Being a Flaming Lips fan can be exasperating.
For every transcendent live show, pioneering pop song (“She Don’t Use Jelly,” “Do You Realize?”), and instant-classic album (The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots), you have to indulge the odd detour (With a Little Help from My Fwends, anyone?). Fortunately, the band’s newest album, Oczy Mlody, falls into the instant-classic category. But this being the Flaming Lips, they took the, um, scenic route to get there.
In 2015, they collaborated with Miley Cyrus on Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz. Which, predictably, didn’t go over too well with longtime fans. But frontman Wayne Coyne says working with Cyrus, who also appears on Oczy Mlody, gave the Lips just the creative jolt they needed. “Anybody that wants to put Miley down,…