| Embryonic | ||||
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| Released | October 13, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | February–July 2009 | |||
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| Length | 70:52 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
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| The Flaming Lips chronology | ||||
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Embryonic is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. [3] The band's first double album, it was released to generally positive reviews and became their most successful album in the US, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard 200.
News of the album first surfaced in an interview with Wayne Coyne, who stated that "Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that we should do a double album... Just this idea that you can weave a couple of themes into there and you can sprawl a little bit. [4]
Several other artists made contributions to various tracks on the album. German mathematician Dr. Thorsten Wörmann contributed to the track "Gemini Syringes", psychedelic rock band MGMT contributed to the song "Worm Mountain", and Karen O (lead singer of the alternative rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs) contributed to the songs "I Can Be a Frog" and "Watching the Planets". [5] Karen O's contributions were recorded by Wayne Coyne over the phone.[ citation needed ]
On August 13, 2009, the song "See the Leaves" was reviewed and streamed on Pitchfork.com [6] On September 3, 2009, the album was previewed in its entirety on The Fly website, using Wayne Coyne's own track-by-track guide. [7]
On September 17, 2009, the band appeared on The Colbert Report and announced that the album would stream in its entirety on Colbertnation.com until September 21, 2009. [8]
Embryonic was streamed in full on the UK music site Clash Music on October 5, just over a week ahead of its release. It was selected as fourth best album of 2009 by Pitchfork Media. [9]
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2023) |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.2/10 [10] |
| Metacritic | 81/100 [11] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| The A.V. Club | A− [13] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [14] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B [15] |
| The Guardian | [16] |
| MSN Music (Consumer Guide) | A− [17] |
| NME | 9/10 [18] |
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10 [1] |
| Rolling Stone | [19] |
| Spin | 7/10 [20] |
Embryonic received acclaim from critics upon release, garnering an 81/100 score (indicating "universal acclaim") on Metacritic based on 33 critics. [11] NME wrote that "ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one," [21] while Paste described the record as "a wonderfully weird parade of sonic delights: an arresting consummation of the Lips' two-and-a-half decade career." [22] Other critics praised the album but were also quick to note its dramatically different sound in comparison to previous releases. Mojo remarked that "(Embryonic's) themes may be familiar, but its fine, dazzlingly outlandish music is fresh and utterly fearless." [23] As of 2011, the album has sold 103,000 copies in the United States. [24]
The style of the tracks on Embryonic differs from the styles of previous albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and At War with the Mystics , and has been reported to be similar to the style of Joy Division, Miles Davis, and John Lennon. [4]
Wayne Coyne says the new record solves their perpetual "dilemma" of what to include on each album, by dumping all their ideas on the follow-up to 2006's At War with the Mystics. Coyne had this to say about the double-LP decision to Billboard : "Some of my favorite records – thinking Beatles' White Album , Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti and even some of the longer things that The Clash have done – part of the reason I like them is that they're not focused. They're kind of like a free-for-all and go everywhere. It's not necessarily because we're prolific, I think we always stay in a sort of perpetual panic of like we never have more songs than we need and we always wonder if any of them are any good to begin with." Coyne notes that Embryonic is less polished than Mystics or 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and has a "freak-out vibe". The frontman also notes the influence of Miles Davis's group and slow-burn songs like John Lennon's "Instant Karma!". [4]
A deluxe version of the album was released on October 13, 2009.
The deluxe edition includes the original 18 tracks (on two discs) as well as a bonus DVD-Audio which features the album in full dynamic range at 24bit/96 kHz audio. A further variant sold exclusively through the band's website is packaged in a "fur pack" with an extended booklet which features additional art, lyrics, and band photos. This web-only deluxe edition also comes with a 14 inch by 28 inch lithograph featuring the full album cover. A limited number of pre-orders received an additional lithograph autographed by the band, shipped 2–3 weeks after the release date. [25]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | "Sagittarius 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 |
| Total length: | 70:26 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 19. | "UFOs Over Baghdad" | 5:18 |
| 20. | "What Does it Mean?" | 5:10 |
| 21. | "Just Above Love" | 4:49 |
| 22. | "Anything You Say Now, I Believe You" | 6:40 |
The Flaming Lips
Additional personnel
| Chart (2009) | Peak |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [26] | 43 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [27] | 50 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA) [28] | 47 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [29] | 46 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [30] | 43 |
| US Billboard 200 [31] | 8 |
Embryonic moved 32,000 copies in its first week on US charts. [32]
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Derek Brown, Matt Duckworth Kirksey and Tommy McKenzie (bass). Coyne and Drozd have remained the band's only consistent members since 1991, with Coyne being the only remaining founding member following the departure of bassist and keyboardist Michael Ivins in 2021.
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on July 16, 2002, by Warner Bros. Records. The album saw the band pursue a more electronic direction than previous efforts, incorporating acoustic guitars and rhythms influenced by hip hop and top 40 music. The album was well-received critically and commercially, helping the band break into popularity, and was adapted into a musical in 2012. In 2022, the band announced a 20th anniversary box set version of the album and that they would perform the album in full twice in early 2023.
