) 4cd 23.00
"Warning: This is a unique recording. These 8 compositions are to be played using as many as four compact disc players, and have synchronized start times. This recording also contains frequencies not normally heard on commercial recordings and on rare occasion has caused the listener to become disoriented."
That's right, four cds meant to be played simultaneously, that nonetheless sound engrossing and interesting one by one. That Warner Bros saw fit to release this wonderful experiment in sonic collage is amazing. Then it went out of print for a while, so what's even MORE amazing is that Warner Bros. decided to repress it, again!!
Buy this and conduct your own "boombox experiment"...
MPEG Stream: "Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now)"
MPEG Stream: "Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair"
MPEG Stream: "Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now"

FLAMING LIPS / BRADLEY BEESLEY The Fearless Freaks: The Wondrously Improbable Story Of The Flaming Lips (Shout) dvd 29.00
Wow. We mean WOW! Haven't watched the whole movie but from what we've seen already, HOLY CRAP! How many bands are lucky enough to have a next door neighbor / past pal who just happens to be an experimental film maker, and who just happens to have filmed everything for the last decade, videos, parties, shows, birthdays, EVERYTHING. This is a delirious travelogue through the strange life of the Flaming Lips, from their beginnings as a ramshackle psych noise band, to their re-invention as pop experimentalists to their Grammy and beyond! All filmed in that cool guerilla, fucked-with-film-stock, overexposed / underexposed, short attention span style we've come to equate with the Lips through their videos. Fear not though. There's plenty of intense emotional stuff going on beneath the visual fireworks. Highlights include a particularly brutal scene involving drummer Steven Drozd shooting up while he discusses his addiction (which the band chose to address together instead of kicking him out of the band), and another scene wherein main Lip Wayne visits his older brother who lives in the bad part of town and discusses his jailtime as well as his involvement in local crime. Plus loads of goofy fun, wild rocking and stuff that makes no sense at all but is fun nonetheless, like the scene in which Wayne and two kids re-enact a robbery at the Long John Silver's where Wayne used to work or the scene where Wayne helps his mom repair the rain gutters! Tons of amazing footage, old class photos, many many embarassing haircuts, loads of amazing music, all presented in a suitably tripped out psychedelic framework. Bonus features include live clips, slide shows, bloopers, deleted scenes, outtakes and really funny commentary from both the director and the band. Recommended, already.

FLAMING LIPS, THE And Heady Fwends (Warner Brothers) cd 15.98
Of all the hundreds of super limited Record Store Day releases this year, the double lp superstar collaboration from the Flaming Lips and their 'Fwends' was probably THEE most anticipated one of all, and as might have been expected, those sold out in a heartbeat. But now it's available again, this time as a less limited cd, with different cover art. And yeah, as the title suggests, this is indeed a collection of collaborations, but VERY unlikely ones, with all sorts of other musicians, very few of which we would imagine would normally end up in the same orbit as the Lips. But much has changed over the last couple decades, the band that was once a sloppy chaotic drug rock mess and who toured with bands like the Butthole Surfers, has become one of the biggest bands in the world, and thus, one might not be as surprised to see the list of collaborators: Ke$ha, Biz Markie, Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, My Morning Jacket, Nick Cave, Lightning Bolt, Yoko Ono, Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, New Fumes, Chris Martin of Coldplay. Weird, huh?
And as much as we want to hate on the modern version of the Lips, and doubt their relevance as a band, all it takes is an earful of their warped psychedelic pop, and we realize that maybe not so much has changed after all. Cuz goddamn if we're not sort of loving this record. The sounds are all over the map, but pretty much always sound like the Flaming Lips, from weird noise drenched electro-pop to drum machine driven psychedelia, from lush orchestral almost choral sounding dreamfolk to rad tripped out electronic skitter and squelch, from fuzzed out falsetto vocal-ed psychedelic dreaminess to super distorted doomy dirgey fuzzy noisepop and even some warm swirly synth heavy new wave.
We had already heard their Lightning Bolt collab, and it's pretty much THEE jam here, heavy and heady, noisy and weird as fuck, the perfect mix of the two bands' sounds, dreamy and woozy one second, wild and drum heavy and chaotic the next, but then the Yoko Ono track is pretty rad too, trippy and abstract, tribal, with plenty of fuzz and buzz and crunch, weird effects, Ono mostly shouting "Do It" over the droned out psychedelic dirgery beneath, and Erykah Badu's Flaming Lips-ed version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" becomes creepy and doomy and super haunting, and heck, even the Chris Martin track is pretty gorgeous too, elegiac, a haunting softly psychedelic ballad that sounds more like the Lips than Coldplay, but manages again to fuse the best of both bands. Needless to say, this is definitely recommended. For new fans and even skeptical old fans like us.
MPEG Stream: "I'm Working At NASA On Acid (With Lightning Bolt)"
MPEG Stream: "Do It (With Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band)"
MPEG Stream: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (With Erykah Badu)"

