Jim James Talks Flaming Lips, Digital Music and Teleportation at SXSW

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James showed up during the Flaming Lips' South by Southwest set on Friday. Yesterday he sat down with Fuse.tv and talked about his surprise appearance, as well as a few other things.

In the above five-minute clip, James chats about showing up during the Lips' performance, in which frontman Wayne Coyne jokingly hinted that Justin Timberlake was backstage. But when the mystery man in a green cloth mask revealed himself, it turned out to be James, who performed 'Do You Realize??' with the group.

"The Flaming Lips have always been a huge inspiration to me," James says in the video. "They speak for weirdness, and they speak for creativity and beauty. We need more of that in the world. We need more people encouraging each other to be weird."

James also talked about his recent solo album, 'Regions of Light and Sound of God,' and the benefits of analog vs. digital recording. "People who can only afford laptops shouldn't feel bad that they can only afford laptops," he said. "You can make a killer record on your laptop now."

He also revealed how awesome he thinks it would be if there were teleporters. "That would make life for a touring musician heaven on earth," he said. He also lays out blueprints of sorts for telportation stations, which he envisions being like airports. Maybe he and the Flaming Lips can get working on that soon.