The Flaming Lips

Given The Flaming Lips’ well-publicized brush with the Oklahoma House Of Representatives (which rejected “Do You Realize??” as the state song), their psych/sci-fi feature film, Christmas On Mars, and their highly theatrical and confetti-based live show, it’s easy to forget that they, you know, make music. The Oklahoma trio’s 2009 sprawling behemoth of psych-rock, Embryonic, thankfully helped fans remember, as it touched on all the acid trips and ingenious studio flourishes that made the band so exciting in the first place. The Lips quickly followed the album up by teaming with fellow warped Oklahomans Stardeath And White Dwarfs to reinterpret Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon. More recently, the band released four new songs on a USB drive buried deep inside—wait for it—an edible gummy skull.

Updated 06/28/2011