It’s like the Velvet Underground meets Super Mario Brothers.

September 22, 2011 5:56 PM

"I Found This Star On The Ground." The Flaming Lips' newest song is six hours long and available online.

Previously:

The Flaming Lips' $150 gummy skull
Wayne Coyne, leader of the Flaming Lips, writes Paulo a story on an index card
FPP about Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Steve Burns from Blues Clues works on an album with The Flaming Lips

posted by Joey Michaels (104 comments total)

They performed a six hour song? If that were my band, we'd be the Flaming Bladders.
posted by exogenous at 6:05 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

that's like 117 Ramones songs
posted by radiosilents at 6:05 PM on September 22, 2011 [16 favorites]

The fact that I saw them live and didn't enjoy it made me question my sanity, but I'm seeing them again soon. If I could listen to music at work I'd put this on.

actually, I might download it. It's going to be a long summer, and I need some lazy summer music.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:09 PM on September 22, 2011

This is radio-friendly accessibility from the band that released an album on four stereo CDs to be played simultaneously. Reviews were mixed (10/10 NME, 0.0/10 Pitchfork)
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:09 PM on September 22, 2011 [6 favorites]

an album on four stereo CDs to be played simultaneously. Reviews were mixed

More than I can say for the album.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:16 PM on September 22, 2011 [44 favorites]

Also, this is what The Velvet Underground might have sounded like had they played an 8-bit Atari. For comparative purposes.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:22 PM on September 22, 2011

Keep Oklahoma Weird, boys.
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:30 PM on September 22, 2011 [8 favorites]

I saw them at the local fairgrounds last night. I love them.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 6:33 PM on September 22, 2011

Having they started the second song, yet?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:33 PM on September 22, 2011

I'm not listening to this unless it comes in a gummy skull.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:37 PM on September 22, 2011

Hooray for interesting things!
posted by swift at 6:39 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

that's like 117 Ramones songs

or 8 grateful dead songs
posted by pyramid termite at 6:44 PM on September 22, 2011 [12 favorites]

it comes in a gummy skull

Sometimes Willy Wonka really squicks me out.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:48 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

Given the average Ramones song was about 90 seconds, it's closer to 240 Ramones songs.

Although, 117 sounds better.
posted by secondhand pho at 6:52 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

I also saw and didn't enjoy them. But I really like them in general. I didn't hate the show, but they were opening for Cake, and it just seemed too low-key and trippy to start the night.
posted by hypersloth at 6:55 PM on September 22, 2011

What's the B-side?
posted by neuromodulator at 6:55 PM on September 22, 2011

What's the B-side?

A cover of John Cage's lesser-known 360:33
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:15 PM on September 22, 2011 [19 favorites]

Is there a legal download version anywhere?
posted by cjorgensen at 7:21 PM on September 22, 2011

They give away a 6-hour song for free, but I assume they'll charge for the condensed version that gets to the point. It's clever - sort of a reverse "free sample" business model...
posted by problemspace at 7:28 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

The other two tracks are Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die (6:38) and Evil Minds (4:01), which are actually tracks 1 and 3, respectively.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:30 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

And they're not intentionally giving it away, they supposedly sold it with a LSD fun-time toy (my summary of their description), made in a quantity of 11 copies and sold at one shop in Portland, OR. (according to an eBay listing).
posted by filthy light thief at 7:34 PM on September 22, 2011

There was a six hour song in the novel 'Time of The Hawklords'...
posted by ovvl at 7:48 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

They delight me. Thanks for posting this.
posted by unknowncommand at 7:54 PM on September 22, 2011

I like the band fine and enjoy these wonky projects but they're marketing SUCKS.

I'm in Toronto and want to buy one of those boxes... nope, you're out of luck. In fact, most everything we release that isn't on Warner will be very limited and available only to Americans who will then put it on eBay for suckers in other countries.

And then the stuff that they do put on Warners that is supposed to be limited (like their last few Record Store Day releases)--and which they do make available world-wide, they go and repress after saying they won't. Very cunty business practices. I know a number of people who just don't bother with any of the releases they market as "limited" anymore.

