In a dark and damp warehouse back in 2007, with just a few shows under their belt, it was already apparent that Seattle duo Flexions had something special with their droney brand of hypnotizing punk. I’d been anticipating this past weekend’s record-release party for their first full-length album, Leisure Time, for what felt like an eternity, but it was more than worth the wait.
After a too-short set by local sample-wrangling heavyweight
Henari Nannon, whose last song sounded like a dancehall reggae
hit filtered through a waterfall, fellow Seattleites Katharine
Hepburn’s Voice got the party started with their simple keyboard
pop. Past shows have proved that KHV take a more serious approach to
making music than the ra-ra spaz of the songwriters’ past project,
Dalmatians, but their sets are still fun—and getting more so
every time I see them. After a brilliant set of menacingly dark
instrumental hiphop by Foscil, whose precise rib-rattling beats
sound like the inner workings of the mind of a very stoned mad
scientist, it was time for the men of the hour to take the stage.
Flexions fuse the sinister guitar play of Seattle music mainstay
Devin Welch with the bassy low end of artist/photographer Robin Stein,
weaving weirdly at a leisurely pace over the pulse of their attacking
drum machine. The band heroically trekked through a set comprising
their entire discography, leaving the crowd sloppy, sweaty, and stoked
at 2:00 a.m. Two years later, another warehouse, and Flexions are still
conjuring an inexplicably awesome groove.
Thurs May 14: Jeremy Enigk, the Lonely Forest, Baby
Panda at Neumos, 8 pm, $15.
Thurs May 14: Jason Clackley, Blanket Truth, Head
Bangs, Shenandoah Davis at New Crompton, 7:30 pm, $5.
Fri May 15: Superhero Action Figures, Master Mahan,
Le Attempts at KTUB, 7:30 pm, $6.
Fri May 15: The Pangeans, What Keeps Our Eyes Open,
Duplicity at the Old Fire House, 8 pm, $6.
Sat May 16: Scribes, Fatal Lucciauno, BYC, Camila,
Shankbone at Vera Project, 7:30 pm, $11 ($10 w/ club card).