Flipper - Love (Album)
I’m going to admit to being highly uncool here and lose about a million scene points in the process but here goes...the first time I heard about Flipper was very, very recently. I was buying a drink at a food court in Chinatown and next to me was someone who looked very familiar and I was like “hey, your that dude from Circle Pit. Your band is fucking great!” and he was like “hey, thanks man” and then I was like “when’s your next gig?” and he was like “WITH FLIPPER, OMG!” and that’s how it happened. The next part went something along the lines of me being all “uhhh...who?” and he being nice enough to explain. So I thought – that sounds good. Old school grunge, featuring Krist Novoselic on bass...sounds a lot like this one other band I like a lot. I’m in. Let’s hear it.
Here’s what I’ve learned about Flipper so far: they formed in 1979 and have been playing on and off since. They hail from San Francisco and have had a massive influence on the garage/hardcore/grunge scene. Kurt Cobain, you may have heard of him, was a big fan. Henry Rollins, too. Love is Flipper’s first release in quite some time – seventeen years, to be precise, and it comes with a live album, Fight.
The upside of my ignorance is that it allows me to approach this band with a clean slate. I won’t be tempted to veer to the “I like their old stuff better” approach to old school bands releasing new music. So I can only speak for Love and Fight, with no pre-formed judgements, when I say that they’re two quality CDs. But if you’re a fan of Flipper and are worried about what they might sound like after such a long time away from the scene in which they originated, you can be happy to know that the live CD features songs from their first album onwards. Love and Fight are two raw, offensive and pretty damn fantastic albums.
I’ll have to admit that the new album seems a little more planned and carefully arranged to sound a particular way, but oh man does Fight make up for that. It is gritty and at times almost difficult to listen to, but if you’re like me and constantly craving such music (eg. if you prefer Bleach-Nirvana to Nevermind-Nirvana) then you will be more than happy to be assaulted with this wonderfully fucked up noise. The songs are aaaaangry, and angry like angry used to be – angry without the nice haircuts and carefully picked contextual allusions. Flipper are just generally pissed off, and insanely good at translating that to music.
This CD cannot be played quietly. It is a taste of the sort of upfront attitude bands had more of back in the day than they do now, back when they were able to just create songs they wanted without worrying about selling them to particular audiences or getting good reviews in Oyster magazine. It’s angry without hating itself, making it an in-your-face, you don’t have to like it, we don’t really care sort of record. And considering how long Flipper have been playing without ever receiving any real critical acclaim, and constantly having a love/hate relationship even with their own fan base, it’s understandable that they would go on just doing what they do best, and not worrying about the reaction.
There will always be some kids like me who need music to vent to, and we will always be there to appreciate it.