Same goes for labels like Third Man. I mean, you WANT to increase the market value and fuck your fans? Gee, thanks.
posted by dobbs at 8:27 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I enjoy the fact that the Flaming Lips do these consistently delightful weird things more than I actually enjoy the music of the Flaming Lips.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:36 PM on September 22, 2011 [13 favorites]

And they're not intentionally giving it away, they supposedly sold it with a LSD fun-time toy

That would be the Strobotop™ Lightphase Animator. Here's the prototype with Wayne's artwork.
posted by Sailormom at 8:48 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Someone go ahead and run it through Paulstretch. One song to get you through the work week.
posted by borkencode at 8:48 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Can I get it for rock band?
posted by quillbreaker at 8:50 PM on September 22, 2011 [5 favorites]

I tolerated that longer than I expected to but it still clocked in at about 5 1/2 hours too long for me. Digging that 8-bit "Venus in Furs" somebody linked to up there though...
posted by nanojath at 9:02 PM on September 22, 2011

Drums stop, very bad.
posted by tspae at 9:05 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

GUMMY SKULL, GUMMY SKULL, GUMMY SKULL, did not read entire thread, GUMMY SKULL. HUH HUH, GUMMY SKULL.

I mean: thank you for the link and the thoughtful discussion.

GUMMY SKULL.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:25 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: they're marketing SUCKS.

Now, evidently, we are marketing sucks. Hope they sell.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:26 PM on September 22, 2011

(whoa, guess some GUMMY SKULL posts got pulled since I last checked in. Apologies, pxe.)
posted by joe lisboa at 9:28 PM on September 22, 2011

First twenty minutes were pretty cool, bit of a Bitches Brew vibe going there, but then that extended fax machine noise solo turned me right off. I do enjoy unlistenable music though, so will probably sample some more.
posted by Lorin at 9:31 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I started with part 3 and listened all the way through. My first three favorite parts are at about 15:00 and 19:00, then 29:00. I think it's my new favorite song, and I wish I could figure out how to buy it.
posted by free hugs at 9:39 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

6 hours, is that all? Try one thousand years.
posted by unliteral at 9:43 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm surprised no one has recounted storied of their less than stellar Zaireeka party, and how the four CDs weren't really synchronized, and sheepishly looked at each other afterwards, like, we'll call you sometime.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:45 PM on September 22, 2011 [4 favorites]

Six hours? Still not as long as "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" then and, I'd venture, not half as good.
posted by joannemullen at 10:16 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

that's like 117 Ramones songs

or 8 grateful dead songs

or 1/12th of a live Phish song.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 10:17 PM on September 22, 2011

Oklahoma needs no help remaining weird, but I love that they pitch in anyway.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:51 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

One thing about getting older -- I haven't been offered any acid for at least a decade. Why not? Is it me? Should I go to a Flaming Lips show? Do you kids even do that anymore?
posted by not_on_display at 11:29 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

For the record, it's actually really good. Well, I'm only at the two hour mark, but still. There is a kind of annoying part about 1:30 in where they start reading off names (of people who donated $100.00 to the OK Humane Society - I looked it up), but, so far so really good, otherwise.
posted by converge at 11:33 PM on September 22, 2011

Hmm, taking a page from The Haters, I see.
posted by alex_skazat at 11:37 PM on September 22, 2011

To further explain, The Haters released something called, "THE HATERS 25th ANNIVERSARY" which has a song called, "THE HATERS 25th ANNIVERSARY" which is, uh-huh, 25 hours long.
posted by alex_skazat at 11:40 PM on September 22, 2011

Also, it seems so far like several songs mixed into one, to a certain extant and for what that's worth. There are some abrupt changes where what was going on before stops and almost immediately becomes something else. That said, it ain't just a jam session.
posted by converge at 11:41 PM on September 22, 2011

