The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 2002 A laid back and summery feel wraps the songs in paper adorned with sparkling pattern and repeating phrases that simply curve and bend in all the right places. The first track, titled Fight Test, to me is about over analysing things. The singer mentions a time when he chose the peaceful path instead of losing his temper, but regretted it after. He judges his manhood on the notion of violence which to me is a little extreme, but that's none of my business really. It seems to be some kind of ironic throwback to some memory where it felt some kind of test was taking place, and from experience I can say we have them daily. The music drops to a calmer tone and the resonant walking pace of track two breaks away from the spiralling thoughts of self reflection that dominated the first. The song debates artificial intelligence and human mind, perhaps roughing the edges up a bit in a hard look at what we really are. The pessimistic of us do tend to view the human species as a chemical reaction with the illusion of consciousness as a bi-product of the processes required to propagate. The rest like to see us as inhabiting a vessel of biology that although relies on chemical reactions to sustain itself, is actually the part of us that we are not. Is our body an icon that represents our divine light in this material world? Perhaps that's what Yoshimi is trying to find out. Her song is next on the list, and its fantastic classic material that has floor filling potential in the opening strokes of acoustic guitar. We all know the words and for some reason, it makes total sense. We all have metaphorical evil machines in life that we have to work out of our comfort zone in order to defeat, Yoshimi is there to fight alongside us, taking her vitamins and doing her best. A repetitive chorus and a simple progression with an added sprinkle of bass guitar splodge, the song sits firmly in place as a great reason to own this album. The instrumental track that perhaps represents the battle itself shifts the energy from fun tongue in cheek shenanigans to some fairly intense but funky bars of heady, noisy, bass slapping juiciness. More classic numbers such as Hypnotist sandwiched between other lesser known but equally as groovy pieces wrap up the album with a story of fun and well delivered progressions which melt away like burning candles on a windowsill outside a late bar. It's a lovely album to sit with and enjoy with good company, or to sit and relax to while waiting for something to cook in the oven. Plenty of moving moments mixed with ample flow and journeying portions means that we're kept interested but kept away from being overly drawn in that we forget what we're doing. Good for the car then, or for doing some late night study.
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