Zaireeka is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on October 28, 1997, by Warner Bros. Records. It consists of four CDs designed so that when played simultaneously on four separate audio systems, they would produce a harmonic or juxtaposed sound; the discs could also be played in different combinations, omitting one, two or three discs. Each of its eight songs consists of four stereo tracks, one from each CD.
The album's title is a portmanteau of two words. Zaire was chosen as a symbol of anarchy after Wayne Coyne heard a radio news story about the nation's political instability. The word Eureka (literally: "I have found it") was selected as an expression of joyous discovery.
Zaireeka was the first album by the band after the departure of guitarist Ronald Jones. It acted as a preview of the music and style that would surface on the next album The Soft Bulletin (1999), which was recorded during the same sessions as Zaireeka, and is the predecessor to the band's more conventional surround sound releases.
Jason Josephes from Pitchfork awarded the album a score of 0.0 out of 10; in a scathing review, Josephes criticized the album for being inaccessible, asking "Do I want to buy three more CD players with which to enjoy Zaireeka or, say, eat?" and derided the band's fans. Nonetheless, in June 2002, editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, Mark Richardson published a response to Josephes' review (which has since been deleted), lauding the album and referring to it as "one of the greatest albums ever recorded". Richardson writes:
While I understand the desire to own these songs in a format that makes repeat playability easy, that's not what this album is about to me. Zaireeka is not just the album the Flaming Lips released between Clouds Taste Metallic and The Soft Bulletin; it's a challenge to the assumptions behind the idea of recorded music.
In October 2009, Richardson went on to write a book titled Zaireeka for the 33 1/3 book series, published by Continuum International Publishing, now owned by Bloomsbury Publishing. In it, Richardson chronicles the creation of the album, praises it from multiple angles, and discusses the impact the album has had on music since its release. The album was included in Pitchfork's 2010 list of "ten unusual CD-era gimmicks".
Zaireeka is an experimental album by indie rock band The Flaming Lips. The idea is to use 4 record- or cd players to play the 4 tracks of each song at the same time or in time-shift variations. As you can imagine most people don't have the equipment to do this. One solution for this is to get assistance of friends to create a shared experience.
I searched for and found a version that provides the four tracks mixed together. This made it a lot easier to listen to the musical result. I think the idea is weird and fun. Too bad that the music itself is not up to the standards that you could expect from the band that has made so much great music. Most of the songs are sort of soundscapes that are quite boring. So I guess, it's an "Okay, I'll Admit That I Really Don't Understand"
I listened to this first without reading the instructions. Ooops! The 3+ hours of odd sounding tracks had me a bit perplexed, although well done if somewhat incomplete feeling. After a while I figured out I was listened to four disks all with the same named songs… then read about the album and realized it was designed for multiple disks to be played simultaneously. So I went on to YouTube and found a properly mixed version with all four CDs and it made a lot more sense.
I’m not surprised The Flaming Lips would do something like this. I thought how it was a challenge to play all four simultaneously today with music streaming, but then again in 1997 who had four CD players that could play simultaneously?
Unique. Maybe a gimmick? But hey, I’m always happy to hear The Flaming Lips and their musical experiments!
I remember listening to this with some friends in college - 4 CD boomboxes and all. Gotta admire the creative ambition, but I honestly remember the dance party where we played Daft Punk afterwards more.
Okay so this album is a ridiculously cool *idea.* 4 discs played simultaneously to have a much richer sound than one could provide? Very neat! I might get some friends together to mimic the experience with phones sometime so I can have the intended experience.
I think those same elements make it kind of a poor choice for this list though. I don't have 4 devices readily available to play this on, and sure the other review I saw mentioned there's YouTube videos just layering it for you but that feels wrong somehow.
Also the songs all feel too long and sedate for my tastes. Maybe they'll be more stimulating if I play it the way it's supposed to be played, but for now this gets a 3. Nothing wrong with it but it just doesn't land for me.
Creatively this LP is a 5/5 – you could argue the whole synchronization stick is gimmicky, but I like the idea of a communal listening experience that only comes together with some friends (or a whole lot of individual effort) and a challenge from the band to meet them halfway.
Musically, it’s a 2 at best. Even by Flaming Lips standards, these tracks are way too ambient and unfocused, meaning the typical out-there Coyne lyricism feels forced and a little uncomfortable. That and the “artistic” choice to have high-pitched whines on a few songs make this LP feel way too avant-garde on top of the CD juggling. If my friends and I spent the time to line up 4 parts and got this in return I can imagine being pretty disappointed. Giving this a 3 mainly for creativity, the challenge does make the LP notable even if the reward is lacking.
As I always find with this band, there's a real and unmistakable talent behind it, and I respect the audacity of conceiving a project like this and getting it through a major label production process. Pragmatically though it's unlistenable in its intended presentation without great effort, making it a poor choice for this kind of project. I sort of listened around the tracks for as long as I felt like putting up with it. 3 stars is generous.
I really love some of the Flaming Lips music, but sometimes I find them pretentious and cringey. This one sort of fell in the middle for me. Some songs, like Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair, I really loved. It's an interesting concept as well. 3 stars.
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