However, if three of the four new songs on Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell are to be taken as a better prediction of the Lips' future, it will likely be in much the same vein as Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. "Assassination Of The Sun," "I'm A Fly In A Sunbeam (Following The Funeral Procession of a Stranger,)" and "Sunship Balloons" all continue on in the dreamy tradition set by Yoshimi and The Soft Bulletin. It's nothing terribly new sounding, either, but a bit of stability at this point in their career is welcome, actually. The fourth new song is "A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So,)" a sadly hopeful plea for time to stop at a point around Christmas when people are exhibiting their most humane aspects. Unfortunately, as with Fight Test, the band chose to muddle the impact of the EP with three pointless remixes: a Postal Service mix of "Do You Realize??" that I had high hopes for that turned out to be a letdown, but it fares better than the not one but two very techno-infused mixes of "Ego Tripping." The Postal Service mix at least keeps a bit of the quirky nature of the Lips' original in mind. The other two just add a heavy beat and replace most of the original instrumentation with keyboards. No thanks.

The remixes could easily have been sliced right off and the remaining nine non-album tracks paired together for a much stronger whole. It still wouldn't feel like an album, but the strength of the new originals is such that it would make a stellar companion to the mesmerizing beauty of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. In fact, I'll probably put my own Ego Test CDR together this weekend that does exactly that. Suggested track list follows:

1. Assassination Of The Sun
2. I'm A Fly In A Sunbeam
3. Sunship Balloons
4. The Strange Design of Conscience
5. Can't Get You Out of My Head
6. The Golden Age
7. Knives Out
8. A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)
9. Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus You Gave Me)

(Mix it up with unproductivity.)