lets talk flaming lips.....

[dr.ona]

the shit is genius! somewhere i heard something about one of their cd's where you need 4 of their cd's to play the entire cd? something like you need to start all 4 at the same time to hear it correctly?

[centurymantra]

That would be Zaireeka and it is quite the 'artistic statement'. Pretty amazing actually. I've had two Zaireeka listening parties in which I rigged up four stereos in a large room in my house and can vouch for it as a fairly overwhelming experience. The fact that they actually got Warner Brothers to release this thing IS genius. A pretty amazing band and one I've been following since their first years when they were a grizzled psycho-delic free-for-all. It's too late for me to start waxing rhapsodic over the INCREDIBLE live shows these guys put on in the late '80's. I may re-visit this thread later and spin some stories...

[dr.ona]

thanks for the info....
so do i need to have 4 copies of this cd and hit the start button at the same time to expeirence the full effect?

any idea what fx are used on the guitars?

[klangtone]

thanks for the info....
so do i need to have 4 copies of this cd and hit the start button at the same time to expeirence the full effect?

any idea what fx are used on the guitars?

there are actually 4 different discs in the set. they aren't simply copies of each other. it is best listened with all 4 for sure, but can be interesting to listen to one or two at a time. of course, it's a fairly simple matter today to rip the audio from all the cd's and put all the tracks in a multitrack program to create stereo mixes of each song. but that's cheating!

i don't know about the fx, but i just wanted to add that when you talk Flaming Lips you must give a lot of props to Dave Fridmann. I think he is probably my favorite recording engineer because of the amazing sounds he is coaxed out of the Lips, Mercury Rev, and Low to name a few. I am especially impressed by the fact that most of his mixes don't really get mastered (according to him). They are just that good from the get go.

[centurymantra]

of course, it's a fairly simple matter today to rip the audio from all the cd's and put all the tracks in a multitrack program to create stereo mixes of each song. but that's cheating!

.

That would definitely be cheating...! I have been meaning to do this though...

One of the primary points of the experience is the essence of the space the music fills; eight speakers from four seperate amplification sources...kinda like an abstract and demented version of surround sound. This disorienting, somewhat dislocated sonic field is a key ingredient. Also, a focal point of the Zaireeka trip is that the four stereos will inevitably begin to go out of sync (and likely weren't in sync perfectly anyway with four people coordinating the punch of four start buttons) and it is this flawed imperfection that is, in fact, the perfection of the sound and makes every listening a new experience.

Have you heard about the Boombox Orchestra experience Wayne and Mike were touring around prior to the release of Zaireeka? He organized shows in which he showed up with a box of 50-100 cassettes, each of which contained a single track as part of a multi-track whole. A cassette was handed to each person in the audience that had brought a boombox with them for the event and they all hit start on cue, thus making everyone a participant and musician in the wall of sound that ensued. Cool stuff.

Then there's the blistering and jaw-dropping experience of the original Flaming Lips power trio circa '86-88. Ahh yes.....memories.

[chris harris]

I still love 'em... but, god damn, I wish that Steven would start really playing drums again and Wayne would play guitar.

I've followed them forever, seen too many shows to count, and have all of their recorded output. As much as I like everything that they've done, Clouds Taste Metallic is my absolute favorite. Ronald Jones gave them a little extra something in the Transmissions/Clouds era that is now forever gone. And, Stephen's drumming on that record is some of the best rock/pop drumming in history.

what a great band.

[I'm Painting Again]

As much as I like everything that they've done, Clouds Taste Metallic is my absolute favorite.

werd..that is such a fantastic album..my favorite as well..

[wedge]

What I love about the lips, aside from their music, is the fact that they finally broke through and started getting some serious media attention while in their 40's. I'm in my 40's. Hope springs eternal. Amen.

[thearnicasync]

I still love 'em... but, god damn, I wish that Steven would start really playing drums again and Wayne would play guitar.

I've followed them forever, seen too many shows to count, and have all of their recorded output. As much as I like everything that they've done, Clouds Taste Metallic is my absolute favorite. Ronald Jones gave them a little extra something in the Transmissions/Clouds era that is now forever gone. And, Stephen's drumming on that record is some of the best rock/pop drumming in history.

what a great band.

AGREED. If you've heard the newest Elliot Smith record, Drozd plays on the first song "Coast to Coast". Either that or it's a Drozd soundalike. It's so rockin'! i miss Ronald...the "Scientist"...crazy, crazy guitar.

My favorite is in a priest driven ambulance...so huge sounding. Providing Needles for your baloons is also a favorite...smog cover and the demo version of "Bad Days"...better than the album version, I think.


kb

[mjau]

That is Drozd on the Smith album, definitely. What an awesome musician.

[starscream]

Clouds Taste Metallic is my absolute favorite.

No doubt. Not only are the songs/arrangements on that album awesome but the sounds they got were amazing, especially the drum sound.

[wedge]

http://www.janecek.com/lipsukspot.html

Some UK lips fun

[JASIII]

That drum sound on "Coast to Coast" is fucking amazing! I didn't know that was Drozd, although it does sound just like him. His drums are so identify-able.

Also on Zaireeka, just multitracking all 4 discs to one doesn't cut it. The point is that there needs to be 8 speakers.

[eric b]

a few months ago, here in austin there was a zaireeka listening party in a park. they had a huge quadrophenic sound system and some local film people made a bunch of random movie shorts that were shown on 4 seperate giant screens. in fact, wiley wiggins of dazed and confused fame did some of the film stuff. so there was a couple hundred people in the middle of this field surrounded by 4 20 foot tall movie screens listening to the 4 cd's. quite an experience.

austin is also the city where wayne did the first tape experiments. it was south by southwest (1997, i think) and they got 50 cars in a parking garage and wayne handed out cassette tapes to each car. the cars were instructed to turn up as loud as possible and when wayne said "play" everyone hit. it was messy and a little out of sync, but really cool. as you walked around the garage the "song" would morph into totally different sounds. those boombox shows came along as a result of these type of things, i think.

[chris harris]

Also on Zaireeka, just multitracking all 4 discs to one doesn't cut it. The point is that there needs to be 8 speakers.

and drift.