Track Listing

1. Convinced of the Hex
2. The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine
3. Evil
4. Aquarius Sabotage
5. See The Leaves
6. If
7. Gemini Syringes
8. Your Bats
9. Powerless
10. The Ego's Last Stand
11. I Can Be A Frog
12. Sagittarius Silver Announcement
13. Worm Mountain
14. Scorpio Sword
15. The Impulse
16. Silver Trembling Hands
17. Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast
18. Watching The Planets

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #425 in Music
• Released on: 2009-10-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
The Oklahoman oddballs The Flaming Lips return with a mammoth collection of compositions, a double album entitled 'Embryonic'. Their twelfth full-length record, it takes in some typically off-the-wall influences, including Miles Davis and John Lennon. The group's psychedelic background may have informed their decision to draft in MGMT for a contribution to one track, and even Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs makes an appearance on vocal duties. Recorded in guitarist/keyboardist Stephen Drozd's house, it is the first time the Lips have attempted a double album.

Customer Reviews

Noisy, bold, and satisfyingly odd
I think there must have been a turning point for the Flaming Lips sometime in early 2008. Perhaps it was when they realised they'd just recorded a song for the romcom `Good Luck Chuck'. This is a band that used to fill an upturned cymbal with lighter fluid and play the drums on fire, who have performed gigs on car stereos in a car park, and released an album on four disks that had to be played simultaneously. What on earth were they doing on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack?

`Embryonic' swiftly puts things right, throwing a large spanner in the works of their mainstream appeal. From the first minutes, it's clear that their superstar status is no obstacle to making awkward music again. `Convinced of the Hex' begins in sharp stabs of electric guitar, before sloping off into a deep, rattling chug. It's a thousand miles from the layered, crisp sounds of the most recent Flaming Lips albums.

Hot on its heels comes the buzzing, crunching `The Sparrow looks up at the Machine'. Melodically, it could sit alongside any of the quieter moments on `Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots', but the production here is muddy, clunky, rough around the edges. As if to emphasize their creative freedom, yelps, screams, hoots and barking noises punctuate the gaps between the lyrics.

At this point, fans who picked up on the Lips post-Yoshimi may well be turning off, but the album has its moments, its flashes of tenderness and humour. `Aquarius Sabotage' offers a little glimpse of beauty, `Gemini Syringes' is a telephoned in astrophysics lesson over primitive bass and twinkling keyboards. There's always more going on than you first think, if you can bring yourself to take a second listen.

Overall however, `Embryonic' is a bit of a cacophony. `Powerless' features a three minute guitar solo that goes nowhere. The orchestral moments that suddenly burst out of the static and crashing of `Scorpio Sword' are a genuine surprise, but the track is still two minutes of noise. Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs appears on `I Can be a Frog', only to make animal noises and laugh. There's nothing here that could even be a single, let alone a hit. It's long and shambolic, but it's also fun and exhilarating. Take it or leave it, it's an album you have to surrender yourself to.

Wayne Coyne claims they had given themselves the `freedom to fail' on this album, and that's perhaps a defining phrase. Whether it fails or not is up to you, but I think not. I loved the last three Lips albums, so part of me wishes they'd followed them up with more of the same. Another part of me knows that I'd have been a little disappointed if they'd done anything so predictable.

The Flaming Lips have always had an imagination bigger than their music and even their medium, as their stage shows and films testify. It may be commercially cavalier, but in the broader perspective of their unusual career, `Embryonic' makes complete sense.

The Flaming Lips Post- Rock Masterpiece
First things first, Embryonic is an album that will make little sense on first hearing. With its loose song structures, and all round ambience, this is an album that could divide the Flaming Lips fanbase. However after half a dozen listens Embryonic, for me at any rate, has evolved into an expansive post rock soundscape that appears to have taken some of its cues from Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and even The Orb. Each song on Embryonic has a space that can really engulf the listener whilst ultimately justifying the faith the bands fans have in them.

Convinced of the Hex is a strong opener that sets the tone for Embryonic without alienating the listener. As an opening track it's no Race For the Prize,or Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, but it is a very effective primer for the rest of the album. The bands usual themes about nature, animals, and general good vibes all take their welcome place within Embryonic's musical canvas ensuring that the album is unmistakably the work of The Flaming Lips. But be warned little of this will be too apparant on a first listening [ particularly if you put the album on a shuffle mode]. Embryonic is really the kind of record that needs a listen from start to finish because there appears to be a genuine intent to its track sequencing.

Other highlights are the sweet, I Can Be a Frog [ with Karen O, obviously enjoying her new role as the bands official animal noise provider!],and the powerful album closer Watching the Planets.

The Flaming Lips rarely make compromises in their art and Embryonic is further evidence that the band will do what they want, when they want, and their record company will just have to deal with the bands whims. Their audience on the other hand can just sit back, and enjoy the ride.

How many other bands enjoy that level of devotion?

Have the Flaming Lips gone too far?
Not at all, its just we have to catch up with them. This comes with repetitive listening. If you liked Zaireeka you will love this. Within the albums 70 minutes the Flaming Lips have created a new genre, it sounds retro, it sounds futuristic it has touching introspective musings it has balls out rockers. A lot has been made of the Jam aspect to the songs but don't get the wrong idea its not a lot of musicians twiddling, its sharp, its loud, its fun - almost like a soundtrack to a film which joins and highlights the more structured songs.
This is the Flaming lips doing what they do best, music experimentation which can still push the right emotional buttons.