The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics

Some records are really weird. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway? Yeah, that’s weird. The Life of Chris Gaines? Strange-o-la, though it’s more for what it was as a whole than anything on the record. We’re Only In It For the Money, or anything else by Frank Zappa? Off-the-charts weird. The key is to make it weird in a way that draws you in, not freaks you out; to make it intriguing enough to get people to wade through all the layers of psychosis, and hopefully find something worthwhile on the other side. Those two elements are essential to any exercise in weirdness: intrigue and substance. The Flaming Lips, who before have made some of the most hauntingly beautiful music ever, fail on both fronts with At War With the Mystics.

I know, I know, everyone and their brother has heard and loved “Do You Realize??” to the point where it’s incredibly cliché. But consider this; clichés are what they are because they’re usually true. “Do You Realize??” is one of the most marvelously gorgeous ballads of our time, and it shot the Flaming Lips from cult band to superstars at warp speed, 17 years into their career. But success like that brings the entire world anticipating your next effort with bated breath. Critics wet themselves over Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, as well as their previous album, The Soft Bulletin, as they no doubt will over At War With the Mystics. But here’s my question to them: does unique always equal good?

The obvious answer would be “no, it does not,” and that can be greatly seen on At War With the Mystics. The Flaming Lips have sort of become the spokesband for the anti-Bush movement, though exactly how they did is a subject of perplexity to me, and probably to them as well. That being said, the lead-off track, “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,” can be read to be an anti-anti-Bush song, actually. The message of this song seems to be “sure, we have rotten leadership, but none of us could do any better had we all the power.” The next song, “Free Radicals,” can again be interpreted as dissing the political left, but that could be just my slightly conservative eyes interpreting it. The music is like disco done badly (which is actually better than disco done well, but that is neither here nor there), and clearly illustrates the weird-but-not-good thing.

The album, as a whole, is not as bouncy or optimistic as the opening tracks would have you believe. In general, it’s a pretty subdued and lackluster affair, but people will praise it just because it’s different. The fact that people comment just on how an artist says a thing, and not on what he actually says, I find to be pretty insulting to the artist. On the other hand, the Flaming Lips don’t really care what I think of their art, or what anyone else thinks, for that matter. If they did, they would not have continued with they 21-year career of absolute singularity in terms of what they were doing. I have to have a little respect for their chutzpah (the pure audacity of Zaireeka! simply blows my mind), but nothing says I have to like their music.

Prime Cuts:
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
Mr. Ambulance Driver

22 Rating: -6

Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal

I know what you’re thinking, because until recently I was thinking the same thing myself. You’re thinking, “rock and roll is dead,” or if not, it’s at least severely injured. The turning of the millennium was a dismal time for music, where the Britney Spearses and the Backstreet Boys reigned supreme, and we even had the Nickelbacks making rock that was honest, but blazingly incompetent. It was like that for a few years, with the rock kids left to wail and gnash their teeth. But thankfully, the storm has ended, and we can all breath a little easier. Rock and roll is back.

For a prime example, one must look no further than Anberlin’s sophomore effort, Never Take Friendship Personal. This is a fresh and young approach to a form of music that has lasted 50 years, and I thought this type of optimism was dead and gone. Thank God I was wrong. Anberlin is just one of many groups taking rock and roll and making it new again by simply adhering to what makes rock and roll great. They sound like they don’t even know that Christina Aguilera exists, and the music is all the better for it. Along with Hawthorne Heights and Taking Back Sunday (both of whom Anberlin are currently touring with, coincidentally), Anberlin comes charging out of the gates, taking over the world in the name of rock. Whether they have the chops and constitution to get the job done is still to be determined, but they sure are putting on a good show.

There’s a lot to praise on Never Take Friendship Personal, though it’s alarmingly simple. The straightforward approach to rock and roll that the album takes is not snazzy or complicated, nor is there any overarching message to be communicated. Anberlin is not revolutionary, ambitious, or border-pushing, but they are very good. Stephen Christian is an exceptionally good singer, and that is a little surprising for this type of music. Young rock tends to have passion in spades, but not a lot of skill; Anberlin has both. Taking Back Sunday often lets their enthusiasm get the better of them, but Anberlin keep their childlike tendencies carefully in check. They have the fervency of emo, but the polish of pop. Everything they do, they do right.