FLAMING LIPS, THE And Heady Fwends (Warner Brothers) 2lp 42.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Of all the hundreds of Record Store Day releases this was probably THEE most anticipated one of all, a sprawling collaborative double lp, featuring a handful of VERY unlikely collaborations with all sorts of other musicians, very few of which we would imagine would normally end up in the same orbit as the Lips. But much has changed, the band that was once a sloppy chaotic drug rock mess, who toured with bands like the Butthole Surfers, has become one of the biggest bands in the world, and thus, one might not be as surprised to see the list of collaborators: Ke$ha, Biz Markie, Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, My Morning Jacket, Nick Cave, Lightning Bolt, Yoko Ono, Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, New Fumes, Chris Martin of Coldplay. Weird huh? But as much as we want to hate on the Lips, and doubt their relevance as a band, all it takes is an earful of their warped psychedelic pop, and we realized that maybe not so much has changed after all. We won't go into too much detail with this, as it was a Record Store Day release, and thus is extremely limited, and odds are once this current batch disappears it may be gone for good, but goddamn if we're not sort of loving this record. The sounds are all over the map, but pretty much always sound like the Flaming Lips, from weird noise drenched electro-pop to drum machine driven psychedelia, from lush orchestral almost choral sounding dreamfolk to rad tripped out electronic skitter and squelch, from fuzzed out falsetto vocal-ed psychedelic dreaminess to super distorted doomy dirgey fuzzy noisepop and even some warm swirly synth heavy new wave.
We had already heard their Lightning Bolt collab, and it's pretty much THEE jam here, heavy and heady, noisy and weird as fuck, the perfect mix of the two bands' sounds, dreamy and woozy one second, wild and drum heavy and chaotic the next, but then the Yoko Ono track is pretty rad too, trippy and abstract, tribal, with plenty of fuzz and buzz and crunch, weird effects, Ono mostly shouting "Do It" over the droned out psychedelic dirgery beneath, and Erykah Badu's Flaming Lips-ed version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" becomes creepy and doomy and super haunting, and heck, even the Chris Martin track is pretty gorgeous too, elegiac, a haunting softly psychedelic ballad that sounds more like the Lips than Coldplay, but manages again to fuse the best of both bands. Needless to say, this is definitely recommended. For new fans and even skeptical old fans like us.
Limited to 10,000 copies (!!), but in Flaming Lips numbers, that still basically means that these will be gone for good in no time.
MPEG Stream: "I'm Working At NASA On Acid (With Lightning Bolt)"
MPEG Stream: "Do It (With Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band)"
MPEG Stream: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (With Erykah Badu)"

FLAMING LIPS, THE Christmas On Mars (Warner Bros.) cd+dvd 25.00
We had been holding off on reviewing this until someone here had actually watched the Flaming Lips movie, but it's been so busy around here we haven't had time. And since most Flaming Lips fans are gonna want this no matter what, and folks who have yet to discover the joys of the Lips, would most likely be better off starting a little further back in their catalog, we figured what the heck, let's review the record, the score to the movie, and give a brief synopsis of the movie, just so folks can actually buy it and check it out for themselves.
So the record, is not a NEW Flaming Lips record, in fact it's not even a proper Flaming Lips record, as mentioned above it's the score to the film of the same name, the one the band has been working on for close to a decade. So there's no big drums, none of Wayne Coyne's wavery vocalizing, no lush popscapes or BIG hooks, but the thing is, with all of those critical Lips elements removed, the band manage to still make Christmas On Mars sound like a Flaming Lips record, albeit a stripped down sort of ambient one.
But heck, remember Zaireeka? The 4 disc set that had the various tracks broken down and spread out over the various discs so to hear the complete songs you had to have 4 stereos and play them all simultaneously? Well, in some ways this almost sounds like ONE disc from Zaireeka, like the backgrounds for proper Lips pop songs. haunting disembodied voices, lush harps and zithers, faux strings, creepy orchestrations, strange sound effects, choirs, shimmering drones, but all shot through with a little bit of Christmas, be it a melody here, or an instrument there. Even removed from the visuals, this plays like some super avant, outsider Christmas record, which, it sort of is. So yeah, recommended for open minded fans of the band, and for folks into space-y (holiday) weirdness, or wonderfully creepy film scores like that Bernard Hermann Brave New World disc we listed awhile back.
But that's not all. Both the cd and the lp version (which has a different name for some reason) contain a dvd containing the film Christmas On Mars, a sort of updated but still WAY low budget Plan 9 From Outerspace, starring the bands and lots of their friends. What little we've seen looks really fun, and pretty silly, and definitely demented, again, movie buffs might not love it (movie buffs into kitsch and so-bad-they're-good movies might though) but fans will go nuts for it. The trailer is amazing, super stylized and very very strange, definitely has us wanting to see it bad. One of these days. But for now, check it out. Lips fans, this is essential obviously, the rest of you, depends on how you feel about the band and their music, or how you feel about a green alien with antennae who saves Christmas.
The lp, titled Once Beyond Hopelessness, not only contains the same music as the cd, and the movie on dvd, it also includes a BONUS 7" with exclusive music NOT on the cd!
MPEG Stream: "Once Beyond Hopelessness"
MPEG Stream: "In Excelsior Vagianlistic"
MPEG Stream: "Space Bible With Volume Lumps"

FLAMING LIPS, THE Dark Side Of The Moon (Warner Bros. ) cd 14.98
Whenever a cover song (let alone a whole cover album!) comes through our doors, we ask, "Did this really need to be covered?" or perhaps more importantly, "Did this really need to be released?!" I mean, yeah, it's super fun to figure out and play someone else's awesome song, and can also be super fun to witness in the live setting like in an encore or something, but to actually commit it to tape or vinyl or cd? Hmmmm. That said, we know people will never stop doin' it, and some folks will for sure do it better than others. Well, in this particular case, can you really think of anyone more equipped to cover the ENTIRE Dark Side Of The Moon than the Flaming Lips?! Nope, we can't either. And apparently live this is some sort of fantastical spectacle, obviously. So yeah, a handful of these tracks sound right at home in the able hands of the Flaming Lips, just getting a bit more twisted and psychedelic, which of course we're totally not opposed to. Peaches and Henry Rollins guest on a few tracks, which we're not so keen on, but heck, it still sounds like it was a lot of fun.
Those tracks that do work though are pretty dang incredible, wild and incendiary and heavy and moody and blissful and so so psychedelic... Lips fans will definitely want this, Pink Floyd fans MIGHT, everyone else should give the sound samples a listen and decide for themselves...
MPEG Stream: "Speak To Me / Breathe (feat. Peaches & Henry Rollins)"
MPEG Stream: "Us And Them (feat. Henry Rollins)"
MPEG Stream: "Any Color You Like"

FLAMING LIPS, THE In A Priest Driven Ambulance (Plain Recordings) lp 17.98
Pink vinyl.

