[Missed a day, sorry. I'll also be taking the weekend off. Catch you Monday!]
Before you read my review, you should read Pitchfork’s review of The Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips. The first half is banter about the writer proudly and hip-ly losing his job and girlfriend and not interviewing Wayne Coyne; the second half is a half-hearted review full of dumb-as-hell metaphors (Qui-Gon? Really?) and argueable but weak-as-hell musical comparisons (dudes! This is just like Dark Side of the Moon!).
Regardless, the album is fantastic and a great musical creation. The “10.0” is absolutely correct.
More than any other album by the F’Lips, this album exhibits an impressive command of the sonic spectrum. Coyne (and collaborators) overhaul the typical hierarchy of recorded music and deliver a familiar but intriguing mix throughout. By combining familiar sounds in very specific ways, Coyne isn’t turning to individual instruments for their tones but is instead inventing textures through the interplay within each bizarre-ensemble. The treatment of these soundscapes on the record is then hyper-produced; affording Coyne and Co. the opportunity to create textures that are literally impossible in the acoustic realm (a good example of this is the thunderous drums which feel loud but aren’t).
For fun, I challenge you to grab a piece of paper and a pencil and pick a track on TSB and try to list every instrument that you hear.[1] Note the conventional and unconventional combinations yet the elegant way in which Coyne treats the entire ensemble, synths and violas as equally important. This is what makes TSB remarkable. It’s not a rock album with an orchestral part; the sound exhibits a non-additive sense of whole (Certain architects would call that aesthetic “Elegance”).
Aside from the technics of the composition, TSB is also a fantastic album because it exhibits what the F’Lips are about: the creative fantasy exploration of the future, science, and the effect on humanity. Like their more famous Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots from a few years after, TSB, like a good science fiction book, lyrically creates an emotional setting from a stereotypically emotionally sterile environment (Science). Coyne lyrically romanticizes science and musically uses that humanization to drive his soundscape composition. The ethical dilemma of the scientist as the contemporary hero expressed literally and vocally is played out musically by inserting the computer (synthesizers and drum machines) as whole members in the classical orchestra. It’s the musical expression of the classic sci-fi plot line and what they’ll later express through Unit 3000-21 in Yoshimi; it’s the machine that can feel.
If you don’t have it, get The Soft Bulletin. Aside from the technical banter, it’s got some fantastic songs. Steven Drozd’s drumming is absolutely stellar (Imagine if John Bonham and Meg White had a kid…). “Buggin” is my favorite Flaming Lips song for all the right reasons. And my only semi-complaint on the album is the seemingly unnecessary inclusion of remixes at the end, which isn’t even a complaint at all.
I like it. You Should too.
P.S. I’m actually really curious to see people’s instrument listings…y’all should list your guesses as comments and build from one another. I’m curious to see exactly what all Coyne uses on all the tracks.
[1] I did “a spoonful weighs a ton”…instruments in parentheses are ones that I can’t specifically pick out but I assume are in the ensemble: Violin, (Viola?) Cello, Harp, Piano, Flute, (Piccalo), Oboe (English Horn), (Clarinet?), Wayne, Chorus (synthesized), Timpani, Trumpet, Trombone, Euphonium, French Horn, Slide Guitar, Drum Set, Synthesizer, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar (on 2 different tracks), Drum Machine, Concert Toms (as a separate drum track), Some sort of echo-machine.
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