[Here we'll look at some things you probably passed up when you were a kid because you were too busy playing Star Wars with your friend who was actually a jerk… and who threw a tantrum when you schooled him in NHL ’96. What a little bitch. There are roots in the ground that still nurture.]

The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips
Warner Bros., 1999
Produced by The Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann, and Peter Mokran

Words by Christopher Carosi

This is a fascinating record, sitting on the line between millennia, between darkness and light, between love and science, and most importantly: between happiness and madness. Case in point: heroin just seems like a relatively necessary psychedelic texture. Horrible dread and euphoria are sisters. “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton” trades HUGE pounding bass and drums with sunny harps and strings and Wayne Coyne’s unmistakable vocal, which at times is strained from exuberance or grief . “The Spark That Bled” is a perfect example of what this band can do: change style drastically within a song but keep the musical focus at heart (and especially Coyne’s overarching message). The song features a Marvin Gaye-style funk that filters into a delightful skip in the latter portion that puts needed emphasis on the song’s distilled version of reality. And “reality” is this band’s prime interest. “The Spiderbite Song” is about how one person’s actions affect the others in a group.

Three events in the years surrounding the band’s recording of The Soft Bulletin threatened the band’s existence: Wayne Coyne’s father passed away, guitarist Steven Drozd almost had to have his arm amputated from a nasty abscess due to a “spider-bite” on his arm (ahem, see drug above), and bassist Michael Ivins survived a car crash. What becomes obvious is how much synergy matters to this band’s sound, and that song itself is an example of how a message of tenderness or togetherness can be turned upside-down in order to examine it fuller. “What Is the Light? (An Untested Hypothesis That the Chemical (In Our Brains) by Which We Are Able to Experience the Sensation of Being in Love Is the Same Chemical That Caused the “Big Bang” That Was the Birth of the Accelerating Universe)” is the most ridiculous song title of life, but the song is truly uplifting and grounded, where the Lips venture so close to pure possibility in song. Great stuff. Few bands seek to challenge you like this and still deliver a solid musical experience. These songs, like “Waitin’ for a Superman” and “Suddenly Everything Has Changed” feature a rather heavy, almost hip-hop beat with synth strings and fragile melodies. It’s this fragility riding alongside a devastating rhythm section that defines the Flaming Lips. This record, if you don’t count the listening-installation Zaireeka, is definitely the first record in their catalog representing these definitions of their present sound, and feels different every time one returns to it.

The Flaming Lips / The Spark That Bled (The Softest Bullet Ever Shot)
The Flaming Lips / The Spiderbite Song
The Flaming Lips / What Is The Light? (An Untested Hypothesis Suggesting That the Chemical [In Our Brains] by Which We Are Able to Experience the Sensation of Being in Love Is the Same Chemical That Caused the “Big Bang” That Was the Birth of the Accelerating Universe)
The Flaming Lips / Waitin’ For A Superman (Is It Gettin’ Heavy?)

[Contributing writer Christopher Carosi takes a step back from all the current indie goodness and keeps us honest by taking a quick glance at some 90's albums that are a bit too old to be New Classics but still worth their weight in gold. This is part 26 in a never-ending series]

Filed under: 90's Time