FLAMING LIPS, THE Late Night Tales (Azuli) cd 17.98
For their installment in Azuli Records' Late Night Tales series, Wayne Coyne & Co. have apparently rummaged through their personal record collections and picked out eighteen of their faves. It's somewhat perplexingly and a tiny bit disappointing though 'cause there aren't really any big surprises nor any odd obscurities. The biggest surprise is in just how safe a selection it is -- sorta like one of those old 'As Seen On TV! K-Tel Greatest Hits' compilations. Okay, maybe it's not *that* predictable or mainstream, but see for yourself... Bjork, Radiohead, Nick Drake, Sebadoh, Chemical Brothers, Chris Bell, Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Psychedelic Furs, Chameleons, Love And Rockets, Roxy Music, Lush, Miles Davis, Mice Parade, Alfie, Faust and 10CC! While this comp does stir up fond memories of those good ol' songs, we might've expected the Lips' to take this opportunity to share some more off-the-radar listening treats by including a couple of challenging curve balls in the mix. In fact, the only things here that comes remotely close to curve balls are Faust's "It's A Bit Of A Pain" and 10CC's "I'm Not In Love". That said, 'Lips fans will surely welcome the band's own contribution to the lot which appears halfway through the album. It's their cover of The White Stripes' tune "Seven Nation Army" (apparently this is the exclusive release of this song on cd, but you might also be able to find it on an unrelated limited edition 7"). A final added bonus on this volume of the Late Night Tales series is the second of five clips from multi-faceted Scotsman David Shrigley's Bits And Bobs.
MPEG Stream: FLAMING LIPS "Seven Nation Army"
MPEG Stream: FAUST "It's A Bit Of A Pain"

FLAMING LIPS, THE Once Beyond Hopelessness (Christmas On Mars OST) (Warner Bros.) lp + dvd + 7" 32.00
We had been holding off on reviewing this until someone here had actually watched the Flaming Lips movie, but it's been so busy around here we haven't had time. And since most Flaming Lips fans are gonna want this no matter what, and folks who have yet to discover the joys of the Lips, would most likely be better off starting a little further back in their catalog, we figured what the heck, let's review the record, the score to the movie, and give a brief synopsis of the movie, just so folks can actually buy it and check it out for themselves.
So the record, is not a NEW Flaming Lips record, in fact it's not even a proper Flaming Lips record, as mentioned above it's the score to the film of the same name, the one the band has been working on for close to a decade. So there's no big drums, none of Wayne Coyne's wavery vocalizing, no lush popscapes or BIG hooks, but the thing is, with all of those critical Lips elements removed, the band manage to still make Christmas On Mars sound like a Flaming Lips record, albeit a stripped down sort of ambient one.
But heck, remember Zaireeka? The 4 disc set that had the various tracks broken down and spread out over the various discs so to hear the complete songs you had to have 4 stereos and play them all simultaneously? Well, in some ways this almost sounds like ONE disc from Zaireeka, like the backgrounds for proper Lips pop songs. haunting disembodied voices, lush harps and zithers, faux strings, creepy orchestrations, strange sound effects, choirs, shimmering drones, but all shot through with a little bit of Christmas, be it a melody here, or an instrument there. Even removed from the visuals, this plays like some super avant, outsider Christmas record, which, it sort of is. So yeah, recommended for open minded fans of the band, and for folks into space-y (holiday) weirdness, or wonderfully creepy film scores like that Bernard Hermann Brave New World disc we listed awhile back.
But that's not all. Both the cd and the lp version (which has a different name for some reason) contain a dvd containing the film Christmas On Mars, a sort of updated but still WAY low budget Plan 9 From Outerspace, starring the bands and lots of their friends. What little we've seen looks really fun, and pretty silly, and definitely demented, again, movie buffs might not love it (movie buffs into kitsch and so-bad-they're-good movies might though) but fans will go nuts for it. The trailer is amazing, super stylized and very very strange, definitely has us wanting to see it bad. One of these days. But for now, check it out. Lips fans, this is essential obviously, the rest of you, depends on how you feel about the band and their music, or how you feel about a green alien with antennae who saves Christmas.
The lp, titled Once Beyond Hopelessness, not only contains the same music as the cd, and the movie on dvd, it also includes a BONUS 7" with exclusive music NOT on the cd!
MPEG Stream: "Once Beyond Hopelessness"
MPEG Stream: "In Excelsior Vagianlistic"
MPEG Stream: "Space Bible With Volume Lumps"

FLAMING LIPS, THE Telepathic Surgery (Plain Recordings) lp 17.98
Blue vinyl.

FLAMING LIPS, THE WITH STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARFS WITH HENRY ROLLINS AND PEACHES Doing Dark Side Of The Moon (Warner Brothers) lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

FLAMING STARS Ginmill Perfume: The Story So Far 1995-2000 (Alternative Tentacles) cd 13.98
Alternative Tentacles brings the sounds of UK band Flaming Stars to this side of the Atlantic. They've been around for over five years with a handful of releases on Vinyl Japan, but nary a peep in the U.S. until now. Imagine a melding of the Tindersticks' brooding deep vocals, Calexico's shadowy twang and maybe a bit of the lanky swagger of Jazz Butcher and Velvet Underground too, for good measure. Quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "A Place In The Sun"

FLAMING STARS, THE Named and Shamed (Alternative Tentacles) cd 14.98
The Flaming Stars' previous release on Alternative Tentacles, Ginmill Perfume: The Story So Far 1995-2000, received quite a warm response around these parts, and Named And Shamed seems destined for a similar welcome. While checking out the album's first few tunes, Andee thought that lead singer Max Decharne's dark and deep voice brought to mind a cross between Nick Cave and Lou Reed. However, by the time the sixth song "The Parade's Gone By" came around, Allan had joined the listenin' party and commented that it sounded like Jonathan Richman. So... if you have a particular penchant for (or aversion to) those aforementioned singers you might wanna take appropriate action (i.e, get this right away, or, stay away).
As for the rest of the Flaming Stars' sound, for the most part Descharne's keyboards stick with his vocals and Paul Dempsey's steady bass guitar in the lower register creating an overall low, simmering brood-mood. Joe Whitney's drumming and the dual post-punkish electric guitar attack of Huck Whitney and Mark Hosking occasionally jab and poke through the heavy shadows. The band saves the best song for last -- "Locked In Tight" is a somber late night heartbreaker.
MPEG Stream: "The Parade's Gone By"
MPEG Stream: "Locked In Tight"

