![]() They’re in effect on ‘Buggin’’, but The Flaming Lips don’t wait until the chorus before injecting blood flow courtesy of pounding drums and a meaty distorted bass line. ![]() Perhaps The Soft Bulletin ’s strongest link to the sound of ’90s alt-rock is the band’s regular implementation of loud-quiet-loud dynamics. Coyne’s verses – as well as the repeated refrain, “Being drunk on their plan, they lifted up the sun” – float over twinkling keyboards and synthesised strings and woodwinds, gesturing towards yet-untapped existential possibilities.Īfter each refrain comes a dizzying, instrumental segment made up of synth bass and Drozd’s John Bonham-esque drumming, which is also the song’s major hook. ‘A Spoonful’ is a song in two distinct movements. A Spoonful Weighs a TonĬoyne claims not to know the origins of ‘A Spoonful Weighs a Ton’s opening line, “And though they were sad, they rescued everyone.” But sung in his distinct timbre, which sounds like Neil Young with a self-induced croak, it immediately rouses a feeling of melancholy. The Flaming Lips’ stylistic reinvention mightn’t have been life-threatening, but The Soft Bulletin ’s opening track revealed a band ready to give it everything. They’re so determined that they’ll risk their lives in order to claim their prize. Coyne’s vocals are pushed right out front, edging towards a singer-songwriter aesthetic, but Race’ is still a curiosity in the grand scheme of things – it’s not quite ‘My Way’.Ĭoyne’s lyrics observe “two scientists competing for the cure of all mankind”. ![]() Led by multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd, ‘Race for the Prize’ is anthemic without being cloying. So, with help from producer, Dave Fridmann (effectively the band’s George Martin or Nigel Godrich), the album glistens with midi-orchestration that takes cues from Disney soundtracks more than the prevailing sounds of American alt-rock. The Flaming Lips entered The Soft Bulletin determined to eschew guitars from their arrangements. Here is a closer look at the album’s five standout tracks. The Soft Bulletin recently celebrated its 20 th birthday. But its follow-up was The Soft Bulletin, which remains The Flaming Lips’ magnum opus. The first, Zaireeka, was never, on any planet, going to be a hit – each track’s constituent parts were spread across four separate discs that had to be played simultaneously. The band’s next two LPs were more or less made in tandem. While initially confronting, Jones’ exit encouraged the remaining band members to break away from their erstwhile penchant for noisy arrangements and lyrical fruit-loopery. ‘Jelly’ was the only thing resembling a hit from the band’s first phase, and after Clouds Taste Metallic flopped, guitarist Ronald Jones said his goodbyes. Could this really be the same band responsible for philosophical pieces of baroque pop like ‘Do You Realize?’ and ‘Fight Test’? AudioQuest DragonFly : USB Digital to Analog Converter, up to 96kHz/24-bit.For those who discovered the band in later years – perhaps while headlining one of many Australian festivals over the last decade – seeing ‘Jelly’ on rage has probably been the cause of immense bafflement.Meridian Explorer : USB Digital to Analog Converter, up to 192kHz/24-bit.JRiver : plays both AIFF and FLAC formats, $50 but has a free trial period.Audirvana : plays both AIFF and FLAC formats, $50 but has a free trial period.iTunes : plays AIFF, it's free and you probably have it already!.You may need additional software / hardware to take full advantage of the higher 24-bit high-res audio formats, but any music lover that has heard 16-bit vs 24-bit will tell you it's worth it! Software for Mac OS X ProStudioMasters offers the original studio masters - exactly as the artist, producers and sound engineers mastered them - for download, directly to you. When you listen to music on a CD or tracks purchased via consumer services such as iTunes, you are hearing a low-resolution version of what was actually recorded and mastered in the studio. High-resolution audio offers the highest-fidelity available, far surpassing the sound quality of traditional CDs.
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