Yet Another Reason Why The Flaming Lips Are Cool In Our Book - The Gummy Skull!!

(Photo by Angela De Marco)

You wouldn't think that a band like The Flaming Lips would have come from Oklahoma back in the 80's, much less carved out a three-decade career at the major label level. The fact that they are still a vital, ongoing concern is proof that not all who choose to color outside of the lines get crushed by the gravity of mainstream normalcy. Near as we can tell, their tenure with mighty giant Warner Brothers Records saw the band make nary a concession to conventional wisdom. Instead, we were treated to one strange musical trip after another - from the 4-CD set Zaireeka (all four CD's meant to be played simultaneously on four different players to achieve maximum effect) to the groundbreaking musical statement that was The Soft Bulletin.

For any who think the band may have slowed the pace, or lost a step as they venture into their fourth decade of operation, the Lips (and their cult of mega-devoted fans) will kindly beg to differ. First off this year, the band re-recorded Pink Floyd's brilliant career-defining opus Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety. If that weren't enough, the band will also be performing the album in its entirety at Dave Matthews' Caravan Festival in July.

Not weird enough for ya?

Okay, then you may just want to feast your eyes on the packaging for the band's new collection of music. Nicknamed The Gummy Skull, the band's new EP, if you will, comes on a USB drive housed within a custom-made full-size gummy bear skull. To get to the music, you've got to eat your way through the skull.

Me thinks a fair amount of cannabis was smoked in hatching that idea. Of course, the main difference between the Lips and lesser chemically-enhanced bands is that they actually wake up the next day and not only remember the crazy shit they came up with the night beforel, but then they take steps to make it a reality. Can you imagine trying to find a company to manufacture gummy bear skulls? Where would one look in the Yellow Pages for that?

Thankfully, the band happened upon such a manufacturer right in their own backyard. As if that weren't enough, it turns out the man behind the company capable of creating the edible skulls is a fan of the band. An arrangment was soon reached and, earlier this year, the band began selling The Gummy Skull via their website.

The downside, of course, is that the skull costs $150 and the USB drive it houses contains a mere four songs. Also, the band has promised to make very limited quantities of the skulls available on a weekly basis, but, as of late, they seem to have fallen a little behind on that promise. Maybe being out on tour might have something to do with this. Still, it would be nice to get our hands on one before we spend the money on Ju Ju Fruits and Pop Rocks - neither of which will come with any cool music at all.

Why only four songs on the USB drive, though? One would think this to be the move of a more conventional band. Obviously, the Lips wish to make the music exclusive to those who buy the skull. If they made the songs available on their own, they might not sell as many skulls. So, the conventional thinking would be to include just enough music to make the whole package seem workable to fans eager to eat their way to the new music. The unconventional thinking (for which the Lips are known and loved) would have been to include at least a full album's worth of material.

Give the diehard fans something to really sink their teeth into, pun intended.

While none are currently available, as the LINK to acquire them currently reads "ACCESS DENIED. You are not authorized to access this page.", we are hopeful that this will change in the near future.

Gummy Song Skull track listing:

1. Drug Chart
2. In Our Bodies, Out Of Our Heads
3. Walk With Me
4. Hillary's Time Machine Machine?

Bonnaroo 2011's Best Ten Minutes

If any one music festival has established itself as the hippest kid on the block, presenting a heady mix of current big-name acts, hipster-approved up-and-comers, and just enough DJ's to make you relish the sight of someone actually playing an instrument, it is the Bonnaroo Festival.

Kids across the nation gathered in Manchester, TN last weekend to witness ten day's worth of bands jammed into four days. Based on this year's line-up, the emphasis seemed to be on proving to the world that today's musical landscape is just as vibrant, if not more so, than any other that came before. With a music line-up that covered just about every genre imaginable and featured such current heavy hitters as Eminem, Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Ray Lamontagne, and the Decemberists, along with newer acts Sleigh Bells, School of Seven Bells, Deer Tick, and Matt & Kim, to name just a few, we at The Shit find it oh so fitting that, for all of the "the future is now" proclamations, it was a band that had basically broken up before Woodstock that stole the show.

