sound·think

/soundˌTHiNGk/
Noun
The practice of thinking or making decisions with sound in a way that encourages creativity and individual responsibility.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Flogging the Flag

Today will mark the first post of many about the 2013 incarnation of Black Flag. I posted about them a bit back in April when I reviewed a live set by Good For You, a band that is essentially the "new" Black Flag with celebrity skateboarder Mike V as lead vocalist instead of Jealous Again-era singer Ron Reyes. I've been in Italy since July when a research assistant post was unexpectedly offered to me (maybe I'd expect it more if I didn't drink so much, sorry Mom), so my ambition to chronicle midwestern music happenings in the context of the wider underground has made this blogs' purpose a bit confused, but that doesn't mean I've been completely out of touch. I will hopefully be back in East Lansing for the spring semester but, life is a highway.

(Fuck me, I suck. But not as much as this.)

Now that my hilarious internet skills will have "Black Flag" search functions land on a page with a Rascal Flatts video (that features scenes from Cars and is also a terrible cover of a terrible song, seriously did you watch that shit?) I'm going to post my introduction to the neverending thesis on ye olde Flag. The most (basically, only) "traction" I've gotten from this blog has been my post about Good For You, and I perhaps unfortunately think about this band and its various formations more than some of my, y'know, paid work. My best friends back in Michigan discuss these things heavily with me so it wears on my mind, and will now manifest itself in all of its glory.

Black Flag has digitally released a new album (with a physical release to follow in December) called "What The..." and I've listened to it half a dozen times since it was first streamed on Tuesday. A lot of people on the internet are dismissing it, and a lot of the general "buzz" about the 2013 Black Flag is that they're terrible. I am going to weigh the critiques and offer my own opinions. As a fan, the story just keeps getting better and better. This is my closing sentence, and I was going to have it conclude with a pun about getting ready to Slip It In, but, fuck, I couldn't even finish typing that sentence so I'll just say stay tuned.