Troy and Edwards bring some bite to the Lips' experimentation, keeping their more wayward indulgences in check while they do it. There's still a stellar breadth of sound and colour on offer. [May 2020, p.104]
While Deap Lips lose some of the raw immediacy of Deap Vally and don't ascend to the songwriting heights of Flaming Lips, they create a mood of their own that pulls only a little from each group. Required listening for anyone already invested in either band and a wild, enjoyable listen for even the uninitiated.
The astonishing thing about Deap Lips is that it sounds nothing like either constituent band, though Troy’s nasal vocal sometimes gives it away. [Sep 2020, p.52]
Deap Lips, is less of a synthesis and more of a compromise. A diamond in the rough rather than a crown jewel. Undoubtedly more experimental than the Lips’ last collaborative effort, the music is still tinged with that same whiff of self-indulgence.
Deap Lips works best when Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd are in the background, as messy closer There Is Know Right There Is Know Wrong proves, but the fact that they know when to keep themselves there suggests they’ve learned lessons from With a Little Help from My Fwends. An intriguing diversion.
It doesn't all work. ... But the doo wop-in-space Hope Hell High, the football chant-as-polemic punk rock of Motherfuckers Got To Go and the widescreen desert balladry of Love Is A Mind Control prove the Deap Vally girls should experiment like this more often. [Apr 2020, p.91]
The supergroup’s self-titled record might feature the dirty rock of the former and the latter’s penchant for synth-led tangents, but by each party’s style rubbing off on the other, they’ve also sanded them down.
In their latest attempt to throw their arms around the world, The Flaming Lips have teamed up with the bluesy LA duo, Deap Valley, to create aIn their latest attempt to throw their arms around the world, The Flaming Lips have teamed up with the bluesy LA duo, Deap Valley, to create a curiously satisfying collaboration. Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Drozd join Deap Vally guitar/vocalist Lindsey Troy and drummer/vocalist Julie Edwards in this psycho-blues-robot-alien-pop rock experiment.
Since their triad of masterworks at the turn of the century, The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots & At War with the Mystics, The Flaming Lips' trajectory has been crooked and confounding at best. While 2009's Embryonic gave fans hope for the band's evolution into an impassioned psycho-prog sound, 2013's The Terror steered their fans into another confounding direction. 2017's Oczy Mlody and 2019's King's Mouth attempted to blend elements of this newfound psycho-terror with the aforementioned triad of masterworks, striking chords in spots, yet missing the beat as a whole.
What has truly kept The Flaming Lips compelling and viable over the past 15 years has been their work with other bands and artists. Arguably, their best album over this period has been 2012's The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwiends. Ambitious cover albums of Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon assembled even more "fwiends." This current collaboration with Deap Vally follows suit by layering soulful vocals over more complex, yet lighter tracks. "Home Thru Hell" is a standout that exemplifies this strange fusion, even adding some playful pokes. "taking all my wisdom from the Flaming Lips of youth."
More intriguing elements of the Flaming Lips such as robotic blurps, churchbells, and descension into divine, jangling netherworlds are peppered throughout the collection. "Hope Held High" and "Love is Mind Control" are superb tracks reminiscent of some of the Flaming Lips' best psycho-pop-acoustic work. Lindsey Troy's vocals on these and other songs add an Amy Winehouse-style **** nihilist bent to the atmosphere.
Most satisfying is hearing Deap Vally's aggressive garage sound soften amidst The Flaming Lips psycho-prog vibe. Alternately, The Flaming Lips become sharp and soulful within Deap Vally's electrified boundaries.
All in all, The Flaming Lips skillfully harnessing Deap Vally's raw strength makes for one of the most pleasant surprises of 2020. There's enough here to please fans of both bands and then some.…Expand
Normally I post long in-depth reviews for albums, but after giving this album a good four spins, I've decided to not waste much time here.Normally I post long in-depth reviews for albums, but after giving this album a good four spins, I've decided to not waste much time here. 'Home Thru Hell' is an absolute belter, and I wish the rest of the album was half as good. Absolutely love that song. 'Hope Hell High' also starts promisingly good, but then the "motherf*cker" of a final verse destroys the vibe of the whole song. Why did they have to do that?? Half-formed ideas, super-cringe lyrics, forcibly trying to be off-kilter and cool -- these are things that are derailing Flaming Lips and their legacy. Love them, hope they get back to form again. And stop with the over-simplistic hippie lyrics. Sad thing is this collaboration could have been good if not for the cringe lyrics. Deap Vally seems to have the right kind of energy for a Flaming Lips collaboration.
Will give this album more listens, because maybe it'll grow on me. Will update if I change my mind on it later, but these are my initial impressions.
Best: Home Thru Hell, One Thousand Sisters With Aluminium Foil Calculators
Worst: Love Is A Mind Control, Wandering Witches, He's Not A Natural Man, There Is No Right There Is No Wrong, **** Got To Go…Expand
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
Boring. Sounds like Billie Eilish That’s all I have to say. This needs to be 75 characters though…Expand
