An Album a Day Keeps the Doctor Away #20: Ocean Grove - Flip Phone Fantasy

Welcome to Fucking With the Format #3 or whatever I called it. Today we’re listening to an album that isn’t even in the list because it came out yesterday. So there’s no RNG’ing today. The RNG fun shall return on Sunday. Today’s album however, is a request from a person who means a lot to me: Ocean Grove’s brand new record, Flip Phone Fantasy.

Ocean Grove // Flip Phone Fantasy

A new album from a UNFD-core band who are out here flipping UNFD-core on its head. Much like Hellions did in 2018 with the exuberant and theatrical Rue. This Ocean Grove album is a little different though. It’s nu metal by low-income-lookin grungers. The production and synth and electronic elements are really thick and noisy at times which complements the nu metal. But then there are the choruses on a lot of the songs--they're all vibes. Huge vibes. Grunge via psych vibes. Thousand Golden People, Junkie$, Ask for the Anthem. All fucking huge. The real stars here for me though are Shimmer, Guys From the Gord, and the afformentioned Thousand Golden People. 

Two of these are songs at very opposite ends of this album’s spectrum. Shimmer is a beautiful almost Runforcover/Topshelf hardcore band gone faux shoegaze track with Jenna from Tonight Alive credited as a writer which is cool as hell. It’s got walls of guitars and a gorgeous uplifting chorus. It’s just a lovely lovely song.

And then there’s Guys From the Gord; one of the thiccest tracks on the record. The way this track flows through like nu metal vocal and guitar to breakbeat drum to actual drum fill and then heavy Limp Bizkit bounce is phenomenal. Ocean Grove’s drummer really do be out here taking us to the Matthews Bridge and I’m all about it.

And Thousand Golden People. Possibly my favourite track on this record. Incredibly THICC. It has the best chorus on the album for my money. It really is grunge via psych and it's such a vibe. Brilliant.

Flip Phone Fantasy is such a great album. Definitely a must listen for vibe fans. Must listen for production fans. Must listen for stoners far and wide.