Does the world really need another concept album that uses electronically-driven rock music to lament the evils of modern technology stripping our society of any true feeling and social interaction? Probably not. But on the surface, that appears to be what The Flaming Lips have given us on their latest studio project.

Now, I'll confess, this is the first time I've listened to a Flaming Lips album. I had heard their name thrown around before, and assumed erroneously that they were a rebellious punk band. They probably get that a lot. Apparently, their back catalogue offers an array of wacky song titles and electronic experimentation that would make any headphone-wielding music geek jump for joy. You gotta love a band that puts out an album named Hit to Death in the Future Head, or throws even their most hardcore fans a curveball by releasing a box set with the same songs split into audio tracks on four different discs meant to be played at once. But you'll have to read someone's else reviews of those projects, because I'm here to tackle their whimsically named, ironically subdued, but unquestionably addictive 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

Sounds like the name of an anime episode, doesn't it? I suspect someone in the band may be a fan. But the specifics of the story's origin - or very many details of the story, for that matter - remain hidden from my view, at least for now. While the album hints more at a linear story as Radiohead's OK Computer seems to at first, that linear story also seems to tapir off into a mish-mash of musings on death and the meaning of life, accompanied by pleasant synthetic melodies. Excepting a few harsh moments, it's actually a good album for just chilling out. These guys are pros at mixing real instruments with programming, which is something that always gets my attention, and to top it off, there's more than enough groovy percussion to get my head bobbing.

Lyrically, lead vocalist and general mastermind Wayne Coyne is very good at letting you into a world that is charming even if it seems a bit off, mentally speaking. He's a little more optimistic than Radiohead's Thom Yorke, though he can be similarly cryptic, and since his lyrics are more on the minimal side, they tend to leave a lot of loose ends. Between that and the occasional meandering melody that drags down a song, Yoshimi can feel like a string of random thoughts floating in space, and while that may be the idea, there's a part of me that longs for a sense of completion, especially during the album's weaker back half.

Fight Test
For to lose, I could accept
But to surrender, I just wept
And regretted this moment, oh that I was the fool...
THE TEST BEGINS. NOW. A booming voice announces what appears to be a futuristic boxing match between man and machine as an audience roars in the background - at first I thought I had inadvertently downloaded a live version of the song. But it becomes clear that this is indeed a studio recording, and an accomplished one, at that. Electronically processed but lively percussion work as a tag team with gurgling synths for an opening track somewhat reminiscent of Radiohead's "Airbag", and Wayne Coyne's soft voice (which is just quirky enough to give away his Oklahoman origin) wryly describes a personal struggle in deciding whether to stand up and fight or to take the seemingly more intelligent position of nonviolent resistance. Apparently he regrets choosing the latter - what worked for Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. apparently doesn't yield the same results when dealing with robots. All political musings aside, this track get s a little difficult to comprehend when two different vocal lines are competing with the background noise during the chorus, but it's still a fun introduction to the Lips' world, and definitely one of the album's strongest tracks.

One More Robot (Sympathy 3000-21)
Feeling a synthetic kind of love
Dreaming a sympathetic wish
As the lights blink faster and brighter...
A distorted but warm electric guitar texture leads into the second track, which is a little gentler beat-wise, striking a balance between a tinny techno beat and a sweet orchestral backdrop that bookends the song. Fittingly, this track is the story of a robot coming to life, making the amazing scientific leap of developing feelings and a mind of its own. It is at once a fascinating and frightful event for Wayne, who describes it with a disarming calm in his voice, as if he's not surprised that "one more robot learns to feel". It's as if he's not entirely aware that these sentient robots pose a threat to his livelihood. I love how the best double-times during the chorus, even though it might make the sound a little geeky - I think that's the point.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
Those evil natured robots, they're programmed to destroy us
She's gotta be strong to beat them, so she's taking lots of vitamins...
Here comes our heroine to save the day - Yoshimi enters the fray riding on the coattails of a playful, electronically tweaked acoustic guitar strum and a bumping beat. To hear an acoustic instrument amidst all the electronic wizardry is to understand the plight of this futuristic David vs. Goliath battle (or is it Sailor Moon in the place of David?) Wayne's lyrics describe Yoshimi's training regimen to the point of sounding ridiculous, but that's part of the whole charm (and part of why the album becomes a disappointment later on). The outcome is clear - if Yoshimi loses, humanity is doomed to be eaten by these girly machines. What a humiliating fate! And yet you have to wonder if the battle is all in Wayne's head - no one seems to believe him when he asserts that Yoshimi can pull it off. Maybe no one agrees with him that the robots are a threat in the first place?

