This is a letter I just wrote to a friend:

Last night I was assembling some new collages at my apartment when D-rock came over with the new Flaming Lips album, 'At War with the Mystics' (great title). He seemed mildly distressed by the record, but wanted me to hear it. So, while he drew and I collaged, we listened to the whole thing, and I must say that I was not impressed. The lyrics are as uninspired as U2 or NIN, dull and cliched--not one of them really stands out. Lyrics like "every time you state your case/I want to punch your face", obviously about you-know-who and the warmongers. Horrible. To their credit, the album doesn't sound like anything else they've ever done; the vocals and harmonies are different. Maybe it's not a complete piece of garbage, but it's the most fluffy thing I've ever heard by them, and I find their mellowing in their old age predictable. (But I also thought 'Yoshimi' was one of the best records of the 21st century so far, so obviously I'm not opposed to mellowing per se). The anger and preachiness of the songs doesn't fit with the fluffy orange melodies and vocal harmonies; listening to it made me feel discouraged; I thought, "if the Lips have fallen prey to political frustration and hollow preachiness, the rest of us must surely be going to hell". Nowadays when I see people talking politics passionately, I feel like I'm watching our whole race get cloned by the Borg.

But what I really got out of my disappointment was this: I remembered our conversation about politics, about "getting more involved". And I knew that getting more involved was the worst thing we could do. What was once great about the Lips was their ability to create an alternate universe, and as they've allowed themselves to "get involved" by speaking to current events, albeit in muddy, unspecific ways, they've let a lot of the fun out of the balloon. Same goes for the Beastie Boys. I'll be blunt: I think you're wrong to desire more involvement. I think you should desire less. I think that if you attempt to confront the machine, you'll become part of it, at this point. I think it's time for us to recreate language, and music, to re-create the world, not speak to the one we're in. THE ONE WE'RE IN CAN'T EVEN HEAR ITSELF ANYMORE. I don't know how we're going to do this. But we're going to do it, dammit. I will not be a product of my time. I will not be another reactionary.

What's happening here is that the whole damn country is getting politicized, apparently from weariness and a sense of guilt. The protests sound more and more hopeless, as if the protesters know they're trying to reverse time itself. How many albums has Bush ruined, so far? How many poems? How many more will he ruin? How much more dull self-righteousness and cliched, vapid, obligatory denunciation will he attract? How much longer will he keep us from looking deeper at our own faults and learning from them? His preachiness is reflected in those who oppose him. They have become more like him in the effort to oppose, to win over, to convince. Art shouldn't TELL. It should SHOW. Responding to authority often makes you sound like an authoritarian.

You've been duped by an unhealthy, overpoliticized climate. Fooled into taking the walking dead seriously. Yup, I'm dead serious. We need to escape this climate as completely as possible no matter what the consequences.

Some people say that whatever we do is now a political act. So be it! In fact, that's ideal, because if all my acts are political then I want them to be as unpredictable and as far from common language as possible.

Leave beautiful art behind you when you die, and you will have achieved something incredible. If you want to recycle and avoid meat and drive an electric automobile, so be it, but keep it out of your art, 'cause I don't wanna fucking hear it. That's my attitude.

Part of what was fun about this past weekend was our removal from the outside world. We need more of that solitude, no matter what the consequences.

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind. I don't want to talk about it ever again, though I'll listen to anything you have to say. I hope I'll see you this weekend.
It's time for me to drift out into the galaxy.

love

Luke