Zaireeka

10/28/1997 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Sandy Masuo

The latest Flaming Lips foray is an ambitious project that takes the vintage idea of quadrophonic sound to inventive new heights. The album is actually a set of four CDs designed to be played simultaneously on four CD players, the goal of which is a trippy sensurround stereo experience. The eight tracks comprising Zaireeka are typical Lips fare--strange, vaguely psychedelic post-punk noise-pop that careens around oblique imagery suggested by titles like "The Train Runs Over The Camel But Is Derailed By The Gnat" and "Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (You're Invisible Now)." Different components of each song erupt from each disc (keyboards, vocalizations, percussion, random noises and odd sound effects) though disc number one seems to contain the fundamental structures of the tunes. Too many good cooks may indeed spoil the broth, but this multiple disc attack only serves to enhance the Lips' surreal sonic stew.