Embryonic







































Embryonic
Embryonic cover.jpg

Studio album by
The Flaming Lips

Released October 13, 2009 (2009-10-13)
Recorded February–July 2009
Studio Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, New York and Dull Roar Studios, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Genre


  • Neo-psychedelia


  • psychedelic rock[1]

  • space rock

  • experimental rock

  • noise rock


Length 70:52
Label Warner Bros.
Producer The Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann, Scott Booker

The Flaming Lips chronology






Once Beyond Hopelessness
(2008)

Embryonic
(2009)

The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon
(2009)


Embryonic is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band The Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009 on Warner Bros.[2] It is the first double album to be released by the band, announced during an interview with the band's frontman Wayne Coyne.



Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that we should do a double album...
Just this idea that you can weave a couple of themes into there and you can sprawl a little bit.[3]



Several other artists made contributions to various tracks on the album. German mathematician Dr. Thorsten Wörmann contributed to the track "Gemini Syringes", psychedelic rock band MGMT contributed to the song "Worm Mountain", and Karen O (lead singer of the alternative rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs) contributed to the songs "I Can Be a Frog" and "Watching the Planets".[4]Karen O's contributions were recorded by Wayne Coyne over the phone.




Contents






  • 1 Background and promotion


  • 2 Reception


  • 3 Sound and influence


  • 4 Deluxe edition


  • 5 Track listing


  • 6 Personnel


  • 7 Charts


  • 8 References





Background and promotion


On August 13, 2009, the song "See the Leaves" was reviewed and streamed on Pitchfork.com[5] On September 3, 2009, the album was previewed in its entirety on The Fly website, using Wayne Coyne's own track-by-track guide.[6]


On September 17, 2009, the band appeared on The Colbert Report and announced that the album would stream in its entirety on Colbertnation.com until September 21, 2009.[7]


Embryonic was streamed in full on the UK music site clashmusic.com on October 5, just over a week ahead of its release.


Embryonic was selected as fourth best album of 2009 by Pitchfork Media [8]



Reception


























































Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 81/100[9]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic
4/5 stars[10]
The A.V. Club A−[11]
The Daily Telegraph
4/5 stars[12]
Entertainment Weekly B[13]
The Guardian
3/5 stars[14]
Mojo
4/5 stars[15]
MSN Music A−[16]
Pitchfork 9.0/10[17]
Rolling Stone
3/5 stars[18]
Spin 7/10[19]

Embryonic received general acclaim from critics upon release, garnering an critic score of 81 out of 100 on Metacritic.[9]NME wrote that "ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one,"[20] while Paste described the record as "a wonderfully weird parade of sonic delights: an arresting consummation of the Lips' two-and-a-half decade career."[21] Other critics praised the album but were also quick to note its dramatically different sound in comparison to previous releases. Mojo remarked that "(Embryonic's) themes may be familiar, but its fine, dazzlingly outlandish music is fresh and utterly fearless."[15] As of 2011, the album has sold 103,000 copies in the United States.[22]



Sound and influence


The style of the tracks on Embryonic differs from the styles of previous albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and At War with the Mystics, and has been reported to be similar to the style of Joy Division, Miles Davis, and John Lennon.[3]


Wayne Coyne says the new record solves their perpetual "dilemma" of what to include on each album, by dumping all their ideas on the follow-up to 2006's At War with the Mystics. Coyne had this to say about the double-LP decision to Billboard: "Some of my favorite records – thinking Beatles' White Album, Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti and even some of the longer things that The Clash have done – part of the reason I like them is that they're not focused. They're kind of like a free-for-all and go everywhere. It's not necessarily because we're prolific, I think we always stay in a sort of perpetual panic of like we never have more songs than we need and we always wonder if any of them are any good to begin with." Coyne notes that Embryonic is less polished than Mystics or 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and has a "freak-out vibe". The frontman also notes the influence of Miles Davis's group and slow-burn songs like John Lennon's "Instant Karma!".[3]



Deluxe edition


A deluxe version of the album was released on October 13, 2009.


The deluxe edition includes the original 18 tracks (on two discs) as well as a bonus DVD-Audio which features the album in full dynamic range at 24bit/96 kHz audio. A further variant sold exclusively through the band's website is packaged in a "fur pack" with an extended booklet which features additional art, lyrics, and band photos. This web-only deluxe edition also comes with a 14 inch by 28 inch lithograph featuring the full album cover. A limited number of pre-orders received an additional lithograph autographed by the band, shipped 2–3 weeks after the release date.[23]



Track listing


On one retail edition of the release, all tracks are included on one disc, though both the "deluxe" and "fur-pack" variations of the album spread the songs over two discs, containing 9 songs each.


