The Flaming Lips

Wayne Coyne, Michael Ivins and Steven Drozd, the core of the Flaming Lips, have never been known to play conventional rock. Unlike The Soft Bulletin, the Lips’ previous album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots has a more playful vibe, with obvious nods to children’s songs of yore. On “Do You Realize??” and a marvelous pair of title cuts, the Lips play with an amalgam of keyboard and samplers, giving a bouncy, lighthearted feeling. Although the songs don’t reach the dizzying heights found on The Soft Bulletin, moments like “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” and “In the Morning of the Magicians” make this album quite special. Comparisons to Mercury Rev, whose Dave Fridmann produced and played on Yoshimi, and Grandaddy are inevitable, but Yoshimi has much more depth and character than the works of those bands. And Coyne’s uneven, warbly voice, coupled with Ivins’ and Drozd’s instrumentation, makes for one hell of a sonic parade.