For anyone who may be thinking
tripping daisy? Weren’t they a one hit wonder?
Yes. But instead of repeating their semi hit “I got a girl” they decided to do something more “mature” as the cliche goes. Though no one expected a leap from one hit wonder to weird experimental pop t classic LP. Like others compared it to, this had the smarts of Clouds Taste Metallic era Flaming Lips, but also had the emotional weight in some ways that the lips didn’t find until soft bulletin.
This album was an underrated triumph. A band re-inventing themselves as The Beach Boys meets dinosaur jr meets XTC meets hardcore era Devo with can thrown in for an aftertaste ? A strange combination that works.
Again, not far off from the mid-late 90s flaming lips era. But what separated these two at least for this record, unlike the flaming lips “she don’t use jelly” hit which almost felt like the lips stumbled on, with tripping daisy’s “Jesus hits like the atom bomb” it seemed like tripping daisy could write that song and 12 other hits in their sleep. “Sonic Bloom” on this album feels like it should have been one of the hits of summer. A breezy song somewhere between Pet Sounds “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and something off sonic youth’s dirty that is brought together by Tripping Daisy’s front person, Tim DeLaughter’s uncanny ability to fit an epic song into 3 mins and use 5 different styles in that single song.
It helped to that Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefhart/PJ Harvey/The Pixes) handled production on this LP. In many ways he made this album both more experimental and grounded. Things are bombastic but with a purpose and a goal to keep you wondering what could happen next.
Songs like “About The Movies” and “Our Drive to the Sun/Can A man Mark it” are pop songs that are so epic in scale, they build and explode in ways that are just jaw-dropping. By the time the album closes with it’s Brainiac tribute and cover (which is a fitting tribute for both a great band/front person, but also a band that truly did have a big influence on parts of this record). You only begin to realize how special and unique this album is, especially for its time. The band were reaching for new heights here for post grunge/alternative (whatever dumb thing you’d like to call it). They also wanted to write a classic pop album, period.
After this record they were dropped from their label Island Records , which is no surprise considering the mainstream musical landscape in 1998. This was a record unfortunately no one in that world seemed ready for. But looking back 22 years and seeing where pop music, and guitar based music went, especially in the indie landscape post late 90s, it isn’t too far off to call this album ahead of its time. I’ve waited a long time for this to come out on vinyl. I cannot recommend this album enough. People talk a lot about undiscovered gems from the 90s. This record should be at top of that list. A gem not only from the 90s, but a gem all on its own.
Edit Note: Looks like the full 1000 copies are over half gone. If you aren’t sure. Take a listen to these two killer songs. I wouldn’t sleep on this.
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