I was fully hooked by my first day of listening, just from their first EP, Heavy Colors, and I only liked them more after that. I listened to all of their songs at least four times, I think, and many of them I listened to even more. As it turns out, Flipturn is so very much my jam. They rock. Nothing they’ve made is anything subversive or weird—it’s far more “pleasant” than “interesting,” which isn’t to say that it’s not interesting but just that it’s so very easy to listen to and engage with. It’s music in a style that I love with stellar execution.
I found that this was a band where I kept hearing echoes of my favorite artists. I don’t think that they actually sound that much like any of the people that came to my mind, but there were moments where the connections felt strong. It’s a fun feeling, for them to call to mind music and artists that are so familiar to me and beloved by me, while they still sound very much to me like their own thing.
There were songs that made me think of 203: Young the Giant (A). There were songs where Basse, the singer, really sounded to me like 183: Conan Gray (A), which I think is funny because I don’t really think that’s true and because I don’t think their music is very similar at all. They reminded me of 295: Spacey Jane (A+), though I think that can mostly be attributed to both bands being relatively new to me and also very good alt/indie rock. There was a song or two that sounded to me like 199: Run River North (A). There were stretches of songs where the singer sounded to me like 328: Dom Fera (A), which I think is a much more accurate comparison than the Conan Gray connection, though it’s still a bit of a stretch.
Again, none of that really matters, but I think maybe it’s kinda fun.
Listening to someone that I immediately love this much and am inclined to rate so highly is a little bit troublesome because it puts me face to face with a bunch of the placements that are most dissatisfying to me. Like, I absolutely think that Flipturn gets the A+, I don’t feel bad about that. But also, do I think I like them more than Young the Giant, or more than 156: No Party for Cao Dong (草東沒有派對) (A)? Probably not, which means those guys should definitely be in the A+ tier too. Ugh. What a stupid system. Oh well.
For now, the A+ will be good. I could pretty easily see them going up to an S- with some time, especially if they release a new album that I love, but for that I’ll just have to wait and see. However it turns out, I’m looking forward to getting to know Flipturn better, and am very grateful to have had them recommended to me (definitely not too much yapping in the rec, it was perfect). Easy A+ for Flipturn.
Flipturn complete, now listening to: BoyWithUke
tunafruitsandwitch 