Thursday, May 5, 2016

The weekend i've been waiting for!

As it happens, Flannel Season is putting out their first full-length album this very weekend - Saturday, May 7, 10pm at Gabe's, to be precise. Here is more info on the event. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy.

The album is entitled "Back Amongst the Dirt" and has 9 original songs - 10 tracks, though. My personal favourite song, "Electric Hearts", is reprised at the end of the disc in a killer acoustic version. This song is one of the first I remember hearing the band play when they started writing and performing original music - it didn't appear on their EP last year (which you can listen to here on Sound Cloud), and much of the new album is newer material, so I'm pretty stoked to get not just one, but two versions of it.

When the band first formed it was a four-piece (it's a straight-up power trio now, folks) that mainly covered 90s rock songs - all the most kick-ass ones, I assure you. It's amazing how much they have evolved since then; one thing that remains constant is their ability to all contribute so well. "Back Amongst the Dirt" is a perfect representation of how amazing it is when that happens.

The opening song "Centralia" has raw, rad as fuck vocals. It's a great heavy starter song that sets the tone - driving drums, group vocals, deep bass lines, and fuzzy, intricate guitar licks - all of which is super tight. By the time you get to "Dunwich Drift" you can tell how good the mixing and mastering by Flat Black Studios is - the bass line is rich in that song, but could have gotten easily lost under the drums in the wrong hands.

I urge you all to go out this Saturday to see and support, not just Flannel Season, but also Zuul (Iowa City) and Hazer (Des Moines). Both bands that are rad as hell -  I know because I've seen them and you would too if you ever went out, jeez. If you're one of those people who don't go for physical copies of music anymore, go flog yourself and then listen to Flannel Season on BandCamp. Or Zuul here. Or Hazer here

Bonus: the CD comes with art work by Claire Thoele (who also plays bass for the band - here is a small sampling of some of her other work) and a band photo shot by none other than everyone's favourite show shooter, Mike Weber of Shadowfox Photography.

GET THEE TO GABE'S SATURDAY, NOOGES!

rock on ~ mandab