LOS ANGELES — Want to hear the new song from the Flaming Lips? Better put in for a day off from work or school to check it out.
“Found
a Star on the Ground” runs six hours — yes, that’s hours, not minutes —
and it’s being released as a philanthropic move to benefit two groups
in the band’s hometown of Oklahoma City: the Central Oklahoma Humane
Society and the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of
Central Oklahoma.
Rather than simply generating
proceeds for the causes through music sales, the group solicited
donations from fans with the promise of incorporating the names of all
those who contributed $100 or more into the “song” itself. Sean Lennon
was recruited to read the names of those who took the band up on the
offer.
The track was recorded over four weeks,
growing from what was originally conceived as a 25-minute experiment
into what became more than a dozen times that long. To date, the band
has raised more than $20,000 with the project, an amount to be split
equally between the two beneficiaries.
The trick
is how to listen to it, as it would require an five-CD set to
accommodate the full length. So the band has made it available with
what’s called the “Strobo Trip,” a multi-sensory device that’s being
alternately described as “A Light and Audio Phase Illusions Toy.” It
will include “Found a Star on the Ground” as well as two other new
tracks, “Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die” and “Evil Minds,” which
the band promises is “much shorter” than “Found a Star.”
Details
on the cost and how and where to buy the Strobo Trip haven’t been
announced. They’ll be coming soon on the group’s website, according to a
statement issued Monday.
“The Strobo Trip by
itself is fascinating,” Lips frontman Wayne Coyne said in the same
statement. “I wouldn’t be a surprised to hear about some people taking
LSD or something while listening to ‘Found a Star on the Ground,’ and
playing with the Strobo Trip for hours and hours. We hope you’ll enjoy
them anyway you like.”
The group seems to be
taking fellow musical innovator Peter Gabriel at his word regarding the
challenge to other musicians he has expressed periodically. “The digital
environment is the first one in history where a composition could be
three seconds long or three months long,” Gabriel told the Los Angeles
Times recently. “In a way, people aren’t really being radical enough
with the freedom that the digital environment could provide.”
The kicker?
“At
this time, we can confirm the rumors of a single 24-hour-long song are
indeed insane and absolutely true,” the Flaming Lips’ press release
notes. “The Lips are recording the track this month. While lots of
rumors, speculations and ‘facts’ have been circulating, suffice to say
official details will be announced once we really know how, when, etc.
Stay tuned to www.flaminglips.com for details.”
Obviously, there’s no word yet on whether four Strobo Trips will be required to play it.
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©2011 the Los Angeles Times
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