The Flaming Lips have been integral to our exploration of sound's intersection with new media culture. Honestly, we don't remember ever being as excited waiting for an album to be released as we were waiting for The Flaming Lips new album, At War with the Mystics. And not only because of our research interests. Like millions of fans around the world, we enjoyed Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and, if you've read the print-based essay that accompanies this web-based investigation of new media worlding, we've come to think that the band has a stunning ability to work in multiple media. Just the title, At War with the Mystics, resonates with our anti-romanticism, anti-mystification, do-it-yourself attitude, whether or not lead singer Wayne Coyne agrees with our techno-rhetorical interpretation of the album title's meaning. And interestingly, the Lips have become masters of multiple media:
The Flaming Lips have figured out how to sell huge numbers of CDs in an age of declining record sales. They attract (paying) fans in a digital media age. In a few months, we expect Warner Brothers, their record company, to release the special edition DVD for At War with the Mystics the way they released a special edition of Yoshimi approximately a year after the CD's original release. Frequency Waveform Cartoons were a visual addition that made the DVD worth purchasing. We'll have paid for the album twice in an age when sales of CD media recordings is declining. And we're happy to do it.
In part, we are happy to not only purchase the CD but purchase the content again because The Flaming Lips have distinguished themselves and their music by creating a Gesamptkunstwerk, or total artwork, by marshalling a variety of media in support of their songs. It used to be that as a consumer there were two basic means of supporting a band: attending a live show or buying an album. And, as much as we would like to attend more live performances, CD purchases are still the most immediate (and realistic) way we can literally buy in to this band. We want new Flaming Lips music and so are willing to support them with our purchases, but the band has also demonstrated something else to us—they are inventing new modes of sonic expression which increase our appreciation and enjoyment, and more than that, they are creating new worlds and opportunities for participation in the music.
Further, there are other ways to support bands now, in keeping with the changing technologies available to us. Formerly, we could tape the music to create new fans, start a fanclub or fanzine--the Kiss Army model--wear the band's t-shirt, convert people via word of mouth. These strategies continue now, too, with the added outreach provided by the Web, sampling and reproductive technologies, and new forms of technologically-mediated participation and affiliation. We can declare our band (brand?) loyalty with a cell phone ring, and images on the many screens through which we communicate, and even with Instant Messaging icons. We don't just buy in, we link up.
