If you saw the video for The Flaming Lips’s “Watching the Planets,” you’ll already be familiar with the giant, hairy ball with an unmistakably yonic slit. And if we are to consider their new clip, for “See the Leaves,” as a direct sequel to that one, the story of that ball now goes something like this: After a crowd of naked people strip Wayne Coyne and shove him into that giant vagina, it begins to leak a cartoonish, bright yellow liquid that a nude, blindfolded young woman bathes in and ingests. She emerges with a glowing, yellow vulva of her own, flicking the liquid it issues this way and that as she stalks about in parks and parking garages, and eventually finding her spiritual home in a wildfire.
Is it actually supposed to be pee? Probably not, although yellow is certainly not the only color in the rainbow. But whatever. We don’t question The Flaming Lips. We just admire their freak flag as it flies in the afternoon sun.
Why is it that when times are tough, things like movie and concert tickets only seem to get more expensive? Well, don’t worry: We feel your financial pain. As cities across the country gear up for summers packed with free shows and screenings, we want to make sure you know that you don’t have to live in a major metropolis (or risk bug bites and butt numbness) to get your gratis film and music fix. The internet abounds with excellent music documentaries you can watch right on your computer. Check out ten of our favorites, from the Pixies to the Flaming Lips, after the jump.
But as quickly as it surfaced, the video was taken down from YouTube by Universal Music Group, and we were left feeling slightly pervy for craving more naked music videos. We’ve done the dirty work so that you don’t have to, and rounded up 10 of our all-time favorites after the jump. We’ve come a long way since Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film.”
1. Sony and Michael Jackson‘s estate have set a music-industry record with a $250 million deal that covers 10 albums. The material will involve a mix of previously unreleased songs and new packages of old ones. [via WSJ]
2. Paula Abdul is finalizing a deal to host/judge an updated version of Star Search for ABC. This is interesting, because back in 2003 CBS tried to revive the same show with Arsenio Hall as its host. [via EW]
3. Did you realize that both women and big worriers are more likely to get songs stuck in their heads? [via NYT]
4. Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne made a brief appearance on Sunday night’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. (video) [via Pitchfork]
5. A new study by Austrian neurologists reveals the special painting technique behind the Mona Lisa’s ever-changing smile. [via Telegraph]
Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne is no shrinking violet: he’s donned fake blood and a furry suit onstage, gone full-frontal in a music video, and slammed the Arcade Fire in Rolling Stone. Now images of Coyne’s self-described “drug damaged, artist[ic]” home — a veritable compound in Oklahoma City designed by Fitzsimmons Architects — are making the internet rounds. The bathroom is especially trippy, with a Gaudí-meets-Jetsons vibe, mirrored tile, and one hell of a hallway. (Sorry, no product shots, Vaseline or other.) A Gizmodo commenter imagines that the space is less psychedelic rock band and more “gay fashionista Bond villain,” but we dig the free-wheelin’ vibe.
1. Last night was an Avatar sweep at the Golden Globes, which is pretty interesting when you consider that the last sci-fi film even in the running was 1982′s E.T. [via LAT]
2. “While the vast majority of the characters [Conan] O’Brien introduced are said to owned by NBC, it’s unclear who controls Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the crass canine puppet that is perhaps O’Brien’s most popular recurring bit.” Also of note: Which celebrities are on Team Conan. [via THR]
3. And now for some positive late-night feud fallout: Friday Night Lights will be returning to NBC on April 30, which is a few months ahead of schedule. [via WSJ]
4. Thanks to the magic of Google Streetview, you can peep Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne taking a bath in Oklahoma City back in 2007. [via NME]
5. So Young Kim will direct Paul Dano and Jon Heder (aka Napoleon Dynamite) in a new flick about a struggling indie rocker dealing with his divorce.
As its title suggests, the Flaming Lips’ new double-disc set, Embryonic, truly sounds like it’s still in an early stage. In many cases, these new songs evolved from in-studio jams, where the Oklahoma band chose to title the more jammy tracks after astrological signs, simply to set them apart from each other. Although produced again by Dave Fridmann, this work markedly strays from the orchestral beauty that drove “prettier” albums like The Soft Bulletin. Instead, many of these songs might remind informed music aficionados of Miles Davis’ late ‘60s/early ‘70s jazz-fusion experiments. And while it’s deadly serious, lyrically, in many places, listeners will nevertheless laugh out loud with Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O as she makes various animals sounds during the call-and-response track “I Can Be a Frog.”
We recently caught up with the Flaming Lips’ vocalist and master of ceremonies, Wayne Coyne, and the fearless bandleader proved to be just as engaging in conversation as he is while creating contained mayhem on stage. Read More »
1. Kanye West and Spike Jonze’s short film collab “We Were Once a Fairytale” — which opens with Kanye tipsy in a club, making inappropriate comments, before vomiting rose petals — was released over the weekend; the pair previously worked together on West’s “Flashing Lights” video. [via MTV]
2. The Flaming Lips will follow up Embryonic with a full-album cover of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. We approve. [via Pitchfork]
3. Thanks to 12,000 catalogs that have to be dumped now, the Brooke Shields naked photograph scandal could cost the Tate £320,000 in lost publishing revenue. [via The Telegraph]
4. This week, more than 60 TV shows will embed volunteerism into story lines or feature PSAs promoting the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s “I Participate” campaign. [via THR]
5. James Cameron reveals new details about Avatar. [via The New Yorker]
Note: Not that we’re complaining, but it does remind us of an indie version of the Summer of the Urrsher — the wild woman is everywhere we look these days. The Flaming Lips’ new album Embryonic drops on October 13th.
Barry Hogan, you warned us: The schizophrenic lineup that the Flaming Lips curated for 2009′s All Tomorrow’s Parties fest could only have been dreamed up by indie-rock’s favorite acid-damaged elder statesmen. You saw the Lips’ penchant for both the beautiful and the deranged reflected in the juxtaposition: well-mannered indie-folk acts like Iron & Wine and Sufjan Stevens sharing the stage with drone and agro-rock heavyweights like the Melvins, the Jesus Lizard, and Boris. Rounding out the lineup’s highlights were sets from festival favorites like Animal Collective, Deerhoof, and the Flaming Lips themselves, while the Feelies and Suicide gave performances of their respective debut albums in their entirety.
. Why the hype? In the five-minute clip — which is an homage to Matt and Kim’s “
drops on October 13th.