Thus, by the time Buffalo Springfield took the stage around 9:30PM on Saturday night, those in attendance had already been subjected to three whole days of sun, music, more sun, and even more music. The sight of a bunch of guys old enough to be their grandfathers taking the stage may have sent more than a few festival-goers over to the Solar Stage to catch the the Fresh Trix breakdancing troupe, but those who stayed got a crash course in music history and were eventually treated to the best ten minutes the entire weekend had to offer when the band busted into Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World".

It was at that moment that the unwashed and tired masses found new energy and united as one to celebrate all the good things about life in these great United States. Even the most jaded soul had to feel a little swept up in the moment, the crowd swaying in time, singing along to every word. As good as Mumford & Sons may have been, they never even came close to holding the crowd in the palm of their hand like those tattered and road-weary old farts up on stage were now doing.

Every member of every band that had played, or was set to play the festival, should have been standing stage left taking notes.

For all the hype we are fed each and every day about some hip, new band offering some new spin on rock & roll, or a mega-talented DJ trying to make playing records look difficult, much less entertaining, it is refreshing to be reminded on occasion that everything has been done and, let's face it, much better by those bands that came before.

The fact that Buffalo Springfield could blow the dust off a song that has been trotted out by Neil, and Pearl Jam, and a thousand forgotten bar bands across this great land over the past twenty years, and completely revitalize an exhausted human sea is a testament to the ultimate power of music made before many in attendance were even able to wipe their own asses.

I mean, seriously, you would think that there might be one band over the course of four days, and multiple stages, that would be able to top a near-ten-minute version of "Rockin' In The Free World".

Oh, but you'd be wrong.

Song of The Day: "Don't You Want Me" by Human League

With the announcement today of the passing of producer Martin Rushent, we at Fudgeknuckle felt it only fitting to feature perhaps his greatest hit as our song of the day. As a fan of Rushent's work with Human League, Pete Shelley, XTC, and The Go-Go's (to name just a few), we always perked up a bit when we saw his name on the back of a new album. We'll miss you, Martin!

We can still remember the first time we heard Human League's "Don't You Want Me". Despite the fact that synth-pop was not an entirely new genre, no one song had come along yet to single-handedly define the genre until the Martin Rushent-produced "Don't You Want Me" catapulted the Human League from struggling UK synth band to worldwide chart-toppers.



I doubt that I've ever played a single more than I did that one. In addition to the song itself being a stone-cold classic, Rushent's production was free of all unnecessary frills. The sparseness allowed the song to breathe, placing the vocals of Philip Oakey and Susan Ann Sulley front-and-center, where they belonged. Hilariously, Rushent's mix was not to Oakey's liking, so much so that Oakey was vehemently critical of Rushent's final mix and relegated the song to the very end of the album.

I do believe Rushent had the last laugh as the song became Human League's biggest-selling (not to mention career-defining) single ever.

Boo ya!

I Predict A Hit: Will Kaiser Chiefs Revitalize Album Format?

For anyone who might have thought the record industry was all out of fresh ideas, you're absolutely right. Near as we can tell, the last original idea they had was in 1984 when they changed formats and made us all re-buy our album collections on shiny silver discs. Ever since then, most of us have cackled with glee as the record industry has made one massive blunder after another, finally coming to resemble the bitter, decrepit old hag that it is now.

Thankfully, at least one band out there has a fresh idea of their own.

The Kaiser Chiefs (you know, the band that blasted onto the scene in 2005 with "I Predict A Riot", which, of course, was three albums ago) have just released their fourth album, The Future Is Medieval. Nothing new about that, right? Well, it seems the Chiefs have added a new wrinkle to the process of releasing a new album by posting 20 tracks on their website and allowing fans to create their own artwork and ten-song track listing. Pretty cool, huh? It gets better. If other fans purchase your version of the album, which will be made available on your very own web link, the band will give you a royalty rate of €1.10 ($1.61 to we Americans) for each copy sold.

We at the almighty Fudgeknuckle think this is an absolutely brilliant idea. The band isn't just releasing an album to fans, they're recruiting each and every fan as a combination A&R/marketing director. With a little creativity, a few fans will be able to make some nice pocket change, one would think.

If done correctly, this could start a whole new wave of interaction between bands and fans, all the while breathing new life into the album format. Even better, it does so without the need for a record company. At all.

Fucking fantastic.

So, Mr. or Ms. A&R Director, click HERE to review the Kaiser Cheifs' new material and see if you can come up with a track listing other fans just cannot live without.