The Flaming Lips win mystical war

By Paul Tsikitas
Collegian Editor
April 5, 2006

The last true psychedelics have done it again. The Flaming Lips, after touring for 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots for a few years, have returned to the world of great album making. The latest opus, At War With the Mystics, is a fresh new feel for The Flaming Lips without straying from the formula of catchy hooks, psychedelic sounds and feel good rock.

At War With the Mystics mixes the two distinct sounds that The Flaming Lips have tinkered with in the past. Like their more recent efforts The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, the songs are dripping with eerie sounds and synthesizers that fill the air with melodies and hooks.

But unlike those recent efforts, the songs have a lot more guitar-driven parts that mirror The Flaming Lips’ earlier albums like Clouds Taste Metallic and Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. This blending of sounds creates a unique listening experience that builds upon the band’s entire career.

Straying away from the conceptual feel of the last two albums, At War With the Mystics is more about each seperate songs rather than the album as a cohesive whole. Even though the songs have more individuality, you won’t be reaching for the skip button, as every song is well-written, tight and varied in sound.

The album starts with the first single “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.” With its silly vocal beginning and hypnotic guitar riff kicking into full gear, the listener will know what he or she is in for as the record continues along. The song is a jab at the powers-that-be that would “blow up the world at the flick of a switch.”

“Free Radicals” sounds like a Prince tune with its odd beat, pacing and high-pitched vocal delivery. This song takes a cut at terrorists and their radical and fanatical goals in killing.

The high point of infusing the mystical sides of the Lips’ later career and guitar-driven sound is in the ethereal beauty that is “My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion.” Some of the most uplifting lyrics the Lips have ever written, along with and a gorgeous soundscape that sounds like a dream, come out of this amazing tune.

Songs like “It Overtakes Me/Stars are So Big…I am So Small… Do I Stand a Chance” and “Haven’t Got a Clue” show the fun side of this album. The songs’ serious subject matter is masked behind silly sounds and danceable beats. “Vein of Stars” and “The Sound of Failure/It’s Dark… Is It Always This Dark??” show the dreamy mood that the Lips love to create. “The Wizard Turns On…” shows that the group can go into progressive rock jams reminiscent of some of the finest in ’70s prog.

The band that loves doing wild and wacky things with music will surely not disappoint any fans, but this album more than the rest may open the eyes of new fans. Since the songs work better alone than on albums like Yoshimi or The Soft Bulletin, At War With the Mystics has tracks that can be more acceptable for radio play.

Although it may be more accessible, this doesn’t interfere with the artistic integrity and the fact that The Flaming Lips are still working on a dimension higher than most bands on major labels.

As a whole, At War With the Mystics is a great follow-up to the successful Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Rather than sticking with the conceptual feel they dabbled with in previous albums, The Flaming Lips have decided to revert back to the songwriting it took to make an album a little bit different than its past few. This is a great move. Yoshimi was a hard album to match, but At War With the Mystics is as good a contender as any.

tsikitp1@lasalle.edu