The Soft Bulletin is the ninth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released by Warner Bros. Records on May 17, 1999, in the United Kingdom, and on June 22, 1999, in the United States. The album was released to widespread acclaim, and was hailed by critics as a departure from their previous guitar-heavy alternative rock sound into a more layered, intricately arranged work.
Transmissions from the Satellite Heart is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released in 1993 by Warner Bros. Records. The album marked the departure of Jonathan Donahue and Nathan Roberts, and the addition of guitarist Ronald Jones and drummer Steven Drozd.
Christmas on Mars is a 2008 independent psychological science fiction film from the alternative rock band the Flaming Lips, written and directed by the band's frontman, Wayne Coyne, and featuring the entire band in the cast, as well as many of their associates, including Steve Burns, Adam Goldberg, and Fred Armisen.
Wayne Michael Coyne is an American musician. He is the founder, lead vocalist, main songwriter, and only constant member of the psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips.
Zaireeka is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on October 28, 1997, by Warner Bros. Records. It consists of four CDs designed so that when played simultaneously on four separate audio systems, they would produce a harmonic or juxtaposed sound; the discs could also be played in different combinations, omitting one, two or three discs. Each of its eight songs consists of four stereo tracks, one from each CD.
At War with the Mystics is the eleventh studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on April 3, 2006, by Warner Bros. Records. The album is more guitar-driven and features more politically themed lyrics than the band's previous two albums The Soft Bulletin (1999) and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002). It is the groups' first album featuring contributions from drummer Kliph Scurlock.
20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986–2006 is an updated version of the free compilation CD given away at the SXSW Film premier of The Flaming Lips documentary "The Fearless Freaks", a film by Bradley Beesley. It is a predominantly live compilation, recorded throughout the career of the Flaming Lips, though the first three tracks are recorded in the studio. These are: the introduction by Wayne Coyne, "Free Radicals" from the current album At War with the Mystics and "Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear", a previously unavailable track.
Clifton Thomas "Kliph" Scurlock is an American musician. He was the drummer and percussionist for alternative rock band The Flaming Lips from 2002 to 2014.
"Electric Feel" is a song by the American rock band MGMT, released as the second single from their debut studio album Oracular Spectacular (2007) on June 23, 2008. The single was released as a 7" and CD single, and later on 12" vinyl. "Electric Feel" was released to radio on July 29, 2008. The song's second video features The Rock-afire Explosion. The song is primarily in 6
4 time, with an instrumental bridge in 4
4.
The discography of indie rock band MGMT consists of five studio albums, one compilation album, one demo album, four extended plays, eleven singles and fourteen music videos. Originally known under the name The Management, the group was founded in 2002 by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser during their freshman year as art students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After graduating and changing the band's name to MGMT, they released an EP titled Time to Pretend in 2005 through the independent record label Cantora Records; music videos were recorded for two of the EP's songs, "Boogie Down" and "Destrokk". The critical success of the EP and extensive touring brought the group to the attention of Columbia Records, which signed them in 2006.
The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon is a collaborative studio album by the psychedelic rock group the Flaming Lips. The album is a complete track-for-track reimagining of Pink Floyd's seminal 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.
The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian is an extended play by American rock band the Flaming Lips and American electronic music band Neon Indian. It was released on March 23, 2011 as part of The Flaming Lips 2011 series of monthly music releases. The 12-inch EP was a limited release pressed on special colored vinyl and distributed to select record stores in the United States. The song "Is David Bowie Dying?" was later included on the 2012 album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends.
George E. Salisbury is a film and music video director and graphic designer based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends is the first album in the "Fwends" series by the American rock band the Flaming Lips in collaboration with a variety of guests.
The Terror is the thirteenth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, released on April 1, 2013 worldwide and April 16 in the U.S., on Warner Bros in the United States and Bella Union in the United Kingdom. It is the first album for band member Derek Brown and last with drummer Kliph Scurlock.
Oczy Mlody is the fourteenth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, released on January 13, 2017, on Warner Bros in the US and Bella Union in the UK. It is the first album to feature band members Jake Ingalls, Nicholas Ley and Matt Duckworth.
King's Mouth: Music and Songs is the fifteenth studio album by experimental rock band The Flaming Lips. It was released on Record Store Day on April 13, 2019 as a limited run of 4,000 gold-coloured records for the event. An official commercial version was released on July 19, 2019.
American Head is the sixteenth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, released on September 11, 2020, on Warner Records in the US and Bella Union in the UK. Produced by Dave Fridmann and Scott Booker, alongside the band itself, the album represents a return to the band's American roots. It is the final studio album to feature founding bass guitarist Michael Ivins and keyboardist Jake Ingalls, who both departed from the band in 2021, as well as drummer Nicholas Ley who departed in 2023. It is subsequently the final album featuring the expanded seven person line-up of the group that began with 2017's Oczy Mlody.