FLAMING TUNES (GARETH WILLIAMS AND MARY CURRIE) s/t (ReR) cd 21.00
Finally one of the legendary lost This Heat related recordings gets its first proper release! Originally released as a tape in 1985, recorded by This Heat's Gareth Williams and Mary Currie and friends, shortly after Williams left This Heat, Flaming Tunes is a gorgeous, quirky collection of lo-fi experimental moody textural avant pop, originally conceived as something totally removed from the much more abrasive and rhythmic music he made in This Heat. Unavailable ever since its original cassette release, minus a bootleg which included the tape in its entirety but described it as This Heat's final demo recordings, Flaming Tunes in some ways reminds us of Charles Hayward's Camberwell Now project, in that some of the sounds are familiar and still somewhat This Heat sounding, but the record is much more vocal based, and song oriented, resulting in a sound, that while appealing to This Heat obsessives, offered a whole new window into Williams' approach to sound and songwriting, and in that, a once removed glimpse of some of the elements that helped make This Heat what it was.
The record opens with a looped piano wrapped in sizzling electronic buzz, peppered with strange bursts of sonic crunch, stuttery fragmented rhythms, not hard to see why folks believed this could be a blueprint for new This Heat material. But the second song is more of what Flaming Tunes is all about. Tunes. Sing songy weary vocals over plonked piano, squeaking horns, skittery percussion, lots of drones, plenty of tape hiss and amp buzz, definitely lo-fi, some cool synth melodies, the sound definitely reminiscent of the first two Brian Eno records or that classic Flying Nun sound, bands like the Tall Dwarfs or the Pin Group or This Kind Of Punishment or The Children's Hour or even the Dead C at their most poppy. And that's the sound that makes up most of Flaming Tunes, a hazy, gauzy, low fidelity (but strangely lush) bedroom pop, lots of piano, wreathed in reverb, warm warbly bass, occasional strings, programmed rhythms, detuned tangles of minor key guitar, plenty of jangle and chime, with intermittent forays into cool abstract experimentation, but even then, those tracks still sound a little song-y and don't at all disrupt the flow of the record. "Raindrops From Heaven", with a field recording of rainfall, insects, beneath some clattery, muted parlor skitter, or the brooding muddy piano drone of "It's Madness" with its disembodied vox and haunting creepy creaking Victorian vibe, with sampled strings and mysterious textures, before the record closes with a surprisingly Beatles-esque ballad called "Generous Moon", that sort of classic pop, rendered a little bit warped and woozy, the guitars twangy, and the background melodies a sea of whirring keyboards, locking into a looped dreamlike dirge before finally fading out.
So nice. This Heat fanatics will flip for sure, and no doubt some have tapes or bootlegs of this already, but it sounds so much better now, and comes in a super deluxe digipak, with tons of photos, artwork and liner notes. And even if you've never heard This Heat (what the hell is wrong with you?), this will still appeal to folks into twisted dark lo-fi pop.
MPEG Stream: "Another Flaming Tune"
MPEG Stream: "A To B"
MPEG Stream: "Raindrops From Heaven"

FLANGE DU MAL, LE s/t (self-released) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Holy smokin' haz-mat howdoyoudo's! This is the debut release from SF art-noise project Le Flange Du Mal... and quite an introduction it is. Despite their moniker, as far as we can tell none of the participants are French. A quick'n'dirty translation of their name is The Flange Of The Evil, but that's not quite as poetic, is it? Doesn't really slip as gracefully off the tongue. Anyways, the leader of Le Flange pack is Mr. Chris Rolls. He's the head honcho of the very varied SF indie label Kimosciotic Records (home to art-noisies Ezee Tiger and Crack W.A.R., electronic experimentalists Not Breathing, and hip hop lone wolf Unagi), and he's also been in the ranks of SF shit-disturbers Ziegenbock Kopf and Earwicker. He's joined by Chris Cones (also of Earwicker and Subarachnoid Space), Crack We Are Rock's Jason Stamberger and MurderMurder's Liz Allbee, and they make music that runs the gamut just as much as the artists whom he releases on his label. With their multi-barrelled toxic industrial-bootybass-sludge assault, they come careening right at you with their foot nowhere near the brakes, swerving woozily to avoid other vehicles in their path, cruising through the no wave and art rock zones, and through a musty gothy batcave (check out the track "Nightcrawler") too.
MPEG Stream: "Silent Cock"
MPEG Stream: "Nightcrawler"

FLASH LIGHTS Eckords (Students Of Decay) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We made the most recent record by Grouper record of the week a while back. A dizzying mix of Paart, Feldman, Skullflower, all rendered in washed out fuzz and indistinct shades of shimmer and whir.
Here we have a new group called Flash Lights, which features Liz Harris aka Grouper along with sound sculptor Jorge Behringer. Harris offers up her angelic ghostlike vocals, ethereal and gauzy, sometimes so barely there, they just sound like instrument hum, while Behringer contributes the music, a heady swirl of found sounds, field recordings, dreamlike guitar, processed viola and all manner of electronics. The sound is dark and moody and glacial. Harris' vocals definitely act more as another layer in the overall soundfield, often just a steady reverberating hum, or a slowly modulating warble, drenched in reverb so the whole sound is like being lost in a dense musical fog. The final half hour track is a massive dronescape of fuzz and hiss and whir and rumble, like drifting on some alien sea, about halfway through a series of clattery creaking sonic happenings are introduced, almost like the rigging of the ship stretching and settling, very reminiscent of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste. So haunting and creepy and captivatingingly lovely. Anyone who dug that grouper ABSOLUTELY needs this.
Limited to 200 copies. Featuring cover art by Liz Harris.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

FLASHBACK Issue 1 magazine 10.98
Quite hefty (208 pages!) debut issue of this new magazine out of the UK, dealing in "psych, prog, jazz, folk, blues & beyond". It's a heck of a lot like Shindig! magazine, really, A4 sized, glossy cover, colorful interior, and covers the same territory, pretty much. San Francisco '60s acid rock act Mad River make the cover, also there's pieces on producer David Axelrod, Linda Hoyle of Affinity, all-girl rockers Fanny, 'folk wizards' Hunter Muskett, and more, including a Richie Unterberger piece delving into the so-called 'Vinyl Renaissance', and an investigation of '50s (not '60s) psych. And, sure to cause arguments, there's an annotated list of the 100 top 'under-rated' guitarists of the '60s and '70s. Plus all the usual magazine things you'd expect, including plenty of REVIEWS!

