The Flavor Crystals – Five

It seems like forever ago I was talking to Josh Richardson of the Flavor Crystals at a brief performance last March in Minneapolis. It would prove to be one of the last shows I would see for a while. I asked him what was up with the band and I’m pretty sure the answer was akin to “not much happening”. So I was certainly surprised to hear that a new album was going to be released and even more so to hear that it would contain five sides of music. Based in Minneapolis, the band has released five long players in their history. Although the band clearly has their own sound you can definitely pick out some classic influences of 90’s Slowcore, Shoegaze, and Psych. FIve wraps it all up in a nice package and covers the entire run of influences. Five is definitely a laid back affair right off the get-go with the beautiful Cetacea. The band is at their best when they stretch things out and let the tunes develop and flow and the trend continues with standout tracks Moon patrol, Tonic Wine, and The Azure Pearl, and one of my personal favorites 29 Swans. This is definitely one made for slowly disappearing into the couch with some quality pharmaceuticals or the beverage of your choice. The sound is fantastic and the packaging superb.

Released by MPLS Ltd. The special edition white vinyl will be hard to find but look for the black vinyl at you favorite distro or on their Bandcamp page.