Feelin’ the Flowmotion

The first thing that caught my attention with Flowmotion’s

newest album, knowbynow, was the cover art. It is very cool, and

extremely chill. I was expecting an experimental hippie band; I had

heard words like “world grooves” and

“funkadelic” to describe this five-piece Seattle group.

But these guys are no hippie experiment gone wrong. They are a

funk-rock world beats blend gone completely right.

The album starts with a slow pseudo-reggae intro that morphs

into a super fun and danceable ditty called “Flatley’s

Tool.” The record has a few instrumentals where you’ll

find a dose of keyboards, congas, harmonica, and of course the

customary guitar, base and drums. There are also quite a few

lengthy songs; some over ten minutes. The strength of these longer

tracks, and of the whole album, is the seamless blending of

sounds.

There is one long song, “Drop in the Flow,” that

contains a fast guitar riff, and then later some slow keyboards.

This track has a lot of variety, yet the transitions are really

smooth. They also blend separate songs well, which is a rare

talent.

Late in the album, “Pleasure Opportunity” will start

you on a fun ride that holds you for twenty minutes and takes you

through an ethnic percussion piece, a flamenco dance, and a smooth

guitar solo.

These songs are my favorite parts of the record, but the best

song is definitely “Got’s Mine,” which appears

earlier in the cd. “Got’s Mine” has a “love

one another” message that we have all heard before, but

rarely enjoyed dancing to so much.

Knowbynow does drag for three songs in the middle, starting with

the latter part of “Drop in the Flow,” but the rest of

the album more than makes up for it.

Flowmotion has indisputable talent. They are not a mere

experiment, however they fit in quite nicely at a variety of

outdoor festivals and hemp fests.

While undeniably danceable and definitely trippy, Flowmotion

supply good music. Even if you don’t own a single Phish tee

shirt or play patty-cake with Mary Jane, you’ll still have

fun with knowbynow.

Look for my interview with Flowmotion in the next issue, where

I’ll be discussing their performance at the Pi-Live downtown,

as well as what inspired them to get their motion flowing.

Trever Alters
A & E Writer
The Arbiter

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