Sometimes I post on this site to spread the word; with this particular album, though, I'm pretty confident the word has already been spread. One of the coolest things about these guys being so popular, for me, is that they operate on (pretty much) the exact level of weird beauty that makes me feel at home, if a spaceship can be a home. I think these guys are, for me, kind of a modern-day Pink Floyd, or what that band was for so many people in the 60's and 70's.
Still, I have to write something about it. I always pretty much assume that many of you out there are, like me, a little wary of hype. So if you trust me, let me break down that wall for ya.
This album is really just fantastic.
This record gives me a very strange feeling, one of the pleasantest feelings I've ever hosted. It's the same feeling I get from certain Coltrane albums, Hendrix jams, and other things like closed-eye motionlessness. I'll try to describe it:
strong-streaming-air-cylinder-core-presence-with-very-pleasant-wet-weight-in-mouth
That, of course, is pretty bad. When I sit and listen to these jams, my world slows down and I get this funny feeling that my breath becomes an unnoticeable column that ends very kindly in my mouth. I'm not doing any kind of exercise or anything like that, it just happens. It's definitely healing music.
Naturally, I can't guarantee that this will happen for you. But I can say that when you feel the room of your life getting uncomfortably small, take a listen to this guy. It should do something for ya.
I saw the Flaming Lips on Friday at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I'm not sure what to really say about this band; they are just amazing. College would have been completely and debilitatingly depressing without the exuberance and pure inspiration that this band gave me. Plus they make incredible, psychedelic music and their live show will constantly make you go "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!" Their new album (which you can preview here) is going to be fucking mind-blowing.