FLASHING LIGHTS Where The Change Is (Spin Art) cd 14.98
Who are the Flashing Lights? Well, first perhaps a little Canadian pop history lesson for you. The Superfriendz were a great Halifax-based power pop group of the mid-90s. Full of maddeningly catchy hooks and vocal harmonies, not to mention plenty of youthful vim and vigor. Although they were often lumped in with and overshadowed by fellow Nova Scotians, Canadian pop superstars Sloan, Matt Murphy -- an excellent songwriter in his own right -- and company drew a strong, loyal following across the country. After the Superfriendz' demise a couple of years ago, Matt decided to start anew. Voila! The Flashing Lights. The result? A super summertime record if I've ever heard one. And one that is very much a sweet buoyant continuation to those of his former band. Mr. Murphy just might be the only person who can name a song "Talk To The Hand" and not be beaten to a pulp. Note: this cd was first released in Canada on Matt's own label, but here re-issued on SpinArt, it boasts two bonus tracks.

FLASKAVSAE Celestial (Milkweed) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another UNblack gem, this from one of the mainstays of the scene, Flaskavsae. Celestial, originally recorded in 2005, and finally released in 2007, then out of print, only now getting reissued (albeit in another way too limited run).
But holy crap, another disc of totally wacked, bizarrely produced unblack madness. Grim and buzzing and primitive, the drumming super straight ahead, not blasting as much as a sort of relentless Dbeat pound, but the guitars, they sound ghostly and alien, and whatever effect they're running through, renders them all blurred and pixilated and makes them sort of stutter in this super hypnotic blissed out way. This predates the whole new-gaze craze by years, but somehow, however it happened, this record is total dreamlike noise drenched UNblack metalgaze. At first the sound was so blown out and buzzy that it has us thinking of Canadian black metal weirdos WOLD, but as the record progressed, the sounds seemed to soften and blur, the guitar parts crazy catchy and weirdly melodic, the vocals a strange rumbling gurgle, that really do sound like just another layer of buzz.
That effect infuses every bit of the record, the whole thing seems to shimmer and shuffle and vibrate, almost like the sonic version of a strobe light, sending strange vibrations from the speaker into your bones. A few tracks are doomy crawls, with that impossible fucked up guitar beautifully damaged, unfurling in gorgeously stuttery loops, the bass thick and even more melodic than the guitar, pulsing beneath the swirls and whirls of FX and guitar fuzz.
But the final track is the ultimate, a furious black blast, so densely effected that the whole track seems to pulse in time with the drumming, it has some crazy effect on your ears as you listen, and your body as you feel the vibrations, like a black metal dream machine, the vocals a hissing insectoid whisper, the drums chaotic and stumbling, but it's that effect, we can't explain it, but it just freaks us out, in a really good way, it turns Flaskavsae's grim buzz into something totally and inexplicably transcendent.
MPEG Stream: "Rock Of Celestiia"
MPEG Stream: "Without War"
MPEG Stream: "Raised By Fire"

FLASKAVSAE Eclipse In Tides (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super raw, lo-fi black metal
brutal, buzzing US un-BM....
MPEG Stream: "Head First Into Oblivion"
MPEG Stream: "Wars Developed From Ignorance"

FLASKAVSAE Philosophies (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another blast of unblack metal, from the heartland, the Midwest, where it seems most of these unblack hordes reside. A glowing white beacon of buzzing brutality, amidst a sea of evil and blackness. This is the first full length from the one man band Flaskavsae, and like much of the unblack stuff we've been obsessed with, it's not so much about just making black metal Christian, as it is totally twisting the sounds of black metal into something entirely new. And so far, Flaskavsae, the man and the band, have pushed this unblack sound to it's furthest reaches.
Where many of the other bands, particularly Light Shall Prevail, demonstrate a similarly varied, and gorgeously obscured sonic palette, it often seems that those particularly obfuscated sounds are more a result or recording limitations than an actual sonic vision. Of course, it's obvious that those other bands embrace the strange production and all over the map sonics, but Flaskavsae seems more like a daring sonic adventurer, using black metal merely as a jumping off point. Like Wold for instance, the root sounds are buzzing guitars, and blasting drums, but it's how those sounds are twisted and colored that make all the difference.
From the first track, it's easy to tell this is so much more than (un)black metal. A dense, roiling staticky wash of crumbling downtuned guitars, and drifting mournful melodies, buried beneath layers of hiss and fuzz, with all sorts of tape dropouts and recording inconsistencies that make it sounds like some black metal Basinski piece, constantly throbbing and changing pitch, cutting out and warbling unsteadily, all the while weaving a super dark and emotional landscape of sound. This is the sort of black metal that fans of Tim Hecker and Philip Jeck and Basinski could easily get into.
On some tracks, the drums are more pronounced, and thus, the sound is slightly more traditionally (un)black, but even then, the buzz and pummel is bombarded on all sides by thick swaths of fuzzed out sound, hissy static like the sound of some sonic downpour, while way back in the distance, streaks of high end drift by, offering brief glimpses of the mournful melodies underneath. This may be heavy, and brutal and grim or whatever, but it's hard to tell as everything is just dripping with tons of FX and wrapped in dense clouds of swirling murk and blurred shimmer, which ends up making it sound dark and sad and so so beautiful instead.
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Reminiscent Of Slumber"
MPEG Stream: "Parallels To Nothing"
MPEG Stream: "Eating Light"

