The Flaming Lips

Kudos to the Flaming Lips for releasing the best A-side/B-side of the year so far. The Lips kick off their latest "of course it's gonna be weird" album, At War With the Mystics, with a bang: "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" has its freak-folk-meets-psychedelic-guitars lunacy capped off by a subtly political sing-along, and "Free Radicals" has enough falsetto and funk to earn a lazy Prince comparison, but its secret strength is its Zeppelin anthem tone. But once track three begins, this album proves to be at war with itself, sinking into quieter Soft Bulletin retreads with inner-looking lyrics that don't evoke much new (unless random quibbles about "Britney and Gwen" can be called refreshing). Bursts of brilliance pop up in the remaining songs, like the fuzzed-out guitar riff buried halfway in the otherwise droll "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion" or the touching memorial lyrics in "Mr. Ambulance Driver," but by the time the album both regains and loses its stride with funk-party-turned-dour-funeral "It Overtakes Me/The Stars Are So Big...", it's easy to give up. Ultimately, the music is fine, and the Flaming Lips can create both lyrical and sonic genius in their sleep, but when an album's first two songs are such a big deal, finishing out with "fine" isn't.