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2
Some low-end synth noise leads us right into the ring, and the rat-a-tat of some feisty drum work, the battle is on! This track is purely instrumental, with the lyric booklet simply stating "(screams)" in place of any words - which is exactly what Yoshimi does at various points during this song (plus a few exclamations in what sounds like Japanese). Interestingly, the woman providing those vocals is also named Yoshimi (the character was probably named after her) - she was borrowed from a band named The Boredoms, I believe. The backing music is rather harsh, but it's definitely a fun track to jam to - you can just picture the girl busting her karate moves on those big bad monsters. I swear, it's straight out of a video game - you know, the kind of track that repeats over and over when you're fighting the kind of boss that can sustain blows that take away 9,999 hit points at a time and still take forever to die? (Ask flamepillar.) Though at times the screaming makes me want to cringe, and my overall reaction is basically, "You guys are on crack!", I'm thinking it with a smile on my face. It's almost chilling when the battle finally ends and a hearty cheer from the audience suddenly drops off into the album's moodiest song.

In the Morning of the Magicians
As the dawn begin to break, I had to surrender...
This track is probably the closest thing on the record to an "epic", alternating between a funky musical interlude complete with mocking laughter in the background, and a desolate, folksy verse with little more than an acoustic guitar and Wayne's mournful wailing in the background. It's like waking up from a strange dream, but being so tired that you fall back into it again. There's definitely a theme of disillusionment here, as Wayne puts forth the existential musing, "What is love and what is hate? And what does it matter?" You have to wonder what happened to the poor guy. He seems incapable of even staying on rhythm, as the strum seems slightly "off" in places, which is probably the only bothersome thing about the song. Other than that, it's an achingly lovely piece, even if it begs two important questions - Who are these magicians, and what the heck happened to the robots?

Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell
I was waiting on a moment
But the moment never came...
There goes another one of those funny titles. Unfortunately, that's one of the few things this mid-tempo track had going for it. All of the ingredients are there, including a catchy beat and an interesting premise for a song, but it seems to stay in a holding pattern, and there aren't as many quirky elements to draw you in as in many of the other songs. Perhaps that's intentional, since the song seems to be about waiting for a seemingly assured payoff and never getting it. As the album reaches its midway point, it's clear that the focus has shifted away from sci-fi battles and onto more "eternal" things. I just wish there was more to this particular song to tell me what was going on - I don't think that's too much of a request when an album only has 11 songs and 2 of them have no words.

Are You a Hypnotist?
I had forgiven you for tricking me
But I have been tricked again into forgiving you...
The disc's second half leads off in fine form with a feisty drum track taking prominence. Programmed drums can be the death of many songs when they just loop through the same exact pattern over and over, but here, you can tell that Steven Drozd is using some sort of electronic pads and beating the life out of them, which results in some cool cadences to play on your steering wheel while you're waiting at stop lights. Still in a very trance-like state, Wayne attempts to confront someone who has deceived him in some way. I can't tell much more than that, for he doesn't give very many clues. Perhaps the hypnotists and magicians are linked? I'm not sure. Anyway, it's one of the most fun tracks on the album, musically speaking.

It's Summertime
When you look inside, all you'll see
Is a self-reflected inner sadness...
This one starts off with a pleasant wash of electronic noise that almost sounds like a futuristic garden, complete with birds chirping. It fits well with the song title. Despite the sunny musical outlook, Wayne seems preoccupied with cheering up a down-and-out friend who has just undergone some sort of a loss, which only makes the sunshine a source of pain. I think the whole thing would work a lot better if the melody didn't meander so aimlessly - there's a lot of downtime between words and phrases, and while that's part of the Lips' style (at least on this album), it makes for a song that doesn't really stick in the brain, save for the bird noises at the beginning and end.

Do You Realize??
The sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round...
I guess this was the single released from the album... not that I'd expect these guys to be taken all that seriously on mainstream radio. (This is my way of complimenting the band.) As if channeling the anthemia spirit of some of their progressive rock ancestors, this track counts off and crashes in triumphantly with bells ringing and the guys in unison singing a slow but catchy chorus about how "everyone you know someday will die." Instead of it being a morbid thought, it's given with a tone of encouragement, a sly wink and a nod, as if reminding us to tell these people we love them and enjoy them while they're still here. Two things that strike me about this song are the country twang that seeps through in Wayne's voice despite all the electronic wizardry surrounding him, and the band's clever use of a key change up and then back down a at few points in the song, just to keep things interesting. Definitely one of the album's highlights, though it takes a few listens to stick.

