The Depths · All albums

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips · 1999

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 2, Complexity 3 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Rock, Psych rock, Art rock
• Mood: soaring, tender, cosmic
• Sound: orchestral, studio effects, anthemic

The Flaming Lips recorded this at Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York, over nearly two years from 1997, with Dave Fridmann co-producing. The band swapped their guitar-heavy sound for layered arrangements, building a symphonic scale from detuned, stacked MIDI keyboards rather than a live orchestra, and set it against electronic beats and synthesisers. Steven Drozd's drumming and multi-instrument work carries much of the record. It reshaped the band's identity for everything that followed.

Track list

1. Race for the Prize (4:18)
2. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton (3:32)
3. The Spark That Bled (5:55)
4. The Spiderbite Song (4:02)
5. Buggin' (3:16)
6. What Is the Light? (4:05)
7. The Observer (4:11)
8. Waitin' for a Superman (4:17)
9. Suddenly Everything Has Changed (3:54)
10. The Gash (4:02)
11. Feeling Yourself Disintegrate (5:17)
12. Sleeping on the Roof (3:09)