Zaireeka [Box set, Limited Edition, Import]

I bought this album after a LONG deliberation period. I've always wanted it, owning the two most recent Lips' albums and the earlier 'Hit To Death In The Future Head' (also brilliant). But this, in my opinion, is their finest work and you'd be missing out not to give it a whirl.

It's true when they say that the album will change with every listen. Whole songs differ depending on where you sit, how loud stereos are and how close you synched them (which, I might add, Wayne Coyne acknowledges that certain songs are designed to go out). On our first play through, the players ended up about 4 seconds apart, but this was just enough to give off a fantastic reverb that shot around our heads like crazy. Melodies harmonise with each other across the space, echoes are sometimes heard before you even hear their originator and crescendos pulse around in three part drum solos.

Quite simply, this was a very, very cool experience that is specifically designed to pull friends and fans together bring their CD players around and sit in awe.

I wonder what TWO copies on the go would sound like...

Four discs make up "Zaireeka." When played simultaneously, they create a maelstrom of sound. Setting it up with four CD players sounds a bit arduous, but the experience is worth it when songs like the brilliant "Riding to Work in the Year 2025 (You're Invisible Now)" burst out of the multiple speakers. It gives an expansive feeling to the music, as if it's billowing out like smoke and surrounding the listener in a big cushy wall of sound.

The songs have an experimental feeling to them. Some, like "Okay I'll Admit I Really Don't Understand" and "Machine in India" are lacking in complexity when compared to the remaining songs. But in every song, the shimmering multiple layers of sound interweave together, befuddling and dazzling me. A mere disc couldn't hold this much sound. Dogs barking, surreal guitars, gothic organs and pounding drums are much louder here than anywhere else.

It's hard to tell how clear the sound is because of its intensity; it sounds like there are dozens of melodies being played together at times. And fans of the Lips' masterpiece "Soft Bulletin" should check this out. The sound of Zaireeka, once I got used to it, made me think of reminiscent of a bigger, more complicated twin of "Soft Bulletin."

"Zaireeka" is an unparalleled experience that few bands could even dream of, let alone actually make. If you're in the mood for 4-D surreal soundscapes, then this is your thing. A marvelous album.