Few active rock bands consistently bring the weird like The Flaming Lips. Resonant, immersive sonic experiences are the band’s calling card. On American Head, their 16th studio album, Wayne Coyne and company explore somber tones and rapturous uplift. An atmospheric yet somewhat gentle affair, the record nevertheless skirts abrasiveness at…

The Flaming Lips perform at BottleRock Napa Valley on May 10, 2013. OAKLAND — There’s a feeling you get on hallucinogenic drugs that’s a little like an astronaut in a space capsule reentering the atmosphere: a fear that grips you as you’re traveling at tremendous speeds, hurtling through the thin…

The Flaming Lips perform during Halloween Blood Bath at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Oct. 31, 2013. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. The Flaming Lips are not ones to underemphasize any part of a live performance. A typical gig might include streamers, confetti, a state-of-the-art light show and a giant human hamster…

The Flaming Lips have been constantly occupied lately. “We’re in the just in the last phase of doing a final mix on this little six-song that is being released with the ‘Ender’s Game’ movie at the beginning of November,” singer and frontman Wayne Coyne said. “Just got back from playing a…

Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips interviewed at BottleRock 2013 Napa Valley in Napa. Photos courtesy: Paige K. Parsons. The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and multi-instrumentalist/music arranger Steven Drozd won’t mince their words. Their new album, The Terror, is their darkest offering yet. “Dark” isn’t…