FLASKAVSAE / LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL split (E.E.E. Recordings) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's take a couple years and about a million cd-r's, but here it is, the first proper actual cd (not cd-r) release from both of these groups, two of our favorite UN-black metal bands. And for those out of the loop, un-black is another name for white metal, which is another name for Christian black metal, which does indeed seem like an oxymoron, but avid readers of the list by now are well familiar with the sound, and the groups, Glaciial, Agathothodion, Drommer, Elgibbor, Offerblod, Njiqahdda, and of course Flaskavsae and Light Shall Prevail.
LSP is the work of EEE records head honcho W.S. and prolificacy is so extreme, he fronts or is a member of at least 5 different outfits. LSP seems to be his main one and is definitely one of our favorites. Like on past releases, the sound here is a mix of classic grim black metal, and all sorts of fucked up lo-fi production, the core being a relentless buzzing riff, and furious blasting beats, but the sound is wrapped in strange sheets of hiss, and layers of murk and mire, the drum machine is strangely processed, the cymbals unleashing sprawling clouds of hiss, the guitars always buried in varying degrees of fucked up buzz or fuzz, turning riffs into streaks of blurred sound. The first LSP track here offers up a super strange, arpeggiated melody, very sing songy and major key, right in the middle of a roiling sea of blast and buzz. Ends up sounding quite mysterious and haunting. The big change this time around are the vocals, that are a dead ringer for Wrest from Leviathan's hellish corrosive howl, but within LSP, those vokills are simply another layer in the droning hypnotic buzzscapes, and that weird sing songy melodic element resurfaces throughout the other three tracks as well, culminating in the 15 minute closer, a sprawling, woozy and warped black metal, the guitars super blown out and washed out, the sound more of a blurred drone than black metal, even the drums are so static and relentless that they evoke a sense of mesmer as well.
Flaskavsae (a one man band, whose one man plays in Glaciial with Mr. LSP) are a perfect match, a similarly twisted take on (un-)black metal, but instead of speed and aggression, offer up something more depressive and midtempo, the guitars warbly and the distortion crumbling, the drums buried in the mix, except for the cymbals, that like LSP offer up sizzling streaks of hissy sibilance. Even when the songs launch into more furious tempos, something about the sound still manages to remain lugubrious and druggy, the riffs, less insectoid, and more blackened melting psychedelic. The final Flaskavsae track begins with a creepy almost classical sounding circusy melody, over a lurching almost industrial sounding rhythm, before the blackness and buzz seeps up from below, transforming the track into a weird droned out black buzzscape.
Packaged in a super glossy full color digipak.
MPEG Stream: FLASKAVSAE "Hymns Of Praise"
MPEG Stream: LIGHT SHALL PREVAIL "Epicism"

FLASKET BRINNER The Swedish Radio Recordings 1970-1975 (Mellotronen) 4cd 88.00
Thought we'd list this, 'cause we've had one copy for a while that's been sitting up behind/above the counter, alone and unlooked-at, alongside the our other box sets like that ZZ Top "barbeque shack" thing Allan said he'd buy if we didn't sell it by January 1st 2004 (hmm, it's still here...Allan?).
Flasket Brinner were a psychedelic, proggy, symphonic, very jazzy ensemble that featured key members of the '70s Swedish underground rock/jazz scene, and were known for their live performances (being what today might be called a "jam band" I guess). Thus a four-cd box set like this one, collecting their live radio sessions from the early '70s, is quite an appropriate release, presumably long-awaited by fans of the band. Perhaps of special note to AQ-customers is that you'll find featured on about half of this set, the Hammond organ of Bo Hansson! Indeed, these discs include several medleys of material drawn from Hansson's Lord Of The Rings album, plus other Hansson compositions. But Flasket Brinner's collective mood was wide-ranging, from Hansson's Middle Earth vibes to Ennio Morricone to traditional Turkish music to tongue-in-cheek covers of rock staples like "Wild Thing". Bewarned: you've gotta like extended jamming, and flutes and sax, to get into this. The box includes a big booklet full of photos and text, with notes on each session and song, along with a history of the band and an exhaustive discography of recordings by the various band members that makes it seem likely that Flasket Brinner alumni played on almost every cool record released in Sweden in the '70s, including LPs by such AQ faves as Algarnas Tradgard and Turid.
MPEG Stream: "Gunnars Dilemma"
MPEG Stream: "Lothlorien"

FLAT EARTH SOCIETY / THE LOST Waleeco / Space Kids (Arf! Arf!) cd 16.98

FLATLANDERS More A Legend Than A Band (Rounder) cd 16.98
Legendary premiere recording of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely & Butch Hancock from 1972, now on cd.

FLATLANDERS Now Again (New West) cd 16.98
If the names Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, and Joe Ely mean anything to you, then heads up. The three respected singer songwriters came together in the early '70s, in Lubbock TX, and made a completely underrecognized record as The Flatlanders. It was incandescently glowing country music with a twang, a musical saw, and the pure, otherwordly voice of Jimmie Dale Gilmore. In the years hence all three musicians have made names for themselves as solo artists with cult followings, and for those of us who hadn't heard them before 1990, that year saw a reissue of The Flatlanders album on disc, with extra tracks, that turned a lot of folks on to the Lubbock sound. If you don't already have that amazing first Flatlanders album, with its classic, breathtakingly gorgeous lead track "Dallas", then get that first. In fact, get it now... you'll be glad!
Besides a couple sporadic appearances in the ensuing years (a track for "The Horse Whisperer" soundtrack, a live reunion concert, etc), this disc is the first time in 20 years that the three guys have come together to write songs and record a brand new album. It is very nice, altho' not quite as good as what they did in the '70s (maybe that's cos I like '70s country a lot more than '02 country in general. Ahem.) Anyway, 12 of the 14 songs represented here were collectively written by the three, plus there's a Hancock-penned song and the lead off track is by Utah Phillips (I think it's the best on the whole album). The personalities of the three musicians are a bit more distinct than on the '73 record. The legend is back. Enjoy.
RealAudio clip: "Going Away"
RealAudio clip: "Now It's Now Again"

FLATLANDERS, THE Live '72 (New West) cd 14.98
A wonderful early Flatlanders performance from back in '72. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely were in top form for this Austin, TX concert. Classic downhome country twang with multi-part vocals by those unmistakable voices plus a little musical saw to boot. So good! We'd expect more audience response than the smattering of applause and handful of hoots 'n' hollers that follow each of sixteen songs. Maybe you can add your own!
MPEG Stream: "Honky Tonk Blues"
MPEG Stream: "I Know You"

FLATLANDERS, THE Wheels Of Fortune (New West) cd 16.98

FLAVIOLA Eo Bando Do Sol (World Psychedelia) cd 17.98

FLAVOR FLAV Hollywood (Draytown) cd 16.98
If only Flav woulda put out a solo record back in, say, '91 or so... before he did that Surreal Life show.

FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
It took us a while to be won over. But once we were, we couldn't get enough. We've been anxiously awaiting this new Fleet Foxes for ages, and it's everything we hoped it would be. An utterly gorgeous collection of dark shimmery folk, of harmony-heavy country (indie) rock. Like their debut, Helplessness Blues is just simply beautiful and timeless twangy pop. All the stuff we loved about the first record remains, and if anything, the band have stretched out even further. The Beach Boys harmonies, the warm hushed, reverby production, the seventies Laurel Canyon vibe, but this time around, there are horns, the drums seem to play a bigger part, some of the tracks downright bombastic, the sound is way more varied, from hushed whispery drift to wild skronky free jazz freakouts, from strummy, hazy, psychedelic folk to lush, almost cabaret sounding pop.
And the vocals, as incredible as before, Robin Pecknold's croon crystalline and clear, and the harmonies impossibly rich and lush, the vocals bathed in echo and reverb, making every track sound like it was recorded in some dusty old dancehall, exactly as they should. And the songs, like most second records, not as immediately catchy as the first, but upon repeated listens, blossoming and revealing themselves as the perfect pop songs they truly are. The sound is still equal parts Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Simon And Garfunkel, and still those sounds are filtered though more modern influences like Animal Collective, as displayed by the record's lush layers and dense vocal arrangements, but Helplessness Blues is not just more of the same, the sound, the songs, the arrangements, everything this time around is somehow more, and better, and we can't seem to stop listening.
MPEG Stream: "Montezuma"
MPEG Stream: "Bedouin Dress"
MPEG Stream: "Sim Sala Bim"

FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop) 2lp 17.98
It took us a while to be won over. But once we were, we couldn't get enough. We've been anxiously awaiting this new Fleet Foxes for ages, and it's everything we hoped it would be. An utterly gorgeous collection of dark shimmery folk, of harmony-heavy country (indie) rock. Like their debut, Helplessness Blues is just simply beautiful and timeless twangy pop. All the stuff we loved about the first record remains, and if anything, the band have stretched out even further. The Beach Boys harmonies, the warm hushed, reverby production, the seventies Laurel Canyon vibe, but this time around, there are horns, the drums seem to play a bigger part, some of the tracks downright bombastic, the sound is way more varied, from hushed whispery drift to wild skronky free jazz freakouts, from strummy, hazy, psychedelic folk to lush, almost cabaret sounding pop.
And the vocals, as incredible as before, Robin Pecknold's croon crystalline and clear, and the harmonies impossibly rich and lush, the vocals bathed in echo and reverb, making every track sound like it was recorded in some dusty old dancehall, exactly as they should. And the songs, like most second records, not as immediately catchy as the first, but upon repeated listens, blossoming and revealing themselves as the perfect pop songs they truly are. The sound is still equal parts Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Simon And Garfunkel, and still those sounds are filtered though more modern influences like Animal Collective, as displayed by the record's lush layers and dense vocal arrangements, but Helplessness Blues is not just more of the same, the sound, the songs, the arrangements, everything this time around is somehow more, and better, and we can't seem to stop listening.
MPEG Stream: "Montezuma"
MPEG Stream: "Bedouin Dress"
MPEG Stream: "Sim Sala Bim"

FLEET FOXES Mykonos (Sub Pop) 7" 5.98

FLEET FOXES s/t (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
We weren't all that into Fleet Foxes when we heard this record the first time. Not sure if it was us reacting to the usual way-too-much-hype that seems to surround so many debut releases these days. Or if the music just didn't move us. So we had sort of written them off as another 'whatever' band, decent enough to carry, but not special enough for us to worry about reviewing. But then we saw them perform live, and something changed. It was a revelation. It's difficult to pinpoint what it was exactly, but they sounded amazing, lush, timeless, sort of rocking, the vocals impossibly beautiful, harmonies to die for. It might have been hearing them LOUD, it could have been the fact that they were performing in a sun dappled glade, surrounded by tress and green grassy hills, probably a little of both. Whatever it was, it opened our ears, and the beauty of Fleet Foxes was revealed to us. A lush seventies Laurel Canyon sort of countryish pop folk. Crosby, Stills and Nash are the obvious reference, maybe the Eagles too. But also mix in some Beach Boys, some Big Star, the pop element is undeniable, the sound fuzzy and sun dappled, the percussion orchestral, the arrangements grand and epic, but somehow, it all sounds so intimate and personal. Sunshiney, melancholy, dreamy, intricate steel string guitars, shuffling drums, hand claps, all just a background for the lovely vocals, a high crystal clear croon, that easily slips into a falsetto, before swooping back down again, and the harmonies, oh the harmonies, absolutely divine. So much so we sometimes find ourselves just waiting for the parts where the band pulls back leaving just the vocals, perhaps an acoustic guitar, those are the moments that make this band so fantastic. Thus returning to the record, we have a whole different take. All of the above describes the sounds within pretty perfectly, not sure why it took seeing them play live, but for whatever reason, we're glad we did. Otherwise we would have missed out on Fleet Foxes' lush loveliness. Just listen to "White Winter Hymnal" and if you're not sold, well then, figure out a way to get these guys to set up and play for you in some field or forest, it will be well worth it.
MPEG Stream: "White Winter Hymnal"
MPEG Stream: "Sun It Rises"