Previously
...
FPP about Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots


aw (´･ω･`)


can this (please, oh please) become a model for future delivery of music to be released at a later time in purchasable format? You know, actually USING the internet to promote and sell music, instead of trying to kill it off?
posted by yhbc at 9:00 PM on June 29, 2002 [+] [!]
posted by p3on at 11:59 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm still liking it at the 15 minute mark. It's kinda drones on.
posted by Chorian at 12:28 AM on September 23, 2011

If they were to play an abbridged version of this song at a concert, would they need to start the show by coming out and saying goodnight to everybody, then do this as an encore? That would be an odd concert.
posted by Nanukthedog at 2:47 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

not_on_display: "One thing about getting older -- I haven't been offered any acid for at least a decade. Why not? Is it me? Should I go to a Flaming Lips show? Do you kids even do that anymore?"

As a veteran of many Lips shows and hopefully many more, I can tell you that there are always plenty of us Olds there in attendance.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:27 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

The two parts of my brain fighting it out right now are the "No way are we going to listen to six hours of this" part and the "Surprisingly, after 20 minutes, I'm still really enjoying this" part.
posted by .kobayashi. at 5:30 AM on September 23, 2011

Anybody got the TABS for the guitar for this?
posted by annekenstein at 5:36 AM on September 23, 2011

A medium-size acid trip is about six hours long. Just sayin'.
posted by whuppy at 6:26 AM on September 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

The practical question is, will the flash players that these are embedded in last 6 hours without developing a memory leak and crashing my browser?
posted by condour75 at 6:57 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm gonna be in and out of my office all day -- I think I'll just let this thing play in the background.

Ohh, it's pretty obnoxious right out of the gate. This'll stess-test my central nervous system.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:02 AM on September 23, 2011

And it is cool that there's a mainstream band that does crazy stuff like this.

Mainstream? The Flaming Lips? Are you serious?
posted by tommasz at 7:06 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Just saw them outdoors in Raleigh, NC at the Hopscotch festival. Lots of confetti and balloons and coolness. Not my favorite show of theirs though as Wayne kept trying to do a cappella sing-alongs and was rambling a lot between songs. They only did about 2 tracks from Yoshimi and earlier ... sigh. Some great moments though. They did do the last two tracks off Dark Side of The Moon and that was f'in GREAT.

Looking forward to annoying myself with this track this weekend.
posted by freecellwizard at 7:18 AM on September 23, 2011

18 minutes in, and I thought the fan bearings on my Macbook had gone bad again.

Initial review: "interesting." (<-finger flexures)
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:21 AM on September 23, 2011

I'm really digging this section at the 45-minute mark. Less dissonant, very moody.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:47 AM on September 23, 2011

tommasz: "Mainstream? The Flaming Lips? Are you serious?"
Not sure if I should shake my fist at you, young whippersnapper, for not being old enough to remember the late 80s and early 90s, or whether your threshold for "mainstream" is a little higher than most. Setting aside the fact that they've been on the Warner Bros. label for years, (and their 90210 appearance - that's the original 90210, not the new one), and "Do You Realize" is our not only our official state rock song, it was used by Intel years ago. They're on late night talks shows all the time, not to mention stuff like Yo Gabba Gabba and the soundtrack to the Spongebob Squarepants movie. For crying out loud, the New York Times did a slideshow of Wayne and Michelle's house on the website a few months ago, which is the only time I can recall the NYT ever featuring an Oklahoma house in their real estate porn section.

That having been said, I think your comment is a high complement to the band. It's pretty awesome that there are people out there that don't identify them as a "mainstream" band, which I think is attributable to the fact that they still continue to experiment with stuff like this.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:10 AM on September 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

1:15.31. I wander out and back in. I haven't caught an actual change yet, but it's different every time I sit down, despite seeming almost constant. The drums are obviously looped, but someone is playing guitar here.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:25 AM on September 23, 2011

Bonus link for anyone born after 1985: Fearless Freaks.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:28 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

It is indeed a compliment, Dr. Zira. Not that there's anything wrong with being a mainstream band, of course.
posted by tommasz at 8:33 AM on September 23, 2011

1:40. What's with the list of names he's reading? Nick Tibbits? Christopher Berlitski? Stephen Watts? Jeremy Little? Richard Farmer? Adam Wallace? Toxic Beauty Records? Wallace Henderson?