Even so, the record is not as good as it could be, even if it’s still very good. I get the feeling that it’s as good as it can be with the band in its current state, before they have had an opportunity to fall flat on their faces. In my experience, good bands usually put out their best record shortly after their worst one, and Anberlin doesn’t yet have a characteristically “worst” record. The song titles are refreshingly esoteric, with the kind of weirdness that’s not off-putting. “Paperthin Hymn” is a blazing piece of pure rock and roll, with just enough edge and sense of danger to make the stakes seem higher than they are. “Audrey, Start the Revolution!” is amazingly optimistic and sunny in its regard for love, without being sappy or charming. And “The Feel Good Drag” and “A Day Late” present the other side of the love coin, showing that it’s not all roses and bunnies. And if that’s not enough, “Dance, Dance, Christa Päffgen” presents a very down-to-earth picture of addiction, in all its forms (even if the song is a little long-winded). Can an album this wise really be from a band that’s so young?

Anberlin and bands like them make me excited for the future of music, and that’s something I haven’t been in a while. I guess the Hegelian dialectic is finally coming back around my way. Oh, and did I mention that the band is Christian, as well?

Prime Cuts:
Paperthin Hymn
The Feel Good Drag
A Day Late
Audrey, Start the Revolution!

22 Rating: 13

Garbage - Bleed Like Me

In times like these, I’m reminded of the immortal words of Iago the Parrot in the movie Aladdin: “I think I’m gonna have a heart attack and die from not-surprise!” Don’t get me wrong; that’s not bad. After a four-year hiatus, Garbage are back, and it doesn’t seem they think any time has passed at all. In fact, they still seem to think it’s 1996, bless their hearts. It’s funny, because back in 1996, they were a little bit odd, eschewing some of the conventions of modern rock in favor of more pop elements and a dash of techno. Slowly, rock took their lead and started becoming more soft-core. Garbage, however, remained exactly the same. Version 2.0 sounded precisely the same as their eponymous debut, as the title indicated. Then, after the behemoth failure of Beautiful Garbage, they faded away into the night. Now that they’ve returned, it’s a lot like they were cryogenically frozen.

Some would call it consistency, others a lack of originality, but I think both are a little off the mark. Garbage isn’t stuck in one sound and laboring in vain, as other bands are. Instead, they’re taking their time mining a particular time period of music long after the rest of the music world has moved on. The mid-90’s were a great time for music, and ten years later, Garbage are the only act that really retain that polished filth aesthetic that the 90’s had captured. It’s so very odd, however, since when they first came out, they were the most un-grungy of grunge bands.

Garbage can always be relied upon the provide a sweet bit of nostalgia, and Bleed Like Me does not disappoint. The first track makes it very clear that we can check our iPods at the door. Also, Shirley Manson successfully pulls off the catty, ever-so-slightly slutty persona she got down to a fine art in the mids-90’s, driving all the ugly grunge boys nuts. Her sultry voice is soft enough to make it very appealing, but edgy enough make you squirm in delicious dirtiness. “Run Baby Run,” the best track on here, combines beautifully the hard with the soft, and is just impassioned enough to sound honest. The first single, “Why Do You Love Me,” takes that formula a bit to far, but the head-banging quality of it brings the memories back to me in a flood, and with it, I smile. Honestly, when was the last time you heard a band that made you want to head-bang? Could it be 1996?

Garbage’s blast from the past is nothing but fun, though it means that they have absolutely no opportunity for growth. Really, though, this band has very little growth potential from the very beginning. Three of the four members were over 30, so that makes them over 40 now. They were producers and studio musicians that found a good public face, one that is not only intense and energetic, but young and sexy as well. Even so, Shirly Manson is not merely a pawn. She takes just as much responsibility for the band’s writing and musical direction as any other band member. What results is a band that sustains a musical movement that is worth sustaining, and Bleed Like Me is just another in the progression. There are no surprises here, but no let-downs either.

Prime Cuts:
Run Baby Run
Right Between the Eyes
Sex is Not the Enemy

22 Rating: 11