The Flaming Lips’ video for “The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine” was released today on the internet – appearing first at prefix, then stereogum and pitchfork… until it was all over the http://www. (UPDATE: On June 15, 2010 it was uploaded by The Flaming Lips to their YouTube Channel). Watch it below, read some early reactions, click (in the final comment) on the titles of other Embryonic videos and look at the stills underneath to spot the visual motifs in this newest clip… and solve the mysteries previously discussed on this blog during the making of this video…
As always, there’s way more Flaming Lips, rock n’ roll and Psych Explorations of the Future Heart at http://twitter.com/FutureHeartDay.
prefixmag.com: “There’s a warning about disturbing material at the start of the video, and while it is somewhat NSFW, this colorful clip is barely in the same league as, say, a Girls promo clip. Familiar Lips visual themes surface throughout, including plenty of blood and a giant all-consuming vagina. That thing gets everywhere.”
stereogum.com: “The Flaming Lips’s video for “The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine” works nicely alongside the “Watching The Planets” and “Powerless” clips. It has elements of bondage and torture (and, monkeys) like the latter, and a giant (though now fur-covered) vagina like the former. There’s no nudity in this clip, though the main subject’s duct taped breasts are barely covered.”
consequenceofsound.net: “The setting – the backyard of a colorfully painted house — is innocent enough, but then a masked woman puts a razor to the finger of another woman dressed in nothing but pink skivvies, a blindfold, and duct tape. The scantily clad bleeder then proceeds to spread her hemoglobin all over white placards while the masked man’s masked female assistant collects the abstract art projects. Meanwhile, someone’s pet monkey is just running around taking the whole scene in. The clip is so unnerving that by the time the assistant feeds the pictures to a giant, rolling, vagina, you actually breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your tastes), they girls repeat the process with toes instead of fingers, and the video doesn’t really have a point.
pitchfork.com: “A half-naked woman gets tortured by creepy figures.”
chartattack.com: “OK, Wayne Coyne, you are officially a nutcase.”
undertheradarmag.com: “This time she’s nearly nude and being maimed by terrifying, hooded ladies. With all the bloody finger and toe-painting going on, this should definitely be filed in the NSFW category. Also, the furry vagina ball from the (even more NSFW) “Watching the Planets” video makes a cameo.”
thevine.com: “Wayne Coyne continues his obsession with documenting bound nude girls. And giant vaginas.”
“Is anyone seeing a theme? Yeah it’s subtle.”
“An attractive young girl dances in her underpants in the forest…” (“I Can Be a Frog“) — “An attractive young girl dressed in underpants writhes whilst bound to a chair, the camera lingering on her figure whilst a monkey looks on…” (“Powerless“) — “A legion of attractive young nude people spill out from a giant vagina and and then attack Wayne Coyne, who until now has been encased in his bubble. The ne’er-do-wellers strip him naked and feed him into said vagina.” (“Watching The Planets“)
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