/inexact transcription
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:44 AM on September 23, 2011

They're in the category of bands that I would like to like, but don't.

In particular, their albums are hypercompressed - which makes them MUCH LOUDER than any other music I have, but also dreadfully crunchy sounding and very flat.

The lead singer doesn't care about correct pitching, in at least the albums I have, and that's also really unpleasant to my ears.

On the other hand, their songs are memorable - I caught a couple in memory the very first time I saw them - and that's unfortunately rare these days - and I do like the fact they're willing to experiment.

I guess what bugs me about the "experimental" part is that they don't sound particularly unusual. I mean, there are tracks on Miles Davis' "On the Corner" that still make me go "WTF is this?" until I remember what album they are from - and, say, Matmos regularly does this with their material (particularly some of their underground collaborations with, say, "People Like Us") - and The Boredoms produce music that astonishingly weird at times - but I never think that with the Flaming Lips, they mostly sound like overcompressed 4/4 pop music with a singer with a pitching problem.

Still, they're trying something new, and I strongly admire that, they get a gentleman's B.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 8:47 AM on September 23, 2011

I mean, there are tracks on Miles Davis' "On the Corner" that still make me go "WTF is this?"

All this stuff grows out of a single ancestor named In A Silent Way. You can hear the DNA in this thing.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:55 AM on September 23, 2011

1:55 - they've muted the drum loop, and we have a very nice synth string pad thing going on, with this one pulsating guitar note off/on every 2 seconds. Lovely and grating at the same time. It's an interesting push/pull.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:58 AM on September 23, 2011

2:10.20 Guitar gets ugly again. We're into the first endurance phase.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:13 AM on September 23, 2011

2:27 -- HELLO MUTE BUTTON. Trying to hang on, but endurance almost reached.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:31 AM on September 23, 2011

2:50 The Throbbing Note is back. It is not my friend.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:53 AM on September 23, 2011

I'm picturing you giving these updates in the dark, in a forest, with a video camera light shining in your face.
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:12 AM on September 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Devils Rancher, I am about 1/2 hour behind you and your liveblog of this is making my day.
posted by Dr. Zira at 10:13 AM on September 23, 2011

What's the B-side?

The same thing, slowed down 800%.
posted by Panjandrum at 10:17 AM on September 23, 2011

3:29. Steely Dan's Two Against Nature is playing in the screen room, and as I wander back and forth between there & my office, the contrast is kind of dizzying. It's bad enough that I have to adjust to/from the safety light.

Hey, there's a girl singing! Hi girl!
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:33 AM on September 23, 2011

I'm picturing you giving these updates in the dark, in a forest, with a video camera light shining in your face.

It does sound kinda squatchy. o_0
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:34 AM on September 23, 2011

3:35. We've got kind of a marching share thing under a looping psychedelic bass riff, with synth drones over top. I like this texture a lot, though the bass line is gradually fading out, and the saw-wave synth is getting louder, which does not bode well for the next 10 minutes.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:42 AM on September 23, 2011

4:01 This section is a lot like driving long-distance on I-10, where the land is really flat and you can see things coming from a long way off. The landscapes slowly shift as new things fade into view.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:07 AM on September 23, 2011

4:16 In case anyone is wondering, this section is in the key of A. He has been singing the title repeatedly for about 5 minutes, now. Incoming: horn patch!
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:20 AM on September 23, 2011

Whoa, almost had to bail at 1:03:00 or so. That was a bad, bad sound...
posted by rollbiz at 11:43 AM on September 23, 2011

4:45 Music for Post-Apocalyptic Airports.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:49 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

that's like 117 Ramones songs

or 8 grateful dead songs

or 1/12th of a live Phish song.

or the opening notes of a Jesu song.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:07 PM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

5:06 I was in the other room thinking "I've got to get back to my desk -- there's only an hour of the song left. Well, I've never had that thought before. This section is um... not very melodic.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:13 PM on September 23, 2011

