Customer Reviews

Embryonic

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'm an old dude. Pushing 60. Spent my formative musical years in the 60's and 70's, a huge fan of groups like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, King Crimson, Yes, Traffic, Genesis, Roxy Music/Eno and more obscure groups like Gong, Camel, White Noise, Gang of Four and Le Orme. I wanted to present that perspective so you get where I'm coming from before saying I think Embryonic is a masterwork that stands up to the efforts of those vets who knew how to blend music, sound and noise into a sonic landscape that takes the listener on wonderful journeys.

Believe me, I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea. It was never intended to be. I get it why some people might actually hate it, just like I used to get crinkled faces and jeers when I put on In the Court of the Crimson King or Topographic Oceans. But to the audience who enjoys more adventuresome opuses, who have the patience and desire to sit back, listen intently from beginning to end and just let the fun happen, this is one of the freshest, most original albums I have heard in years. Perhaps my favorite for all of 2009.

"Embryonic" is the sound of the Flaming Lips returning to what garnered them fame in the first place. I have always respected the Flaming Lips for dedicating themselves to exploring sound at the detriment of everything else, even it means making a song that is downright difficult to listen to. It's not about doing what's safe for the Lips, it's about shaking things up.
Their last album troubled me because it seemed that the Lips couldn't figure out what direction they wanted to take, so they ended up releasing "Yoshimi-Part Two". "At War With The Mystics" was interesting, but not conducive to their talents. "Embryonic" gleefully breaks off that path of sameness and poppy tunes with a very sparse, dark sounding record that works fantastically.
Those of you who love Can will find many reasons to welcome this album to your heart. From beginning to end "Embryonic" is a relentless, percussive affair while injecting strange guitar interruptions and sudden keyboard stabs that are as fresh as they are unsettling. Even Wayne Coyne is summoning the spirit of Damo Suzuki with his unintelligible ranting and yelling while the groove behind him keeps chugging away into unknown territory. It's a slightly primal affair in its simplicity, but Coyne pushes it farther out into space with his bizarre vocal trickery. The music wants to find space to breath, but Coyne simply won't let it as he constantly is at odds with the idea of giving the listener any sense of normalcy. It's this constant push and pull that makes this album such a damn interesting listen.
There really aren't any standout tracks on "Embryonic". The album definitely reeks of "concept" as all of the tracks flow into one another, yet Coyne's lyrics seemingly don't have much meaning which makes it all the more mysterious. Every song on this album is strong except "I Can Be A Frog" which brings the proceedings to a screeching halt. Coyne thought it would be a good idea to get cute and play one of his little nursery rhyme games right in the middle of the album and it doesn't even come close to working. It's too bad they had to include this track as it undermines what is great about the rest of the album. Thankfully the track is only two minutes long, so the album picks back up after this brief interruption.
"Embryonic" ranks right up there with "Soft Bulletin". Rarely do I have such a strong positive reaction to an album but "Embryonic" has a lot of power and soul to explore. It isn't tuneful and precious like "Soft Bulletin" is, but it balances out by being intensely focused on its disjointed ideas. For very different reasons it reaches a euphoric level of creativity that only albums like "Soft Bulletin" can reach.
I am glad that the Lips are back off track. "Embryonic" is a treasure.

The Flaming Lips, for the last decade purveyors of grinning, gleeful quirk-pop, festooned by confetti and bunny suits--a recipe with initial charm but diminishing returns--have, according to Wayne Coyne, killed off their "former selves . . . Our more crafty or calculated selves. Our less brave selves . . . Our less spontaneous selves". Thus in their 26th year, the band has created what I feel is their strongest work ever: `Embryonic'. The new album borrows from the production techniques and stylistic eclecticism of their previous best, `Zaireeka,' and from the manic energy and freak-out distortion of their 80s and early-90s albums. The stylishness and cinematic scope of their most acclaimed album, `The Soft Bulletin,' is channeled into a darker, sparer, more visceral direction. The two strands combine to create their most sophisticated and at the same time most visceral work. Though there are moments of silliness and optimism, most of the cartoonish clowning ("She Don't Use Jelly," "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots") and scrubbed-clean brightness of their mainstream successes is gone.

`Embryonic's central production feature is the classic Lips technique of very heavily compressing the drums, creating a distorted, absolutely massive sound, this time devoted to more intricate and sexier beats than ever before. Other sonic "solids" are created with stabs of distorted guitar, swooping harps, distant bells, and subtle percussion. But despite these distorted and compressed elements, the music is (literally) highly dynamic, and around and between these sonic boulders and rocks is a beautiful and melodious stream of electric piano and organ, treated vocals, strings and xylophones, and ambient texture. The lyrics remain largely abstract, but a more lifelike character voice is conveyed, one wrestling with the ambiguities of humans, which can be "evil" but can "be gentle, too, if they decide". It all adds up to their most sonically vigorous, sometimes most soothing, sometimes most ferocious, and certainly most emotionally evocative work to date.

