Arctic Flowers

Arctic Flowers

Straight To The Hunter

Arctic Flowers

***In an era when most DIY bands can barely exist longer than a single album and tour, it’s actually quite special to see a band like ARCTIC FLOWERS put out their third full-length album. After more than a decade of existence, these Northwestern punks are still killing it! This album brings us more of the dark and catchy WIPERS-influenced punk we’ve come to expect. A cleaner sounding production than its predecessor really allows for the choruses and the bright, catchy guitar riffs in these songs to really pop. This album destroys!

Arctic Flowers

Remix

Deranged

“Portland peace punk / deathrock hybrid Arctic Flowers have amassed an impressive roster of underground and punk musicians to compile their Remix LP, out now on Deranged Records. The 12-inch vinyl contains the band’s first three-song EP followed by four remixes. The digital download of the album supplies an extra five remix tracks that could not fit onto the vinyl. “The first three songs are from 2010 and the early material showcases a pretty good sampling of Arctic Flowers’ range: the first song, ‘Technicolor Haze,’ has always been one of the more dancefloor-friendly numbers as it is, and it’s not surprising the bulk of the remixes on this release are in fact remixes of this song. ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem,’ the second track, is another bass-guitar-driven gothic punk number. ‘Neon Tombs’ is an all-out thrasher and serves as evidence of members’ history in uptempo hardcore punk. “The Remix LP furthers expands Arctic Flowers’ crossover appeal into post-punk, goth, and even industrial danceclub territory. The assemblage of remixes here from folks in Soft Kill, Toxic Holocaust, Rubella Ballet, Cadaver em Transe and others range from ultra-dancey (the Sid Truelove of Rubella Ballet remix of ‘Technicolor Haze’), to uber-gothy (the Soft Kill remix), to ’80s dance (the Alex Cuervo of Espectrostatic / Hex Dispensers mix)—even dub (the Cadaver em Transe remix by Pato). “A few of the takes on ‘Technicolor Haze’—especially the Truelove and Cuervo remixes—seem readymade for the club floor. The Gold Zippers’ ‘Purple Clouds’ remix is a deeply atmospheric gothic meditation;...

Arctic Flowers

Weaver

Deranged

***Portland’s ARCTIC FLOWERS have explored unique attempts at cross-pollinating genres that have grown apart over the course of the evolution of dark music, re-incorporating styles usually seen as mutually exclusive in today’s fractured (and fractious) punk scene. The end result has been a catalog that is one of the current punk scene’s most ambitious, challenging, and rewarding to listen to. “Arctic Flowers” refers to a Rubella Ballet song as well as the poem “Barbarian” by Arthur Rimbaud, and the dual namecheck connotes well both the band’s gothy peace punk sound and its poetic lyrics and imagery. ALEX’s vocals recall the classic punk of bands like Penetration or the golden years of postpunk—bands like Pink Military and Skeletal Family. The rhythm section of LEE (bass) and CLIFF (drums) pounds ahead in the vein of bands like Killing Joke . Although rooted in the DIY punk underground, the band’s appeal has crossed over to fans of traditional gothic rock and deathrock. “Our sound is a mix of punk, deathrock and post punk” guitarist STAN WRIGHT explains. “Aggressive but at times danceable and melodic.” The early anarcho-punk scene and the variety of musical types embodied therein—everything from the gloomy goth of Part 1 to the fiery agitprop of Dirt—serve as one model for the band’s approach. Most of the band’s releases showcase dynamic mood changes between stomping, three chord rockers (“Crusaders”) and more somber, atmospheric dirges (“Strange Ports of Call”), using tempos and rhythm arrangements that are often more akin to Joy Division...

Arctic Flowers

Reveries

Inimical

BACK IN PRINT ON PURPLE VINYL!!!   One of the most well known of Portland's fertile post punk influenced scene, ARCTIC FLOWERS follows up their well received debut EP and split with Spectres. Their sound builds on the foundation of UK anarchopunk meeting their previous work with such bands as Signal Lost and The Observers. This 12-inch has eight songs leaning more towards the hardcore end of the spectrum while throwing in the occasional Mob influenced bit of melodic punk.   Final pressing of 300 copies on purple vinyl