The Lips,

Christmas on Mars might be the Flaming Lips' bona fide sci-fi epic, but Embryonic is the musical equivalent of the final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey: transformative chaos that results in a new start. From The Soft Bulletin onward, the Lips seemed focused on tidying the loose ends of their earlier work, almost to the point of constraining themselves. Their wilder side is unleashed on Embryonic's 18 tracks, and the band sounds more off-the-cuff than it has in years – some tracks are barely longer than snippets, others are rangy epics, and it all holds together so organically that listeners might wonder just how much these songs were edited. Musically, Embryonic is the least polite the Flaming Lips have been in nearly two decades, mixing in-the-red drums, blobby, dubby bass, squelchy wah-wah guitars, and sparkling keyboards into a swirl of sounds that are strangely liquid and abrasive at the same time.

"The Terror" is the long-awaited release by The Flaming Lips. Produced by Dave Fridmann, it features nine original compositions that reflect a darker-hued spectrum than previous works, along with a more inward-looking lyrical perspective than one might expect. The Terror is a bold and expressive journey that has evolved over the band’s nearly 30-year career of sonic delights that ebbs and flows with breathtaking splashes of darkness and light, pleasure and pain, chaos and order. Absolutely essential.

The Soft Bulletin is one of the Flaming Lips’ most popular and best-selling albums. The Soft Bulletin Companion was originally available as a promo-only CD, hand-made by the Lips’ management, and given to media and radio as the original album grew in popularity around its original release. The compilation includes unreleased songs from the era, plus outtakes and early mixes, B-sides, international bonus tracks and stereo versions of Zaireeka tracks.

The Flaming Lips 2002 "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is inarguably one of their best works. It is characterized by electronic-influenced, psychedelic-tinged indie rock compositions. The album has now been made into a play allowing the main character to add one more thing to her resume along with working for the city, being a black belt in karate, and defeating evil machines. Yoshimi was well-received critically and commercially, helping the band break into the mainstream. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA. The album was adapted into a musical in 2012.

American Legends The Flaming Lips release their 21st studio album, American Head via Bella Union. The album is comprised of thirteen new cinematic tracks, produced by longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann and The Lips. Among them, God and the Policeman featuring backing vocals from country superstar Kasey Musgraves. American Head takes on a welcome temporal shift that occupies a similar space to that of The Soft Bulletin or Yoshmi Battles the Pink Robots and just may be their most beautiful and consistent work to date.