Disc one



  1. "Convinced of the Hex" – 3:56

  2. "The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine" – 4:14

  3. "Evil" – 5:38

  4. "Aquarius Sabotage" – 2:11

  5. "See the Leaves" – 4:24

  6. "If" – 2:05

  7. "Gemini Syringes" – 3:41

  8. "Your Bats" – 2:35

  9. "Powerless" – 6:57


Disc two





  1. "The Ego's Last Stand" – 5:40

  2. "I Can Be a Frog" – 2:14

  3. "Sagittarius Silver Announcement" – 2:59

  4. "Worm Mountain" – 5:21

  5. "Scorpio Sword" – 2:02

  6. "The Impulse" – 3:30

  7. "Silver Trembling Hands" – 3:58

  8. "Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast" – 3:45

  9. "Watching the Planets" – 5:16


iTunes exclusive bonus tracks





  1. "UFOs Over Baghdad" – 5:18

  2. "What Does It Mean?" – 5:10

  3. "Just Above Love" – 4:49

  4. "Anything You Say Now, I Believe You" – 6:40



Personnel


The Flaming Lips




  • Wayne Coyne – lead vocals, guitar, theremin, keyboards, vocoder, mixing, production


  • Steven Drozd – guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "If", mixing, production


  • Michael Ivins – bass, keyboards, backing vocals, mixing, production, additional engineering


  • Kliph Scurlock – drums, percussion


Additional personnel




  • Scott Booker – production


  • Dave Fridmann – production, mixing, programming, engineering, mastering


  • MGMT – additional singing and playing on "Worm Mountain"


  • Karen O – additional singing, screaming, animal sounds and noises on "Gemini Syringes", "I Can Be a Frog" and "Watching the Planets"

  • Thorsten Wörmann – spoken announcements on "Gemini Syringes" and "Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast"



Charts











Chart (2009)
Position

US Billboard 200[24]
8

Embryonic moved 32,000 copies in its first week on US charts. [25]



References





  1. ^ Leslie, Jimmy (January 1, 2010). "Michael Ivins : On the Joy of Effects". Bass Player. Retrieved July 25, 2016..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ "Flaming Lips Unleash "See the Leaves," "Embryonic" Album Cover". Rolling Stone. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2009-08-17.


  3. ^ abc "Flaming Lips Stretching Out For 'Mystics' Follow-Up". Billboard.com. 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-05-13.


  4. ^ "MGMT, Karen O Guest on Flaming Lips LP". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  5. ^ "Hear the New Flaming Lips Song "See the Leaves"". Pitchfork. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  6. ^ "'Embryonic' First Listen on". The-fly.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  7. ^ "The Colbert Report | Comedy Central". Colbert Nation. 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  8. ^ "Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2009". Pitchfork. 2009-12-17. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  9. ^ ab "Reviews for Embryonic by The Flaming Lips". Metacritic. Retrieved May 12, 2015.


  10. ^ Phares, Heather. "Embryonic – The Flaming Lips". AllMusic. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  11. ^ Murray, Noel (October 13, 2009). "The Flaming Lips: Embryonic". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  12. ^ Perry, Andrew (October 13, 2009). "The Flaming Lips: Embryonic, CD review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  13. ^ Greenwald, Andy (October 7, 2009). "Embryonic". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 12, 2015.


  14. ^ Petridis, Alexis (October 8, 2009). "The Flaming Lips: Embryonic". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  15. ^ ab "The Flaming Lips: Embryonic". Mojo (192): 88. November 2009.


  16. ^ Christgau, Robert (March 2010). "Consumer Guide". MSN Music. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  17. ^ Berman, Stuart (October 12, 2009). "The Flaming Lips: Embryonic". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  18. ^ Dolan, Jon (October 15, 2009). "Embryonic". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  19. ^ Marchese, David (October 14, 2009). "The Flaming Lips, 'Embryonic' (Warner Bros.)". Spin. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2015.


  20. ^ Doran, John (October 12, 2009). "Album review: The Flaming Lips – 'Embryonic'". NME. Retrieved July 29, 2010.


  21. ^ "The Flaming Lips: Embryonic :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Pastemagazine.com. 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  22. ^ "The Flaming Lips 'See The Leaves' On David Letterman – Viral Videos". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2011-03-12.


  23. ^ "Embryonic Deluxe Limited Edition 2CD/DVD". The Flaming Lips. 2009-09-23. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11. Retrieved 2010-04-03.


  24. ^ "Buble Stays On Top, 'New Moon' Grabs No. 2 On Billboard 200". Billboard. 2009-10-21. Retrieved 2009-10-21.


  25. ^ "On the Charts: Buble Eclipses "New Moon," Dylan Defeats Archuleta in "Christmas" Battle". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.










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