When "At War With The Mystics" came out, I thought it was probably their most disappointing album, because it lacked the genuine energy they are known for. I thought to myself "i hope this is as far as they go in this direction, and I bet their next album will be much crazier". It is surely crazier.
I like many things about this new album. I like that the old flaming lips drum sound and drum pounding energy is back. I like that they got really creative with noise, sounds, guitar effects, and the general production and sound altogether. It's a nice change that it's not so electronic. I thought there were great electronic moments on yoshimi and at war with the mystics, but the live band format is what I loved them for in the first place. I love that they didn't adhere to too many pop song formulas that have (in my opinion) made them not as exciting as they used to be.
There are also things that sort of rub me the wrong way with Embryonic though. I feel that when you put the most rocking songs together, they sound very similar. Each of those songs are centered around 1 chord or note, which is fine, but I feel that they are actually lacking in original ideas in the songwriting department. Wayne's melodies here are fairly predictable which puts a damper on the songs. And if you are familiar with Can and Pink Floyd, get ready for picking out several examples of rip-offdom. When I look back at Clouds Taste Metallic, In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Hit to Death in the Future Head, I see song after song of completely unique, fresh, sometimes dangerous, exciting, original ideas. This album lacks much of that energy. I love how experimental, schizophrenic, loud, psychedelic, and strange Embryonic can be, but one has to admit it can be a tad bit derivative at times. It gets an A++++ in the production/overdubs/sound-as-art/energy/concept department. But sadly, it gets a C- in the original ideas and songs that back those other elements. However, one should never expect perfection from artists. The Lips needed a change, and this is it. Who knows what their next album will be like?
Don't get me wrong, I'm as happy as anyone at this new direction, but I keep reading reviews saying it's their best album ever, a masterpiece, the best album of the year, etc. Maybe this album will grow on me, but I think people are just liking the dramatic change in direction of the Lips so much that their vision is a little clouded. People are a little too influenced by reviews (especially pitchfork i might add) and they don't form their own opinion first. Anyhow, thank you flaming lips for reaching for that old spark, it's nice to see it again.

Embryonic is the type of album that rewards repeated listening sessions, just like all great albums do. Even better, the Flaming Lips have had the forethought to produce a high resolution audio version on DVD which grants a whole other series of rewards itself. To me, the high-res version is the "real" album here -there is that much difference in the listening experience.

As with all great psychedelic music, Embryonic will take you places. With the high-res, you'll be going there in a Jaguar; with the MP3s or CD audio, its a Toyota or something.

There are no singles on this album. No catchy radio songs. No goofy songs about animals, food products or insects. Well, just one of those and that one, I Can Be A Frog, is infectious. Embryonic is the worthy psychedelic successor to the Flaming Lips' brilliant 4-Simultaneously-Played-CD album, Zaireeka, and that is the album closest in their canon that this can be directly compared with. If you loved Zaireeka, this is the album for you.

Now, for the masses of fans that love the Lips primarily due to The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, I think this album will test how far you are willing to go with this band. Some have compared it to Radiohead's Kid A for that reason, and I concur. It doesn't sound anything like Kid A, but it resembles the shift required of the fans to follow the band's shift in direction. And for those that love Kid A, you know there is a big payoff waiting for you with Embryonic.

When I first heard this album with no prior knowledge, I was kind of shocked by how it sounded. It was nothing like the Flaming Lips I knew. But then again, I probably shouldn't have been. It's a band known for reinventing itself every decade or so, and this was just the next step. It also ended up being my favorite album by them, though I won't argue with anyone who still prefers The Soft Bulletin. Embryonic is extremely loud, experimental, and (in my opinion) awesome. It's a double album that goes by quicker than pretty much any that I've heard, and it's pretty much just a parade of unique, consistently entertaining songs. Some set a strange mood you don't usually get from music, and some explode with energy. It's not for everyone, but there's a lot of fun to have with it if you want. It also features appearances by MGMT and Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which might be construed as attention-grabbing but worked out interestingly for me.

