Into The Iris EP
God?
2019
Rating: 8 Morgan Freeman poetry readings out of 10
Flat Worms are old-fashioned jittery punk/post-punk in the vein of Wipers, A-Frames, the Intelligence…you know, that Pacific Northwest shit. Yeah, these guys are from LA, but let’s just call it “close enough” mostly because holy shit this is fucking great. I hear some Fugazi in here too, particularly in the rhythm section – many of the songs have these very deliberate, bold bass lines that really stand out more than you typically hear in the punk world (this is particularly evident in the track “At The Citadel”). I suppose one of the big selling points to get the kids through the door is that Flat Worms feature current/past members of the Oh Sees and Ty Segall’s band, but for my money I’d rather listen to “Into The Iris” than anything those two acts have ever put out. All of the songs here feel so tense and tightly wound, like a pack of puppies in a carrier about to be let out in a large yard. The title track “Into The Iris” is a top contender for best song of the year, or at least best song of the first quarter of 2019. I now need to go back and spend some time with their self-titled full-length from 2017, because I need way more Flat Worms in my life.
