The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

May 17th, 1999.

Warner

The Soft Bulletin, The Flaming Lips' ninth studio album, warmed the senses for a ride of tactful uncertainty. A wistful wind hovers through like a light gust of heavy yet hopeful and heartfelt riddles. The Flaming Lips ended the 90's on a high. 

The band had finally settled on a fully functional pop-centric sound with The Soft Bulletin. A sound which was still able to house the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the band, while bridging the gap between their noisier escapades and more melodramatic grandeur. The Soft Bulletin is up there with the finest records ever brought to life; up there with one of the finest drum performances ever tapped into existence. The breadth of patterns and angles used to execute engaging rhythms is mind-boggling. Steve Drozd is a special case of bombastic and beautiful; sensitive and surgical. 

Sitting under a mellow sky. Limitless. Unbound in all its incomprehensible glory. Out of reach of tangible thought. Evading the box that we put it in. A vast expanse of ever-unfolding complexity. No beginning. No end. That which is. That which is not. Where you stand inbetween. Dissolving in time. Consumed by the unseen hum. Sensitive to the outside world; just as sensitive to the world inside. Debilitated by a delicate disposition. Falling apart in slow motion; right before your very own eyes. Frightening, though lachrymose in its inevitability. The inescapable path in which you walk folds out to catch your feet, though it won't catch you as you fall; a helping hand won't save you in the end. 

Flustered by the inevitable weight glued to everything. The omnipresent appendage. Bear the load and appreciate the experience. 

Is it overwhelming to use a crane to crush a fly?