Album Of The Year?

Embryonic might be The Flaming Lips' third musical masterpiece in ten years. It's certainly the album I needed right now, at least as a music geek. For one thing, it backs me up by drop-kicking the silly notion that The Album is dead. But not only is it a capital-A Album, it's my favorite kind of album- The Superstar Band's Go-For-Broke Double Album. (Haven't had a good one of those in a while- not since Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, and before that, probably Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness.)

Apparently, the SB's G-F-BDA is also one of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne's favorite kinds of album, too. "Some of my favorite records," he said, "- thinking Beatles' 'White Album,' Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, and even some of the longer things The Clash have done- part of the reason I like them is that they're not focused. They're kind of like a free-for-all and go everywhere."

One of the many interesting things about Embryonic, though, is that for a free-for-all, go everywhere album, it's relatively cohesive- it doesn't hopscotch through genres like The Beatles or Sandinista! Most of the tracks on Embryonic have similar textures. The basslines are usually huge and superfuzzy with a gravitational pull to rival Jupiter's. The drums (when they're there) strike like Zeus' thunderbolts. The guitars blip and squeak like Morse code on an intergalactic distress signal. Coyne's vocals bounce between his usual fragile Neil Young warble and a ghostly Ian Curtis drone, and they ain't stingy with the reverb. The melodies are fragmented, and they hypnotize more than they hook.

Convinced Of The Hex - The Flaming Lips

Overall, Emrbyonic is a whimsical, existential space odyssey, not unlike the last few Flaming Lips records (those would be the masterpieces The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, as well as At War With The Mystics, which is pretty good, but The AV Club was right- it would have been great as an EP). But what sets the new album apart from those others- aside from its length- is its darkness. The Soft Bulletin had some spooky moments, and Yoshimi had a bit of Saturday morning cartoon villainy, but a lot of stretches on Embryonic sound downright menacing, and I love that. I also love the sporadic Bitches Brew-style freak-outs, which make The Flaming Lips sound more spontaneous than they've been since the 1980s.

Silver Trembling Hands - The Flaming Lips

Embryonic floats in the space between shambolic and symphonic, and if not for the lack of a potential Top 40 hit like "She Don't Use Jelly" or "Do You Realize??", it could have been the epitome of Flaming Lips records. Instead, it will have to settle for induction in the Superstar Band's Go-For-Broke Double Album Hall Of Fame.

My Rating: 11 out of 12 Zodiacal Constellations

Embryonic is streaming at Colbert Nation until the end of today. It goes on sale October 13.