Pitchfork

Photo by 200pockets.com

Lauded hardcore/noise-rock pioneers Flipper have extended their partnership with Krist Novoselic-- the former bassist of some group called Nirvana-- from touring to the recording of a new album, Flipper's first in 15 years, according to a Billboard.com report.

The album is currently untitled, but drummer Steve DePace told Billboard.com that recording is "99% there, if not done. We've got 10 songs, and we just did another round of mixing. The album sounds great. I think it's some of our best work ever. That also is an indicator for more future songs to come. We know we can write songs with Krist now that sound just like Flipper."

Among those new songs are "Be a Good Child", "Night Falls Like Dirt Rocks", and "Triple Mass Murder Suicide", which drew its inspiration from the Virginia Tech shootings, according to the report. Hey, if Nirvana could make "Rape Me" work...

DePace also explained in the interview how Novoselic's 2006 entry into the band came about. After previous bassist Bruno DeSmartass left before Flipper's performance at the Thurston Moore-curated All Tomorrow's Parties, "I chatted with Thurston and told him that I had this idea to contact Krist Novoselic. Thurston called Krist, and he said, 'Absolutely, I'd be honored.'"

The Billboard.com story also mentions a few other Flipper projects scheduled for this year: a possible tour in the spring and summer, a DVD of archival performance footage called Flipper Live: Target Video 1980-81 coming out February 19 via Music Video Distributors, and tentative plans to reissue the band's entire back catalog.

In other Novoselic news, the dude is still political-blogging once a week for Seattle Weekly right here.