Flavor Crystals are a four-piece space rock band based in Minneapolis, MN — Josh Richardson (guitar/vocals), Nat Stensland (bass), Jon Menke (drums), and Vince Caro (guitar). Since their debut album On Plastic (mpls ltd, 2005), they've spent two decades refining a wobbly, floating psych sound that draws equally on '60s psychedelia, '70s kraut/prog, '80s kiwi pop, and '90s shoegaze. Their second album, Ambergris (mpls ltd 2007, reissued on Second Shimmy/Cargo 2008), was recorded with Kramer (Bongwater, Galaxie 500, Low).

After being invited on the road by the Brian Jonestown Massacre for an 18-date 2009 US tour, the band holed up for two years of continuous recording, emerging with 2012's Three — a sprawling, drone-heavy statement they consider their defining record. The double LP The Shiver of the Flavor Crystals followed in 2015, and Five (2020) pushed further into immersive, extended-form territory, closing with a Cetacea remix from Mark Clifford of Seefeel. Along the way they've split releases with Carsick Cars and The Telescopes, and shared stages at Levitation, Reverence Valada, Psycho Las Vegas, Liverpool Psych Fest, and the Sydney/Melbourne Psych Fests, alongside tours with The Telescopes and L.S.D.

Their most recent album, Gone Six (2024), marks a shift into full-on dronegaze — longer, heavier, more hypnotic than anything before it, with guitarist Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre) guesting on two tracks. Richardson and Stensland also record as Foam Giant, a studio-only collaboration with Stephen Lawrie of The Telescopes.