365 – New Music Daily

I can’t believe this is the first time that this is gracing my ears. For a slight bit of background, Flaming Lips are a psych rock band from Oklahoma that have been around for many times. If you’re like me, which I bet a good bit of you are, you probably have heard of them but have no idea what they actually sing. If you are into psych rock and/or concept albums, this is one for you. Great psych rock, super original, incredible album flow. Instantly made me a Lips fan.

I am going to leave the review at that musically and make this a completely tangential review. It’s really amazing how music has this almost irreplaceable quality of association. This album is great – no matter when or where I listened to it I would still love it and belt the eeeee in mystery as loud as I could every time – but something about certain associations can make an album even that much more special to me. I listened to this album driving around Lake Como (in a glorious Mini Cooper rental, not bad) and having that association with this album will drive it from a new album that I really liked to something that holds a special place in my mind – almost a soundtrack to a certain memory.

Obviously, this can work both ways, but the direct association between music and memory is one of the best qualities. The fact that hearing a few chords from a single song can instantly transport you into a different physical place is pretty amazing. Who knows, maybe this sounds incredibly stupid, but I think it’s pretty cool.

Favorite songs: Fight Test, One More Robot/Symphony 3000-21, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1, In the Morning of the Magicians, Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell, Are You a Hypnotist???