The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics Special Edition + DVD
When accompanied by Coyne's insightful explanations, the album operates as a rebellion against tired, empty pop music
The Flaming Lips' newly released DVD includes live and re-recorded footage, selected videos and some outtakes from their most recent record of the same title. The mesmerising album is fittingly accompanied by introspective and candid liner notes by Wayne Coyne; describing one track as "a manifesto of defiance and optimism," he seems to encapsulate the ethos that supports this enchanting, mystical music.
Whilst the sound is strange and ingenious, the ongoing visual on the DVD of a naked young woman languidly dancing to each track appears almost as a religious experience. When accompanied by Coyne's insightful explanations, the album operates as a rebellion against tired, empty pop music. Included in the video selection is a haunting yet brilliant mashing of Sonic Youth's 'Unmade Bed' and Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter', and an eerie operatic rendition of 'Vein of Stars'. Though the liner notes explain the sober gravity behind many of these tracks, the videos exude a bizarre, optimistic energy that only the Lips could so deftly achieve. [Ilani Blanke]
Release Date: Out now. (Warner)