The addition of guitarist
Ronald Jones
and drummer
Steven Drozd
recharges
the Flaming Lips
' batteries for the superb
Transmissions From the Satellite Heart
, another prismatic delicacy that continues the group's drift toward
pop
nirvana. In typical fashion, the record's left-field hit, the freak-show singalong
"She Don't Use Jelly,"
bears little resemblance to the album as a whole; the remainder of
Transmissions
is much more sonically and structurally ambitious -- the towering
"Moth in the Incubator"
keeps generating new layers of noise before erupting into an amphetamine waltz,
"Pilot Can at the Queer of God"
dive-bombs with kamikaze recklessness, and the slow-burning
"Oh My Pregnant Head"
is as mind-expanding as its title. ~ Jason Ankeny