Have you heard about the “Seattle freeze”? It’s a local cultural phenomenon that happens when Seattleites — who are typically friendly people btw — are inhospitable to outsiders.
In a strange way I think The Flavr Blue got a musical version of the Seattle freeze last year when they dropped their excellent debut album Pisces. I say strange because The Flavr Blue are locals and the group’s members consist of a few players in the local scene with solid track records for creating great music (Parker of State of the Artist, Hollis Wong-Wear of Canary Sing and producer/MC Lace Cadence of the Clockwork crew), which is one of the reasons why Pisces is such a great debut album. In theory with that pedigree not only should the music be good but the scene should be very receptive. The former is 100 percent true but the latter, well, I didn’t see much love for The Flavr Blue last year (although they did make it on this list).
The Flavr Blue create dance-friendly pop music and it is unlike a lot of what’s happening in Seattle at the moment, which is another reason Pisces is such a refreshing and fun listen. But Seattle doesn’t have a pop music scene, or at least there aren’t many musicians out there making pop music, hence the music being unlike a lot of what’s happening in Seattle right now. This is why I think The Flavr Blue got criminally overlooked last year. I don’t believe they were maliciously left out of the musical conversation, but I do think the group got dismissed because there wasn’t (and still isn’t) an easy place to put their music in the local scene.
Simply put, The Flavr Blue is one of the best kept secrets in local music and this is why you should see them tonight at Barboza ($7, 21+). Tonight’s show is the group’s proper Seattle debut and unlike a lot of what’s happening in local music, their live show is guaranteed to make you dance. So go out tonight and drink, dance and party with one of the best pop bands Seattle has to offer.
