#21

Actually warming to this album now, it’s pretty nice. We A Famly sucks though, like really sucks, but thankfully they shoved that on the end.

#22

yeah the back half in particular, barring The Castle, feels pretty overly long. I like it, but overall I feel like it could’ve benefited from a trimming.

#23

when it’s good it’s very good (first couple of tracks plus the longer ones) but there are a few tracks where it loses its way a bit i think and can be a bit boring. really liked How?? but not a fan of Sunrise

#24

I’m loving this. Seeing them at Brixton on Saturday. I really don’t think they’re ‘dining out’ on the LP’s from the early 2000’s (1999?). They were very clear the time that they were making more populist music. I remember seeing them in the mid 90’s and that was incredibly psychedelic, hardly any coherent poppier stuff. Bad Days was one of the first tunes of theirs that got me thinking there was something else to them.

I honestly think they are much happier producing odd, sprawling psychedelia. I sometimes wish their current live show had less ‘hits’ and more psych. Hoping for a couple new ones on Saturday :slight_smile:

#25

The stuff from the Terror and Embryonic is so great live. I think having it next to the poppier ones works well, means you get that high flying journey from ecstatic choruses to psych kraut fury and back again.

Looking forward to getting Oczy after I get paid

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#26

Ehhh. Has some moments but it’s surely their worst studio album since the 80s. The sound doesn’t work particularly well (late 90s/early 00s Lips meets trap, basically) and isn’t backed up with many strong songs anyway. Not feeling it.

#27

I don’t think it’s up to the level of many Lips albums…but I still think you’ve been a bit harsh. At War With The Mystics? Zaireeka? Any album that mentions "Fwends?

The vibe they’ve gone for could be great (a bit of The Terror, a bit of Soft Bulletin/Yoshimi) but the content isn’t QUITE there. Solid 7/10 though.

#28

i’d say it’s probably on a par with The Terror but with a couple more highlights. any studio album they do tends to be a relief compared to the shitness of all the other fucking around they do now

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#29

I’m not counting any of the side bullshit they do like Fwends.

Zaireeka is a really good album. At War With the Mystics is somewhat underrated. Better than this or the Terror IMHO.

#30

I’ll agree with that. Used to be a huge fan but since Embryonic (which was everything I could want from a Lips album at that point) it’s been downhill. There’s been too many low points to call this the low point but it’s not great/pretty half arsed.

#31

*full disclaimer: I’ve only ever listened three times, as intended, with 4 stereos set up. Never listened to it as a bootleg recording but I imagine it takes a lot of the sheen off.

#32

yeah i do think Mystics is underrated, there are definitely a few weaker tracks that seem to take people’s attention away from how great some of the stuff on there is (haven’t listened to it in a while now though)

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#33

I’ve never understood the widespread dislike of At War with the Mystics. It seems as if the general opinion is that it’s bad except for Pompeii and The Wand, but I’ve always liked it start to finish. “My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion” and “It Overtakes Me” are seriously great and would probably be considered classics if on another album.

I’m still not sure about the new album. So far the strongest part seems to be the “One Night While Hunting…” into “Do Glowy” sequence (despite the lyrics), but as a whole something still seems to be missing. It’s definitely not the Yoshimi meets The Terror I was hearing about. That spoken word part at the end of Unicorns shouldn’t exist (but then again I’ve always hated anything spoken word). Hopefully it clicks soon.

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#34

haven’t listened to it in years, but I recall it mostly sounding like subpar Yoshimi outtakes. Some really good stuff, but also some fairly undercooked stuff. It Overtakes Me in particular is one that I recall thinking was filler.

#35

But that bassline!

#36

I’ve been enjoying the album overall, I agree it doesn’t have too many stand out moments but the production is top notch and I find it very atmospheric. The Castle is great, looking forward to hearing it live in Brixton tomorrow!

#37

“My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion” is one of the best songs they’ve ever done

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#38

Genuinely surprised that anyone thinks ‘At War With The Mystics’ is any good. It’s their worst album, behind ‘Telepathic Surgery’ even. Whoever was praising ‘It Overtakes Me’ upthread is plain wrong.

‘Oczy Mlody’ isn’t great I think. Nice sounds in places but the lyrics are awful, worse than ever. ‘The Terror’ worked because it sounded great and had that sense of dread and foreboding hanging over every track. ‘Oczy Mlody’ has gone too far in the other direction, lost in whimsy without the songs to back that lyrical approach up.

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#39

even though both have awful titles and lyrics, big fan of There Should Be Unicorns and One Night While Hunting for Faeries and Witches and Wizards to Kill on this album. favs.

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#40

relistened to The Terror after seeing the praise here for it.

Despite a great start, I still don’t get the love for it. I feel that much like Oczy, every track is stuck in autopilot mode while Wayne sings in the same tone on each track. I feel like it’s an album whose appeal lies entirely in its backstory, but on its own is a total bore. Maybe Oczy wasn’t as deep conceptually, but I felt that the relative poppiness made it a relatively lesser slog.