Music is a pretty amazing part of the universe. It has so many pathways to express what it means to be a part of the human condition. I’ve been thinking a lot about the different ways we connect with music, and why we all have such a different musical taste. There are a lot of influences to what shapes our personal taste in the songs we love; culture, religion, emotional state of being…the list could go on and on! For this blog post I decided to narrow my field down to just t

Well hi everyone! It’s been a minute hasn’t it? This summer definitely flew by before I realized, “oh wow I haven’t sat down to the Flat Iron Blog lately”. Well it feels good to be back! Even though the summer was fast burning as they always are; barely giving us Midwesterners time to put our winter boots away before it’s over—it sure had a great soundtrack! From favorite bands putting out new albums, to discovering new bands I hadn’t previously listened to, here is a highli

I wasn't going to do another staff pick playlist for this week's blog update...and then it snowed again. (Hey South Dakota, April fools is over!) My lovely drive home on April 2nd, 2018. South Dakota springs are such a tease. After months of frigid cold, you get to April and you think, "It's here, warmer days! Finally!" and then it snows...again. So in defiance of this cold, snowy April day, I created a Warmer Days playlist. These are songs that remind me of endless sunshine,

For this week's Staff Pick Playlist, we enlisted our studio intern, Wyatt Fenner to curate a playlist, and share a little about what initially ignited his passion for music. Wyatt has been an intern here at Flat Iron Recording for the last three years, and a student of ours (Rock School and private lessons) since he was ten years old. We love having him as a part of the Flat Iron family, and can't wait to see where his talent and creativity take him in life. Wyatt Fenner, 201

One of my favorite bands for years now has been Typhoon. An indie rock band hailing from Oregon, who's first full length album came out in 2005. Between 2005, and 2013, they released two more albums, Hunger and Thirst, and White Lighter. Once discovered, Typhoon has been the soundtrack for much of my early twenties. A friend recommended them to me when I was 19, and at first listen I was hooked. Being a writer, I spend a lot of time day dreaming. Typhoon has furthered this ha

My dad is the king of music trivia in our house. from humming melodies and asking, "name that tune!" to playing songs that have a suspiciously familiar melody and saying, "now what does that sound like?" Not a week goes by without some form of music trivia. recently, I was cleaning up around the studio and singing, Make you feel my love by Adele, and out popped dad saying, "did you know that's a Bob Dylan song?" Which I indeed did not know, (But honestly who's surprised, he's

What do you get when you take a 90's kids that grew up playing church music, add a burning love for late 80's and early 90's rap, mixed with playing in pop punk bands through high school; then top it all off with a venture into surf/grunge and folk in his late 20's...Hipster Trash right? Probably, but that is beside the point. From bands like Dilly Dally to Tyler the Creator, My love of music is just that: Love of music. I don't care what someone looks like aesthetically, I j

Ah, South Dakota winters. they are long, and frigid, and it's only been officially winter for a month. I already find myself longing for Summer and dancing under the stars at an outdoor concert. Though January finds me bundled in as many layers possible, grumbling about my car not warming up, thankfully I'm still enjoying great music! Rapid City is full of so many talented musicians, and venues to attend, it's hard to choose where to go on a weekend to warm up and hear some g

Hey, we made it around the sun once again! I hope 2017 treated you well, and if it didn't, I'll join you in being super excited for a fresh new year. 2017 was an awesome year for music. so many talented artists put out some really great albums, and it was hard to stay on top of my listening game! I'm always hunting for new music, and 2017 was chock full of new discoveries for me. this list could go on and on, but I decided to share my favorite top 5 artists I started listenin

Here at the studio, along with a busy recording schedule, and private lessons being taught, we are just about a week out from or winter Rock School concert. My dad started Rock School 15 years ago as a program to help kids meet other fellow musicians, and learn the dynamics of playing in a band together. What started of as a summer camp with a humble show at the free stage of the Central States Fair, and then a few summers at the Elks Theatre, has now expanded to a year round