As a long time Flaming Lips fan I was thrilled when I heard that not only will the Lips be releasing an album in 2009 (I didn’t think they’d have a new album out until at least 2010) but that it will be their first ever double album.

The album is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com: CLICK HERE.

The band has already released three songs off the upcoming album on the Embryonic Digital EP, “Convinced of the Hex,” “The Impulse,” & “Silver Trembling Hands.” And I love the looser, more experimental sound of these songs in comparison with those on At War with the Mystics (2006.) “Convinced of the Hex” & “Silver Trembling Hands” in particular sound like something fresh for the Lips.

My favorite Beatles album is The White Album and I’m hoping that sort of kitchen sink approach to different song styles is what the Lips have in mind with a double album. I think the entire point of a double album should be to cut loose the editor a bit. To really try all sorts of things that may not necessarily work, but they should at least be interesting.

This is apparently the track list for the album:

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
10. “The Ego’s Last Stand” – 5:40
11. “I Can Be A Frog” – 2:14
12. “Sagitarrius Silver Announcement” – 2:59
13. “Worm Mountain” – 5:21
14. “Scorpio Sword” – 2:02
15. “The Impulse” – 3:30
16. “Silver Trembling Hands” – 3:58
17. “Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast” – 3:45
18. “Watching The Planets” – 5:16

This hasn’t been put out officially by the band, but it is “out there” and the band’s touring drummer Kliph Scurlock did confirm that this is the track listing for the album on the band’s message board.

Only ~70 Minutes?

Those of you who can add may have noticed that that the track listing only adds up to about 70 minutes which can easily fit onto one CD. Perhaps when the Lips said “double album” they were thinking in terms of LPs, because yes 70 minutes is too long for a single LP. Some of the most famous double albums are about this length; Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde is 71 minutes long and The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. is 67 minutes.

Click Here For The Flaming Lips Amazon.com Store.

Album Cover

Staring at Sound

I recently bought the book on The Flaming Lips called Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma’s Fabulous Flaming Lips. I had originally bought it back when it came out (at a Lips few years ago?) but I managed to lose it before I got a chance to read it. I’ve only had a chance to briefly skim through it so far but it seems pretty interesting. Perhaps I’ll have a full book report at a later time?