Sunday, October 5, 2014

Rarely Heard: The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka



I guess I needn't say much about the eccentric rock band The Flaming Lips founded in Oklahoma City in 1983 and prolific to this day. Their experimental 4-CD album is rarely heard in the full sense of the expression: it is intended to be heard by playing all four CDs in four separate CD players simultaneously, "but four separate discs that can be played separately or in groups of two, three, and four with multiple stereos. (Properly synchronized multi-disc playback requires more than one person -- it's literally a party album.) Between combining the discs and toying with volume, balance, fidelity, etc., the options are truly limitless. No two multi-disc performances can be repeated, thanks to the space-time continuum and discrepancies from one CD player to another." (Allmusic.com) Indeed, it's been our intention to play the 4-CD-version someday at our local arts club; I'll be reporting, if we ever manage to do so.

No comments: