The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
- The Flaming Lips
- Band Name: The Flaming Lips
- Record Label: Warner Bros.
- Release Date: Jun 26, 2012
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Jun 28, 201285Heady Fwends, rather inexplicably, plays much like a proper follow-up to their 2009 mindfuck Embryonic, and their ability not only to bring a project like this together at all, but to make it work so cohesively and effectively, is as strong a testament as any to their genius.
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Jun 27, 201280The stunning cover is the most beautiful and cohesive on what is an otherwise (understandably) uneven collection which, while definitely appealing to hardcore fans, might be a bit too out there for casual listeners.
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Jun 28, 201230Heady Fwends has racked up about one song's worth of decent material-only none of it is in the same song.
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Jun 22, 201270For sheer frazzled sonics and sci-fi future textures, Heady Fwends can't be beat. Actual songs are few and far between, and anyone looking for heart-stopping melodies will be disappointed. But if you're in the mood for a 70-minute aural assault, listen no further.
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May 30, 201278The triumph of Heady Fwends lies the way it sands off the rough edges off 2011's excess and whittles an honest, enjoyable set out of the mire while coaxing a wealth of unexpected voices into the fray without losing its way.
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Jul 23, 201280It's a captivating mix of material, yet hangs together well and has a surprisingly easy flow.
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Jul 25, 201260The best moments are those which eschew any attempt to write proper 'songs' and instead simply try to convince the listener that he or she is travelling on an epic, wobbly, thrilling and frightening, mind-expanding journey through outer space.
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May 30, 2012100Their [the guest artists'] fresh influx of ideas on The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends creates new flavor profiles for the band's loopy psychedelic slurry.
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Jun 26, 201250It seldom gathers enough momentum, and doesn't feel the least bit cohesive.
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Aug 8, 201260The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends was the perfect Record Store Day artefact--dramatising the value and mystique of physical recordings. [Sep 2012, p.94]
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Jun 25, 201270It all adds up to a deeply deranged and intermittently great listen, and serves as a decent stopgap 'til the band's next album proper.
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Jul 5, 201280Anticipation has been high for the album's official release, and Heady Fwends doesn't disappoint.
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May 30, 201282What at first seems rather silly actually proves to be quite purposeful.
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May 30, 201270It works more often then it doesn't, but when digested as a whole, it's hard to think of an album released this year that is as wall-to-wall memorable as The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, flaws and all.
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Jun 27, 201265It may all cohere together, but it doesn't all work.
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Aug 20, 201260The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends runs the risk of turning into a cluttered affair, but what unfolds is an atmosphere of uninhibited adventure. [Sep 2012, p.100]
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Jul 26, 201260Beneath the sludge and churning distortions, however, is a characteristically generous squaring-up to life's horror and humanity that is worth excavating.
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Jul 30, 201280This is actually one of the Lips' more coherent efforts, despite its wild diversity and devil-may-care attitude.
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Jul 30, 201280One day, maybe the Lips will play nice again. Until then, they and their Fwends have given us plenty to get our heads around.
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Jun 25, 201260The songs on Fwends swing between rejoicing and dread, sometimes within the same piece of music. The sky is falling, the Lips want to remind us, and it might not be just an acid flashback.
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Aug 1, 201220The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends is a flatulent folly, humming with the sulphurous reek of self-indulgence.
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Jul 31, 201270[The album is] a reminder of musically, just what a great band the Flips themselves actually are.
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Jun 1, 201280A terrific package. [Jul 2012, p.71]
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Jul 5, 201270As it stands, it's still quite a special document and points a direction for the possibilities of a collaborative record when serious creativity comes to the fore.