5:18 The Throbbing Note and I are kind of frenemies, now.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:21 PM on September 23, 2011

5: 20 The Names are back. Including: Chris Hestor. Rudolph Robert (?) David "socks" Goldfarb. Joshua Hestor. Graham Blosh. Craig Lovett. Reid Falcon. (I can't type fast enough to keep up)
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:24 PM on September 23, 2011

For the love of God! Won't somebody save that poor man?!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:26 PM on September 23, 2011

5:31 They have faithfully reproduced the sound of my fevered post acid nightmares. There's that metallic strychnine taste in my mouth, again.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:36 PM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

1:42. Whoa, I missed a major transition, there. This sounds like a Fritched version of something off of Get Up With It. Funkay.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:46 PM on September 23, 2011

^ Damn. 5:42. I'm losing touch with reality and coming unstuck in time.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:47 PM on September 23, 2011

Are you okay?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:56 PM on September 23, 2011

5:53 Was just out in the warehouse where they've got the latest Slow Jamz blasting on Pandora. I need a hyperbaric chamber, or an airlock or something. Radio voice repeating "We will always love you." Wow, the end is in sight. Hold me.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:59 PM on September 23, 2011

....aaaaaaannnnndddddd..... TIME!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:07 PM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

In the end, time is relative. I'm reminded of 1 corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:07 PM on September 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, you poor, mad fool! What have you done? WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE?!!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:08 PM on September 23, 2011

It's okay, I'm putting on Close To The Edge, to start the decompression. I'll work my way down to the Minutemen gradually, over the next 6 hours.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:29 PM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Shouldn't you start with Tales from Topographic Oceans?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:32 PM on September 23, 2011

Time Bends are delicate, but I need to ascend quickly -- I head several bars of Prince's Kiss walking through the warehouse just now.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:41 PM on September 23, 2011

For a second, I thought I was reading a page on Erowid.
posted by not_on_display at 2:14 PM on September 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

Thank you for your service, Devils Rancher. Listening so we won't have to. Can you liveblog Metal Machine Music next?
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:32 PM on September 23, 2011

In particular, their albums are hypercompressed - which makes them MUCH LOUDER than any other music I have, but also dreadfully crunchy sounding and very flat.

This sort of ruined At War with the Mystics, but I think the crunchiness and flat dynamic range actually work pretty well on Embryonic. And I'm pretty sure it was a deliberate stylistic decision, at least on the latter album. "Aquarius Sabotage" wouldn't work the way it does if it wasn't insanely overcompressed, for example.

dammit i'm all out of acid
posted by twirlip at 2:34 PM on September 23, 2011

Listening so we won't have to.

Seriously, at the end of the day (whoa, it's here already? My, how time flies when you're listening to a 6-hour song) I quite liked it as a work of art. The slow development of the various pieces was interesting temporally. They push the boundaries of perception with some of the 5-minute fades. There are moments here and there that are pretty intolerable, but the aspect of how it made me think about time in relation to music was really enjoyable, and there were places where it is quite lovely.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:54 PM on September 23, 2011 [5 favorites]

Thank you Devil's Rancher. Awesome review of the song. I could have done without the list of donors, but enjoyed it otherwise.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:29 PM on September 24, 2011

I initially missed converge's comment about the names, so that was a genuine mystery to me when they came up. I spotted that bit of intel much later.

I would actually like to own this behemoth somehow, if that ever becomes possible.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:50 PM on September 24, 2011

Can you liveblog Metal Machine Music next?

the amphetamine laced metal ants are clicking their antennas
the amphetamine laced metal ants are still clicking their antennas
the amphetamine laced metal ants continue to click their antennas
the amphetamine laced metal ants ...
..........................................................
..........................................................
... i AM an amphetamine laced metal ant - click click click click click ......
posted by pyramid termite at 5:59 PM on September 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

I was almost going to make a new FPP before seeing this one. But I'll link it here first in case anyone wants to. This Halloween, they're releasing a 24 hour song...
posted by samsara at 1:57 PM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am not live-blogging that - sorry.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:37 PM on October 4, 2011