Word: embryonicã
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...have fashioned a legacy through constant rejuvenation. Their greatest albums—1993’s “Transmissions from the Satellite Heart,” 1999’s “The Soft Bulletin,” and now 2009’s “Embryonic??—have all been the culmination of a radical change in sound and direction...
...with their relevance as innovators hanging in the balance, the Flaming Lips deliver their latest effort in the nick of time. “Embryonic?? challenges in a way that nothing of their latter-day output since 1997’s “Zaireeka”—the infamous 4-CD album whose simultaneous playing allegedly replicates quadraphonic sound—had ever aspired. It’s also the first since that album to lack a substantive point of reference in the band’s earlier catalogue. “Embryonic?...
...their bull and their china shop too. The sonic center of the album, “Powerless,” is a sinister instrumental piece over which guitarist Steve Drozd erratically improvises, to an effect at turns intense and enervating. But the most thrilling moment of “Embryonic?? is towards its end—the signature-switching “Silver Trembling Hands,” whose punk-tempo framework balances gorgeously with a slow-motion release and refrain. At an hour and ten minutes, “Embryonic?? has enough high points that...
...spacious, lush, and shockingly dark production values on “Embryonic?? comprise the only substantive lens through which comparisons to earlier material can be made. The sheer level of studio precision involved in crafting these songs—feedback and percussion loops, vocal layering, electronic flourishes—can’t escape a comparison to the techniques that brought “The Soft Bulletin” to life. But the relationship between the two records is almost totally inverted: while “The Soft Bulletin” brought a cinematic—at times...
...comparisons do little to prove what’s already apparent—the Flaming Lips have made their first truly important record in a decade, and whether it meets expectations, perverts them, or annihilates them completely, “Embryonic?? stands as yet another milestone for the veterans of the alternative rock aftermath: that of the difficult masterpiece...
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