Listen Up: The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips

The ninth studio album from Oklahoma based psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips. Starting out as much more of a psychedelic punk rock band…. The Soft Bulletin saw them transition to a melodic though equally psychedelic style of music with catchier melodies and more thoughtful lyrics. The album has been called the “Pet Sounds of the 90’s” with its multi layered and rich musical soundscapes.

As with most Flaming Lips records this album was recorded, mixed and produced by Dave Fridman. Firdman is a master of recording and mixing deeply textured music and this is one the finer examples of his work.

The opening track “Race for the prize” explodes out of your speakers with big string sounds and bombastic distorted drums…. Speaking of drums, Steven Drozd the drummer on this record could be considered the John Bonham of our time. Steven’s drum playing is never straight forward but always catchy and driving.

While the whole album is great, other stand out tracks are “The spider bite song” and “Waiting for Superman”. If this album interests you then definitely check out “Yoshimi battles the pink robots” for more of that lush psychedelic sound…. If you want to hear the more pink rock side of the Lips check out the album “Oh my gawd”

~Bryan Graban

👉Listen on Tidal: https://tidal.com/album/75023234