Yeah, the Lips seemed to get a little serious on us for a minute or two this past spring when they put away the animal costumes and shit and savagely dropped some terrifyingly terrifying terror on us. But I think they maybe just needed to eat a Snickers bar or something, because now they’re back to doing what elder statesmen of psych-rock should be doing with their time and given status: recording EPs of vanity-style covers and incidental movie music for films they think are cool!
As Consequence of Sound tells it, Coyne and co.’s first forthcoming EP, entitled Peace Sword, was “inspired by” the forthcoming Hollywood movie Ender’s Game. It comes out on November 26 and features a healthy six (Dave Fridmann-produced) jams with such Flaming-Lips-title-esque titles as “Think Like a Machine, Not a Boy,” “Wolf Children,” and “Assassin Beetle/The Dream Is Ending.” In discussing the project with the Huffington Post back in August, Coyne remarked that he and the band “really ended up liking (the movie)” and that “Steven [Drozd] and I both remarked, ‘Man, I’d like to do some more music associated with this,’ and we think they’re going to let us… I think it could work out.” Sounds like it must have? (BTW: Coyne is all-too-aware of Ender’s Game creator Orson Scott Card’s recent controversial remarks about same-sex marriage and made sure to let everyone know via Instagram that “we try to do cool things with cool people that, obviously benefit us and the cool people we doing stuff with… occasionally these benefits extend to abstractly connected people who are NOT so cool… So we try to choose…” And they’re also planning on etching “Hey Orson Scott Card You Are Wrong” and “Gay People Are Cool” on both respective sides of the EP’s vinyl edition. So, yeah, chillax.)
In addition to that EP, though, there’s also another casual offering of goofy goodness in the works: A split EP with kindred psych spirits Tame Impala. The two bands will be crossing paths a few times on tour next month, and attendees at those shows (and probably all shows) will be able to pick up an “exclusive tour-only vinyl featuring a pair of covers from each band.” For their part, Coyne and the boys are tackling Tame Impala’s “Elephant” and “Runway, Houses, City, Clouds”, while Tame Impala will impossibly attempt to further-psychify the Lips tunes “Are You a Hypnotist?” and “Silver Trembling Hands.” Check out some footage of the Lips tracking “Elephant” below. Or don’t if you don’t like your Flaming Lips doing fun stuff. Cuz this seems pretty fun.
• The Flaming Lips: http://flaminglips.com
• Warner Bros.: http://www.warnerbros.com
More about: The Flaming Lips
