Flowmotion funks up Mootsy’s

Even though the Seattle groove and funk band is still called Flowmotion, it’s more like the new BeeCraft.

Enduring in the quintet is the original Spokane rhythm foundation of BeeCraft – the mad-scientific keyboardist Don Goodwyn, his younger brother, tireless drummer Scott, and the unbelievably precise percussionist Bob “Mr. Tasty” Rees.

Last year, remnants of the former Spokane jazz jam band joined Seattle’s Flowmotion’s singer/ guitarist Josh Clauson and bassist Jess Kansanback just as they were losing three members of their own.

This formula splices BeeCraft’s too-sophisticated-for-their-own- good jams with Clauson’s singer/songwriter accessibility for a combination of rock, funk, jazz, and newgrass with traditional African and Latin influences.

He isn’t timid to lay out why he feels the marriage with BeeCraft will be a successful one.

“When you have the singer/songwriter well-put together and add their musicianship, it’s a fine blend of songs with quality music,” Clauson said in a telephone interview.

Flowmotion is set to release its first album in the new incarnation. Yet to be titled, it’s an 80-minute live double disc of the group’s performance at last year’s Meltdown Festival, hosted by Flowmotion in Seattle since 1999.

When Clauson first saw BeeCraft play in Seattle, he invited them to appear at Meltdown in 2002, “after I picked my jaw up off of the floor,” he said.

This year’s Meltdown is July 23-25. Tickets go on sale locally at Mootsy’s, 406 W. Sprague Ave., this weekend.

Flowmotion appears at Mootsy’s tonight at 9:30 p.m. There is a $5 cover.

Making the grave

Boasting a female-led cast, Seattle’s Pretty Girls Make Graves has been generating a big buzz since the release of a self-titled EP on Dim Mac Records and a Sub Pop 7-inch a couple of years ago.

Named after a Smiths song, Pretty Girls is known largely for Andrea Zollo’s stinging staccato vocals and Jason Clark and Nathan Johnson’s overlapping guitar lines.

But some of the hype is built around bassist Derek Fudesco, whose previous horror-core project, “Murder City Devils,” collapsed in October when he ditched the group’s shock rock for Pretty Girls in 2001.

Berkeley’s Lookout! Records was so impressed with the group’s demos that the label commissioned them to stretch 2002’s “Good Health” to a full-length album instead of the scheduled EP.

Check out Pretty Girls Make Graves when they play an all-ages show Saturday at 8 p.m. at Club Soda, 715 E. Sprague Ave. Vancouver’s Red Light Sting and local experimental rock powerhouses Belt of Vapor open the show. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, through 4,000 Holes, 1502 N. Monroe St.; Unified Groove Merchants, 2607 N. Monroe St.; and the Long Ear in Coeur d’Alene, 2405 N. Fourth St.

Motion sensor

There comes a point in life, usually somewhere during the awkward adolescent years, when you realize there is more to music than the radio wants you to believe, and you strike out to discover bands that speak to your truth. And that’s when you discover groups that have life-changing effects on you, to the point that it feels like a deeply personal relationship.

For Motion City Soundtrack’s lead singer and lyricist Justin Pierre, it was bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Superchunk, and The Flaming Lips. He’s never been the same since.

“My childhood was basically spent riding ramps and listening to Run DMC and the Beastie Boys,” Pierre states in a news release. “Then there was radio for a short while, I quickly realized that wasn’t going to help me find great bands. I knew that I had to go to shows and read articles in magazines which were outside of the mainstream.”

Those influences helped shape MCS’s well-received album, “I Am The Movie.”

Catch Motion City Soundtrack on Sunday at 8 p.m. at The Detour, 175 S. Monroe St., with openers 10 Minutes Down, Limbek and local lo-fiers who are celebrating a CD release, The Awesome Miami. There is an $8 cover.

Kelly’s closing

The countdown is on.

After 20 years of running Kelly’s Country Club at Stateline, owner Kelly Hughes is calling it quits to hit the studio and the road with the Kelly Hughes Band.

“It’s time to do something different and take the music to the next level,” Hughes said.

With the longstanding honky-tonk closing after the last weekend of the month, Hughes said the property is for sale, and he expects another like-minded club owner to take over the spot but admits anything could happen.

“It’s likely that someone will take our 20 years of success and drive it forward, but it could end up a steakhouse or a restaurant,” he said.

Tickets go on sale this weekend for the retirement party June 25-26 at Kelly’s, 6152 Seltice Way, in Stateline, Idaho. Tickets for June 25 are $20, which includes drinks for the night. Tickets for June 26 are $30, also including drinks.

As always, the Kelly Hughes Band will perform through the last weekend.