After the symphonic majesty of The Soft Bulletin, the Flaming Lips return with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, a sublime fusion of Bulletin's newfound emotional directness, the old-school playfulness of Transmissions From the Satellite Heart, and, more importantly, exciting new expressions of the group's sentimental, experimental sound. While the album isn't as immediately impressive as the equally brilliant and unfocused Soft Bulletin, it's more consistent, using a palette of rounded, surprisingly emotive basslines; squelchy analog synths; and manicured acoustic guitars to craft songs like "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21," a sleekly melancholy tale of robots developing emotions, and "In the Morning of the Magicians," an aptly named electronic art rock epic that sounds like a collaboration between the Moody Blues and Wendy Carlos.

We may never associate Johann Strauss with Berlin (he's just so darn Vienna), but Nikolaus Harnoncourt does some ingenious programming on this disc to reveal one new facet of the composer's life: Strauss's numerous works tied to (or composed for) Berlin audiences. Thus, we finally get to hear the short but sweet Berlin version of the overture to A Night in Venice (performed here for the first time); Seid umschlungen, Millionen, the melancholy-tinged waltz that Strauss dedicated to Brahms; and the Simplicius Waltz that the composer himself conducted in Berlin in 1889. Throughout, Harnoncourt's tempos are accurate and never too fast. He lets this music slowly unfold; even the oom-pah-pahs sound studied. The Berlin Philharmonic performs these works gorgeously and the recorded sound is spectacular. –Jason Verlinde