The new one from Flat Worms, out Friday on Castle Face Records, is a fine blast of scuzzy American indie-rock. The band features a few people from other bands: Will Ivy (Dream Boys, Wet Illustrated, Bridez), Justin Sullivan (Kevin Morby, The Babies), and Tim Hellman (Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Sic Alps). So, I suppose that there are going to be lots of people seeking out this release because of those people, and not because this is good garage-y rock.
At their best, Flat Worms deliver a kind of riff on the Ty Segall kind of riff-rocker that lots of folks love. So, that's a quick way of saying that "Motorbike", "Pearl", and "Accelerated", for example, offer up the goods and roar past in a parade of trashy glee. A few numbers here, like "Faultline" and "Red Hot Sand", try to vary the formula but, by and large, most of this self-titled release from Flat Worms is music that's more or less of one style. And the degree to which a listener likes this record is down to how much he or she is willing to tolerate 10 songs where every song is fuzzy and scuzzy, and each track is regressive and borderline disposable. I found lots of this a lot of fun, but admit that there's a certain sameness here that could use some of the tempo changes one might find on a Ty Segall record, for instance. Still, Flat Worms works remarkably well in small doses.
Out Friday on Castle Face Records, Flat Worms by Flat Worms is one of this week's best releases.
[Photo: Cayal Unger]