Fluff

I picked this up because smart people like K'wali and Faulty Landscape are always pushing the Flaming Lips, and I had a GC to Amazon I needed to spend. I'd heard their ambitious Zaireeka, and had seen them in giant bubbles on Conan O'Brian, and hadn't been displeased. So why not?

The Soft Bulletin is lush, foamy pop. The tunes insinuate themselves into my brain and drive me mad. Take your favorite confection and imagine enjoying a tiny bite, and then imagine being force-fed said confection through a stomach tube. That's this album. I can't take any more without insulin.

Julio and I were listening to it last Saturday. "He sounds like Jerry Garcia," Julio said, referring to Wayne Coyne's voice. As is often the case, Julio was able to put his thumb on precisely what I was thinking but unable to articulate--I'd just been rummaging my memory for a slightly creaky earnest vocal equivalent to Coyne's rasp. There are a lot of Yes and Alan Parsons and Beatles references on the album, but with far less pretentious (almost adolescent) lyrics. There's also a strange Led Zep sample. My question is, why listen to such stuff when I stopped listening to Yes and Alan Parsons 15 years ago?

It's weird how I like it but can't think of anything positive to say?