All We Have Is Now
As logic stands, you couldn't meet a man who's from the future...
The last song on the album with lyrics is a very subdued one, relying mostly on warm keyboard tones and a slow tempo that changes its mind and speeds up at various points in the song. This fits in with Wayne's bizarre account of how time seems to have bent and summoned forth a future version of himself - he recognizes the guy because they're wearing the same watch. (I wonder if he asks himself what number he's thinking of? Sorry, couldn't resist.) The future Wayne seems to be a bit of a doomsayer, explaining that he and his buddies aren't gonna survive whatever lies ahead of them. With an almost fatalistic tone, Wayne says goodbye to his listeners with this reminder, "You and me were never meant to be part of the future. All we have is now." Due to its placement, you have to wonder, is this the message the album is trying to portray? That technology is going to defeat us and we're all gonna die? That's kind of depressing... if in fact that's the real message fueling the guys' creativity.

Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon
It's a bit unsatisfying to have the record close out with an instrumental. This track is a traveling song of sorts, a comfortable mid-tempo groove with some subtle but tasty guitar licks, and odd snippets of vocals In the background. It doesn't seem like it belongs at the end, because I usually expect the closing track on an album to have something to it that says, "Okay, here's where we've ended up". But we're just floating over what sounds like the name of a plain on Mars. Unless this is part of our journey to the afterlife after being told we're not cool enough for Earth's future, then I can't really make sense of it. I like the horns, though.

Yoshimi frustrates me sometimes, because I expect a linear story, or at least enough pieces of a story to put together over the course of the album, and it practically changes the channel on me two thirds of the way through. There are a few theories to support this unexpected shift in theme, one of which is that Yoshimi lost her battle with the robots and the rest of the album takes place exploring the consequences of her loss. Robots conquer the Earth and humanity slowly realizes they're going to be responsible for their own extinction. That would explain the grief and loss, and later the calm acceptance, that dominates the album's back half.

I have my own theory that Yoshimi won, but after the robots were defeated, people soon forgot about the significance of her victory and went back to their normal, self-destructive lives. This would make sense - tragedies tend to scare us temporarily and even convince us to band together in the face of our enemies and also consider the damage we're doing to the world around us. But as things start to seem more "safe" over time, we settle back into our normal routine, and when we encounter that fear of death again, the threat isn't coming from pink robots, but from something a lot more real - our own humanity and the limited clock we all have to deal with. While Coyne seems to deal with the implications of this without ever considering anything existing beyond mortal life (which is a bit disappointing), it's commendable that he gets past his bitterness and disillusionment and comes to accept that it's just a part of the design, and even heroes like Yoshimi can't save him from a fear that he's eventually going to have to confront on his own. Perhaps that's something a lot of us should keep on our minds even though much of the initial terror of 9/11 has faded and we stand ready to defeat our own proverbial pink robots.

As a side note, I should mention two tracks that didn't make the final cut for the album, but may shed light on my impression of it. First of all is the somewhat dreary Funeral in My Head, which was positioned after "Yoshimi Pt. 2", and seemed to contribute to the theory that Yoshimi was trampled underfoot by her opponents. Musically speaking, I don't miss it much, as it didn't seem to fit with the album. It kind of floated around with little more than an orchestra and the leftover applause from the preceding song to hold it down. The track I really miss is Up Above the Daily Hum, a wonderfully relaxing track that for some reason brought to mind the Beach Boys, in a futuristic setting of course. I had downloaded it and it was mistakenly labeled "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell", and it fit so well between "Magicians" and "Hypnotist" that I didn't realize it was the wrong song until I looked up lyrics. (Sheepish grin - that's what I get for downloading music!) In any case, that might explain my bias against "Ego Tripping", but in any case, it's one of my favorite Lips songs so far, and from scouring the internet, I can tell I'm not alone.

In closing, I would like to dedicate this review to the seven crewmembers who lost their lives in the Columbia tragedy this past weekend, if for no other reason than it's a spacey sort of album that deals with themes of loss and grief. To those who lost a loved one, or even to those who lost a dream or perhaps a job, the prayers of this NASA employee are with you.

ALBUM WORTH:
Fight Test $2
One More Robot (Sympathy 3000-21) $1.50
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 $1.50
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2 $1.50
In the Morning of the Magicians $1.50
Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell $.50
Are You a Hypnotist? $1.50
Summertime -$.50
Do You Realize?? $1.50
All We Have Is Now $1
Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon $.50
TOTAL: $12.50

Band Members:
Wayne Coyne: Vocals, guitars
Michael Ivins: Bass
Steven Drozd: Drums & several other instruments

Website: http://www.theflaminglips.com

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving