THE CD: “At War With the Mystics” (Warner Bros.)
PERFORMER: The Flaming Lips
WEBSITE: Click here
IF YOU LIKE THE LIPS THEN YOU’RE GONNA LOVE . . . Sonic Youth, Wilco, Beck
Here’s what they’re saying: “Existential space-rock protest songs, commentaries about social responsibility and some really weird pop tunes” (so says a reviewer) and “Songs about life, death, and what it means to be alive” (so says lead singer Wayne Coyne).

So, yeah, I’ve been a fan of The Flaming Lips from the first time I heard their song “She Don’t Use Jelly” more than a decade ago. The Oklahoma City-based rockers have developed a reputation for their original mix of ball-trippin’, experimental, American acid rock.

If you are in the mood for a challenge, listen to their 4-disc set “Zaireeka” simultaneously. (That’s right, a la Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz.) The band — Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Michael Ivins — had a huge hit in “Do You Realize??” off 2002’s “Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots.”

“The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)” opens “Mystics” and is a zany upbeat number about the responsibilities of being in power. Coyne’s lyrics celebrate life and imagination, and, impugn the president’s and our choices alike. Coyne sings:

“It’s a very dangerous thing to do exactly what you want. If you could make everybody poor just so you could be rich would you do it? yeah yeah yeah yeah/yeah yeah yeah yeah. And so we cannot know ourselves for what we’d really do/with all your power.”

Phaser effects and squwakboxes make it trippy, so it’s good for you!

“The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)” is the first single off the CD, and probably the best song on the 12-song CD. Fuzzy synth riffs play over top of record-playing skip sounds. You like your phasers set to random pan, with a slicer effect over it? You’re in luck here.

Coyne has more socially conscious lyrics for you as well: “Time after time those fanatical monks try to rule all the world/tellin’ us all it’s them who is in charge of it all/I’ve got a trick/a magic stick that will make them all fall/we got the power now motherf*&*ers — that’s where it belongs.”

This CD has more of a ’70’s funk feel to it than “Yoshima” and doesn’t have as many really good, catchy songs, either. Reviewing a Lips CD can be tough, but I made it. These guys are a treat to listen to, take it from me. Any band that can incorporate a theremin and a bullhorn in to their live act is ok with me. As a P.S — try and find “The Kleptones vs. The Flaming Lips,” a mash-up remix of “Yoshima” featuring 50 Cent, Chuck D, and others. Thanks, MarkT. It’s cool.

— By Nick Harrah

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