Though it's sad that major labels no longer have the patience to actively develop deserving artists, they at least know who's good and seem willing to allow musicians with something interesting to say to say it. How else do you explain the career of the Flaming Lips?

Spawned in Oklahoma City in 1983 by Wayne and Mark Coyne, the band has gone through a fair number of stylistic changes over the years without abandoning its peculiar sense of the absurd, a sense that imbues not only its diffuse psychedelic songs but its entire musical personality. The fact that Warner signed them at the start of the '90s when they showed no commercial potential whatsoever is, in a way, the most interesting thing about them.

It's even more interesting when you realize they've become more popular as they've gotten weirder. This year, they've already scored two Top 40 hits in England where their cult, which includes Belle & Sebastian and Robyn Hitchcock, has grown beyond culthood. This despite the fact that Wayne, the creative center of the group (Mark left a long time ago), is determined to dash any expectations you might have about the band. It was therefore both disconcerting and unsurprising that after he, bassist Mike Ivins, and utility man Scott Booker took the stage for the Lips' sold-out Dec. 11 show at the Shinjuku Liquid Room they ran a sound check.