FLEET FOXES s/t (Sub Pop) 2lp 15.98
We weren't all that into Fleet Foxes when we heard this record the first time. Not sure if it was us reacting to the usual way-too-much-hype that seems to surround so many debut releases these days. Or if the music just didn't move us. So we had sort of written them off as another 'whatever' band, decent enough to carry, but not special enough for us to worry about reviewing. But then we saw them perform live, and something changed. It was a revelation. It's difficult to pinpoint what it was exactly, but they sounded amazing, lush, timeless, sort of rocking, the vocals impossibly beautiful, harmonies to die for. It might have been hearing them LOUD, it could have been the fact that they were performing in a sun dappled glade, surrounded by tress and green grassy hills, probably a little of both. Whatever it was, it opened our ears, and the beauty of Fleet Foxes was revealed to us. A lush seventies Laurel Canyon sort of countryish pop folk. Crosby, Stills and Nash are the obvious reference, maybe the Eagles too. But also mix in some Beach Boys, some Big Star, the pop element is undeniable, the sound fuzzy and sun dappled, the percussion orchestral, the arrangements grand and epic, but somehow, it all sounds so intimate and personal. Sunshiney, melancholy, dreamy, intricate steel string guitars, shuffling drums, hand claps, all just a background for the lovely vocals, a high crystal clear croon, that easily slips into a falsetto, before swooping back down again, and the harmonies, oh the harmonies, absolutely divine. So much so we sometimes find ourselves just waiting for the parts where the band pulls back leaving just the vocals, perhaps an acoustic guitar, those are the moments that make this band so fantastic. Thus returning to the record, we have a whole different take. All of the above describes the sounds within, pretty perfectly, not sure why it took seeing them play live, but for whatever reason, we're glad we did. Otherwise we would have missed out on Fleet Foxes' lush loveliness. Just listen to "White WInter Hymnal" and if you're not sold, well then, figure out a way to get these guys to set up and play for you in some field or forest, it will be well worth it.
MPEG Stream: "White Winter Hymnal"
MPEG Stream: "Sun It Rises"

FLEET FOXES Sun Giant (Sub Pop) cd ep 5.98

FLEETWOOD MAC Rumours (Reprise) 2cd 22.00

FLEETWOOD MAC s/t (Reprise) cd 13.98

FLEETWOOD MAC Tusk (Reprise) 2cd 22.00

FLEISCHMANN, B. Angst Is Not A Weltanschauung (Morr) cd 16.98

FLEISCHMANN, B. Pop Loops For Breakfast (Charizma) cd 15.98
For those of you who really dug B. Fleischmann's Welcome Tourist (as we did!), here's a reissue of an earlier album of his (originally released in 1999 on Morr Music). What can we say? Mr. Fleischmann has a knack for crafting the sonic equivalent of the loveliest aquatic dreams. Such echoe-y, shimmery prettiness that's sweet without being sugar-coated. Plus unlike the more recent album on which they served as something of a distraction, this one does not have vocals! In the past we've compared Fleischmann's music to that of The Notwist, but Pop Loops For Breakfast is actually more akin to Notwist cousins Lali Puna albeit minus the female singing.
MPEG Stream: "Slope"
MPEG Stream: "The Red Saloon"

FLEISCHMANN, B. The Humbucking Coil (Morr) cd 16.98
Unfortunately (?) B. Fleischmann's new album is not titled 'The Thumbsucking Coil' as one of us initially thought... and unfortunately (on a completely different but not unrelated topic) Mr. Fleischmann has chosen to sing more on it. Now if you're at all familiar with us here at AQ, you probably know that we've totally dug his past recordings (both Welcome Tourist and Pop Loops For Breakfast have always received a warm bear hug reception around these parts), and we haven't had an aversion to his drowsy speak-singing in the past. However each time we've put The Humbucking Coil on for a spin, it has definitely been his vocals and lyrics that have been bringing us dooown. Maybe your ears won't have a problem with 'em, but we'll just say that we're happy he doesn't sing on all of the tracks. We've been without a Fleischmann fix for too long already... we'll take what we can get! Fortunately the vocal-less tracks are of his gently lulling, blissful fare. Soft'n'soooothing.
MPEG Stream: "Broken Monitors"
MPEG Stream: "From To"

FLEISCHMANN, B. Welcome Tourist (Morr Music) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Inevitably when we play this in the store, someone comes up and asks if we're listening to Boards Of Canada. The first track definitely demonstrates why: melancholy ambience with haunting distorted piano over lazily glitchy beats. This Boards Of Canada vibe permeates most of the record, but this is a lot weirder and much more varied. One track will have subtle electronics spare steel string guitar and lonesome lapsteels, sounding a little like an electronic Calexico. Then one track will have German spoken word over a super pretty blend of piano, slinky guitars and electronics. This is definitely something for fans of Boards of Canada as well as folks who dug that last Notwist record. The Notwist similarity surfaces about halfway through the first disc, with the introduction of singing! Bearing a striking resemblance to Malcolm 'Arab Strap' Middleton's new album as well as the Notwist obviously, and even Faust with those sing-songy, innocent vocals. A gorgeous rainy day record of organic electronica. The second disc is an epic 45 minute track that revisits many of the musical themes of disc one. A gorgeous chunk of bliss, fuzzy and hypnotic, distorted melodies over loping post rock grooves, burbling upright bass, gauzy atmospheric haze, and sweet sweet melodies.
MPEG Stream: "Guided By Beats"
MPEG Stream: "Grunt"
MPEG Stream: "Until The Real Thing Comes Along"

FLESH EATERS A Hard Road To Follow (Atavistic) cd 14.98

FLESH EATERS No Questions Asked (Atavistic) cd 14.98

FLESHIES Kill The Dreamer's Dream (Alternative Tentacles) cd 13.98
This Punk band from the East Bay has been around for two years. Its members had been previously playing in other punk bands like the 3Tards Sledwreck, and The Dairy Queens, and have put out songs on a variety of compilations and split singles with such bands as the Phantom Limbs and Federation X. This, their first full length release, debuts on Alternative Tentacles & consists of 17 ugly drunk loud crass angry punk songs. If you like that sort of thing you'll be happy.
RealAudio clip: "Yes, I'm Starting Shit"