the flaming lips my cosmic autumn rebellion

The album concludes with 'Goin' On,' a portentous portrait of a world on the brink of self-annihilation that is majestically sad yet tentatively hopeful. 'Haven't Got a Clue' is a beguiling mixture of straightforward and disorienting music in which Coyne plainly sings, 'Every time you state your case / The more I want to punch your face.' And 'The W.A.N.D.' sounds an anthemic call to action with a wickedly noisy riff. Coyne poses big questions about ultimate motives in 'The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,' and he makes like an agitated Prince in 'Free Radicals,' castigating fanatics on all sides. Philosophical musings abound, but so do exhortations to fight the power. Note that the parenthetical subtitle for the lovely, melancholic 'My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion' is 'The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance, and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action.' With everything at stake, Coyne holds nothing back.

It's a mixed-up, shook-up record, to be sure, with grungy riffing, robotic noise, and atmospheric dissonance counterpointed by exquisite melodies, wistful soundscapes, and clear-headed lyrics. By engaging and combating real-world issues with every iota of artistic ordnance they can muster, the Lips have made their best album. In essence, the Lips use words and music as a weapon for metaphysical overthrow of the diseased body politic.

It is these Okie freaks' equivalent of Pink Floyd's Orwellian bent on Animals or (dare I say) The Dark Side of the Moon.

This isn't an obvious 'Bush Is Bad' protest record but rather a profound statement of anger, sorrow, and disenchantment. The Flaming Lips - chief conceptualist Wayne Coyne and multi-instrumentalists Steven Drozd and Michael Ivins - have come to their own reckoning in this matter, and At War with the Mystics is their rebuttal to the forces shaping our traumatized world. But when the apocalypse is pointed at your head like Dick Cheney's rifle, quiet capitulation is no longer an option. PO Box, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, Cook Islands, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, French Polynesia, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greenland, Guam, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (U.S.Most people would prefer to lead their own lives and not get drawn into the shoddy worlds of power, politics, religious fanaticism, and wars of aggression. Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Republic of, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guernsey, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Korea, South, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Monaco, Montserrat, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay

The flaming lips my cosmic autumn rebellion