Flaming Lips: At War With The Mystics (Warner Bros)

Like everything else the Flaming Lips have released in the past 15 years, At War With The Mystics is a terrific album. It takes uncommon ingenuity and vision to throw together this many different elements and carry it all off so effectively.

Each song brims with fresh ideas and unexpected twists and turns, so much so that on initial listens your ears can scarcely keep up. There’s wide-eyed psychedelia (The Wizard Turns On), ...