I'm not even sure where to start with all the good songs. Well, my favorite song is definitely "Worm Mountain", which has a great, crunchy guitar line and is pretty much nonstop greatness for five minutes. I could also start at the beginning, with "Convinced of the Hex" and "The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine" both immediately alerting you to the fact that this ain't the same band as before. "Powerless" and "The Ego's Last Stand" close and begin the first and second acts, and are perhaps the height of the band's grandiose experimentation on the album. There's a few instrumentals sprinkled around, which help maintain cohesion through the record's unique arc of continuity and are generally pretty entertaining in their own right. "Silver Trembling Hands" might be the most startling track of all, and also some of the straightest rock to be found. "Watching the Planets" is a great closer, somehow compelling and disheartening at once. There's plenty of songs I didn't mention that are worth hearing as well, because while I'm not trying to be too complimentary here, I'm not sure I've heard another album with so many songs with pretty much all of them actually being good. Again, it might not work for you at all, but I thought it was great.

I despise noodling. I hate impenetrability. And I loath pretentiousness. And "Embryonic" toes the line on all three sins. Maybe it's just my irrational love of "Flaming Lips" as an entity, the creativity freakshow totality of them, that makes me forgive them for what should be an unlistenable mess, but so help me, every time I listen to this CD I find I like it a little more. I know saying something grows on you isn't necessarily much of a compliment, given that yeast will do that much, but for whatever reason, I find "Embryonic" intriguing and compelling. Could be that Wayne is laughing his butt off and the whole thing was a goof to see how far he could push FL fans (which is kind of how I view his "movie," Christmas On Mars. If so, the joke's on us both, because I think I really like this stupid thing. And I'm not even a stoner. (But for the record, I'm pretty sure that would help.)

I can honestly say that I have NEVER heard anything from The Flaming Lips before this release. I suppose that would mean I live under a rock but I personally refuse to listen to corporate radio (or any other radio for that matter)! I found this album via querying on Radiohead's Kid A release (which I have only just recently found in the last 6 months). I love this CD just for its non-conformity and non-danceability! It's a headphones classic IMHO. I was hooked from the opening of "Convinced Of The Hex" and love the journey that it takes me on each time I listen. I only listen to this when I have the time to listen to it in its entirety. I believe you must consume this disc as a whole and without skipping any tracks or rearranging them. Each time I listen I hear something I did not hear before. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite discs in my 1000+ CD collection!!

Forget everything you know... or everything you think you know... about the Flaming Lips and music in general. Put the album in and just let it play. Don't worry about the track numbers. Let it rumble, squeal and iminate through-out the corners of your home in surround-sound as you put the groceries away and sip wine. Then feel the sudden urge to write a review at some point on Amazon because it's so mind-boggling good. It's like an odd mutation of Flaming Lips records of the past; chrystalized and injected into the outer hemisphere of your brain; strange memories of sounds you once knew being plunged into the future of consciousness; where everything is everything and the Flaming Lips are doing the score. You will at once be entranced and yet somehow comforted by the warmth of familiarity; not unlike the slow synthesization of a ripening fetus with it's soul. Yes, you will eventually come back to terms with reality, but this album let's you take your time and figure things out at your own pace - sort of like life. By the album's end you will be craving more, committing yourself to multiple listens to crack the embryonic code. This does not exist because the flaming lips are clearly in tune with their chakras and are simply emitting positive bio-energies at all times when they create such musical brilliance. I don't think I have heard this kind of brave experimentalism that actually cohedes itself into something meaningful since Tricky's first three albums. Or in the Flaming Lips' case, since Zaireeka. The only bad thing about Zaireeka was that there were only eight songs. Embryonic is a double album! And the songs are tracked in their entirity on a single disc!! which means it only takes one CD or DVD player to hear an entire song!!! not four!!!! I guess surround sounds weren't as bountiful a commodity during the parking lot experiments. I am still waiting for Zaireeka in a DVD format so that I can hear the beautifully cryptic 'March of the Rotten Vegetables' at the click of a button. Those who call this album pretentious or masturbatory are the same people who wrote-off Zaireeka as too much of a hassle. This album is epic and timeless, and it will be here when you are ready for it.

I have been wanting to write a review of this album since I purchased it but have resisted until now. I wanted a chance to give it a few listens and really let it sink in and compare it to some of the other Flaming Lips albums. Now that it has started to settle in I honestly believe this is the best Lips album since The Soft Bulletin and possibly of their entire career.

The album is loud, grungy, highly experimental, and doesn't contain a single real pop single. There is a real focus on loud guitar and drums. There are still little flourishes of their brighter days all done with years of refinement under their belt but for the most part this is a very gritty album. Like everything The Flaming Lips have put out since The Soft Bulletin there production value of the recording is impeccable and worthy of the 24-bit DVD of the album. Despite the high quality of the recording it never comes off as overly polished and manages to capture a rawness to the music that I haven't heard from the Lips since Transmissions of the Satellite Heart.

All in all an amazing wall of sound from the ever willing to reinvent themselves Flaming Lips, there is no reason to not at least give this album a chance. (heck at least click on the little audio samples)