Sunday, May 16, 2010

ARCTIC FLOWERS ARE A GO!
Another mind-blowing group from the City of Roses - I tell ya, Portland's ratio of ripping bands per capita is downright absurd - make their way to this year's Total Fest. Arctic Flowers sound like they would have fit in perfectly with their refreshing take on the UK anarcho scene of the 80's and have the intensity and riffs to leave you wondering what decade we're in anyway. Consisting of folks from Signal Lost, Deathreat, Defect Defect, Vivid Sekt, blah blah blah, this is ferocious and uncompromising punk rock that will send your band back into the practice space trying to figure out where you went wrong. These guys and gals have cruised up and down the West Coast already this year and lucky for us things don't look like they're gonna be slowing anytime soon. I've been wracking my brain to come up with more ways to describe Arctic Flowers and have only been able to come up with this: if you don't like this, you're wrong.

Following on the heels of last year's ridiculously great demo, Arctic Flowers have a handful of records coming out this summer that I'm already reserving a spot for on my Best of 2010. I got a chance to see them play a couple of months ago that left me floored and unable to even remember what the other bands sounded like. In addition to all this, it's worth a mention that Stan also records bands at his Buzz or Howl studio on 24-track, 2" analog tape - just finished mixing the new Raw Nerves a few days ago. All you Montana bands take note! So skip school, tell mom and dad to fuck off, and prepare to lose all sense of time in the raging tunes of Arctic Flowers.

1 comment:

MBR said...

Been hearing rave things from various Missoula evacuees now in Portland. Dan Lawlor says they are one of his favorite bands in Portland.

Have yet to check this band out but it is on my list of things to do in the near future.