Staff Writer Brendan Shanahan is journaling his life through the medium of Phonomancy. Follow his magic with every track released under The Phonogram EP.
Glastonbury is one of my bucket list festivals. I realized this when I watched the BBC broadcast of the 2017 Glastonbury festival (via an extremely legitimate VPN connection). Specifically, after watching the Flaming Lips perform live.
I hadn’t heard much of the Flaming Lips before and only checked out their set based on recommendations from various sources that their set was one of the best of the festival. They were not wrong, with the band bringing their fun and psychedelic energy with full force.
They opened the show with the song that that I’ve chosen for Track 6: ‘Race for the Prize’, the opening track off their album The Soft Bulletin. It just blew me away.
Later in the set, members of the band crowd-surfed the audience in giant bubbles (something that is very appropriate for these modern times!). This only reaffirmed my belief that I needed to get to Glastonbury and see the Flaming Lips live as well.
After watching the set, I began listening to the Flaming Lips’ discography, and found the studio version of the song to be just as good as the live one.
The opening distorted drums kick in and my feet are already moving. By the time Wayne Coyne begins to sing, I’m already out of breath having gone so hard with the beat and the trippy keyboard line. I don’t know why this song has struck me in this way, but that wobbly, vocal line makes me wants to dance every time.
It’s become my personal let loose song – if I’m feeling a bit agitated or need to move, I just pop this on the stereo and dance until I fall down exhausted. My own private dance party.
Next Time, Track 6: A Song That Makes You Dance With Others
