By Christiana Bartolini | August 27th, 2011
Brace yourselves for quite the mind-altering collaboration. We’ve got The Flaming Lips and Lightning Bolt doing what they do best… and they’re doing it TOGETHER. As if you thought things couldn’t get more trippy! I know, just take a minute to let that sink in.
“I’m Working at NASA on Acid” is quite the mind bender. At seven minutes and thirty one seconds long, this song has twists, turns, loops, and jabs that can rock you to the core. It starts off kind of like a classic Western, accompanied by haunting chorals and Wayne Coyne’s lead vocals.
A few minutes in, it begins to morph into a fast-paced, uplifting prog rock/psychedelic sandwich. As quickly as it comes, it’s gone again, looping back to that old western feel.
You could be completely sober while listening to this track and still feel fucked up. With that being said, this song really does imitate the roller coaster that is a hallucinogen. There’s a slow start, a build up, a (hopefully) delightful, amplified rush, and then a come down.
You can watch their twisted, slightly nauseating video here. But that’s not all kids! This track is one of four off of a collaborative psych-damage EP (out now) between the two bands. I never even thought of these two bands teaming up but I am soo glad they did! Wayne Coyne had this to say about birthing the EP:
”It was a very spontaneous,thrown together thing… They [Lightning Bolt] were set to play a show in town and I met them as they pulled up to unload their equipment and do a soundcheck. I literally just asked them, I did not know them previous to this. I asked if they would do a jam at soundcheck…and .. .they did!”
So don’t wait another minute and listen for yourself. Don’t worry about earplugs, but you might want to save them for the EP.