Flaming Lips Release ‘Embryonic’ Today

The Flaming Lips release their twelfth studio album, Embryonic, today.
You can purchase the album on iTunes, Amazon or your local independent music store.

Ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one. - NME

There’s a raw directness to Embryonic that’s been largely absent from Lips records since the mid-90s. For the first time in years, they’ve made an album that actually sounds like a band playing live together in a small room. In light of Mystics‘ overly processed, grab-bag quality, the holistic, audio-vérité approach on display here is remarkable– the record is extremely dense, initially overwhelming, but unusually rewarding upon repeat listens. Like the double-disc, high-concept rock epics of yore (think Physical Graffiti or Bitches Brew), it captures them at their most sprawling and ambitious, boldly pushing themselves towards more adventurous horizons. - Pitchfork

Embryonic may not sell as many copies or win as many converts as Bulletin or Yoshimi, but it’s another wonderful album – a veritable trove of speaker-pummelling delights – from the most consistently inventive and thrilling American band, R.E.M. included, of the last 25 years. - BBC

Embryonic is an improvised double album not so much written as stumbled upon – and, boy, it sounds like it. Fragmented, loose, indulgent, occasionally inspired, it’s considerably heavier than their last outing, 2006’s At War With the Mystics, and though it may be high concept – a preoccupation with nature and the power of the elements meanders through the songs – it’s lo-fi: fuzzy, raw and warped. - The Observer

Tracklisting and song-by-song commentary by Coyne after the jump.
01. Convinced Of The Hex
02. The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine
03. Evil
04. Aquarius Sabotage
05. See The Leaves
06. If
07. Gemini Syringes (feat. Thorsten Wörmann)
08. Your Bats
09. Powerless
10. The Ego’s Last Stand
11. I Can Be A Frog (feat. Karen O)
12. Sagittarius Silver Announcement
13. Worm Mountain (feat. MGMT)
14. Scorpio Sword
15. The Impulse
16. Silver Trembling Hands
17. Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast
18. Watching The Planets
From The-Fly.co.uk:

‘Convinced Of The Hex’
“This was our first successful attempt at merging a low-fi distortion jam with hi-fi computer overdubs. This was the first in a series of lyrics inspired by repeated viewings of the controversial film ‘The Night Porter’ (made in 1974 by the radical Italian director Liliana Cavani). Its themes of submission and obsessions and cruelty and pleasure really put the zap on my sleep-deprived head.”
‘The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine’
“A simple rhythmic mantra about the meaning of the concepts of power and submission and nature vs. technology – but not for defiant reasons – to be in awe of things that have power; even if it has the power to control you. To mentally get past the fear of being dominated and to embrace the realization of our helplessness.”
‘Evil’
“An underlying story of regretting not being able to detect and understand evil, being haunted by how kind, gentle creatures are easily overpowered by the violent, mean beings. Humans are capable of such horrible things and create so much suffering in the world.”
‘Aquarius Sabotage’
“Another of the early freak-out jams that showed us a new way. We began to name our free-form sessions using astrological signs. We didn’t know how many we’d end up with, so this naming system was a solution to keeping track. But it quickly began to colour what the little pieces of music meant. I guess everybody already has an abstract concept in their mind that is evoked by the zodiac stuff.”
‘See The Leaves’
“A simple, menacing groove, but also a kind of grinding machine. It implies a primitive self-exploration. To understand life, we must, sadly, understand death. To know the value of love, we must try to understand the nature of evil. To know ecstasy, one must explore suffering. Crazy, panic drums by Kliph.”
‘IF’
“A quiet response to the song ‘Evil’. It says, “yes, people are evil, it’s true”, but humans have within them the capacity to do the greatest of kindness, if they decide. Sung by Steven. Done with a little digital recorder sitting on top of the Fender Rhodes.”
‘Gemini Syringes’
“Features Thorsten Wörmann doing sound bites explaining some fundamental mathematical equations involving polynomial rings, but also featuring Karen O making clicking gunshot sounds.”
‘Your Bats’
“This song began as a free-form rock jam with Steven on drum kit, Kliph on congas and me, again, on wobbly, simple bass. Lyrics inspired again by themes of digression – accepting human nature as disturbing.”
‘Powerless’
“One of our longest guitar solos ever put into a song. Lyrics and mood of waiting in the dark, scared of what you might find.”
‘The Ego’s Last Stand’
“Strange song about standing with my mother watching a small kitten die on her porch.”
‘I Can Be A Frog’
“A kind of Sonny and Cher back-and-forth love song. Karen O makes joyful animalistic outbursts.”
‘Sagittarius Silver Announcement’
“Voice from beyond was added to early spooky jam. Religious choir vocal things by Steven. The lyrics imply that to surrender to our primitive desires and obsessions is the only way to pure freedom.”
‘Worm Mountain’
“A spontaneous, heavy, Lighning Bolt-style jam. MGMT join in with singing and shakers, freedom to fail.”
‘Scorpio Sword’
“The most free-form of all the early freakout jams. Initial recording goes on for about 10 minutes. This I just a piece of that. Michael on bass, Steven on wah Rhodes, Kliph doing exploding drums and me on echo 12-string guitar.”
‘The Impulse’
“A mellow observer voice tries to remind us to see joy in all situations and to redefine what pleasure is.”
‘Silver Trembling Hands’
“At last, the ecstasy of following her more true animalistic urges, the “she” in the song finally gets the ultimate high”
‘Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast’
“Thorsten Wörmann can be heard giving the final blow that will, at last, destroy our ego and let us begin again!! He says, “you think the forces have control, well, there are no forces and they have no control, it’s just you and me, and we fear anything that looks like the sun, and we, by our own design, are helpless, this is the beginning.” Kind of a religious mantra that says “destroy all religion.””
‘Watching The Planets’
“Tribal conquering dirge. Karen O kicks in singing with me and Steven. A final revelation that celebrates the power of nature and implies that the only laws worth obeying are the laws one makes for oneself. Experience is the only teacher…”