The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics

At War With The Mystics, the 12th and latest offering from The Flaming Lips is surely their most funky to date. Before hitting the big time with The Soft Bulletin in 1999, they seemed quite content with continuing their cachaphonic bewildering squalid noise which was intriguing to a degree but never serious weight. However, they took all the right ingredients from their cauldron of sound and found a new sound and made it their own. That's not to say that they still don't experiment and on Yoshimi Vs The Pink Robots, this experiment paid dividends and The Lips had another winner on their hands.

At War With The Mystics continues the experimentation in a different direction but is probably their most accessible album even though under the surface there is still a lot going on and with each new listen, it adds depth to every song. Album opener 'The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song' bounces along nicely and is very catchy as Coyne asks the serious question: "if you could make everybody poor, just so you could be rich, would you do it?". Second track 'Free Radicals' continues the funk geist and if the radio played this they might have a serious hit on their hands.

Throughout the rest of the album they mix it up with some great mellow tracks like 'My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion'and 'The Wizard Turns On' clearly stylizing with the theme of the album which is very spacey but each track held together with the Lips on brand of cosmic glue. If you're looking to start your summer early and get that good-feeling going then slid this baby into the stereo, sit back and chill-ax. The Feel-Good starts here.

4/5

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Official Flaming Lips Website.