Daily Loaf

“Tampa misses so much cool shit,” my friend Brian Repetto of Insect Joy turns to me and whispers through a cigarette smoke exhale. New World Brewery, Thursday, August 6. One of those nights in Y-bore that turn out really fun because you conned a few friends to hang out and support local music.

“Oh well, I’m glad I made it out, man. This is a really great lineup tonight.” No joke. Insect Joy interestingly spliced record dj-ing and spinning with their usual weird electronic sounds whirling into the atmosphere. Flexxehawk blasted through their spidery, angular, intricate yet minimalist songs with true enthusiasm and purity reserved for bands willing to play their damnist whether the crowd consists of five people or 500.

Huge musical buildups and crescendos with very few but very meaningful words flesh out the Flexxehawk sound into something original, in the vein of Polvo’s kind of math rock mixed with textured vocal harmonies. Historically members and contributors of several local and national acts including Ima, Dumbwaiters, Meringue, etc. All this not even mentioning the touring headliner, ST37.

Out of this world, psychedelic, noisy, punk and weird, references to J.G. Ballard and Twin Peaks, all in one four-piece from Austin …

I can’t begin to write some history of ST37, but I’ve heard lots of rumors. I think they’ve been a band for 20+ years. I got a copy of their latest record and a 7″ from 1993 — both sound like amazing blends of fast and slow, weird and conventional, singing and hollering.

Before the show, us St. Petersburgians stopped by the magical Taco Bus on Nebraska and Hillsborough for a mind blowing (and ass numbing) burrito. My burrito contained tofo and butternut squash! Can you believe it!!?? So tasty. Needless to say, we ended up in a kind of funky mood and our stomachs needed more attention than New World could provide, so we had to leave a little early before the set had finished. I heard through the rumor mill that ST37 kept getting better and better as the night progressed.

The night ended with whipping back across the bridge back to St. Petersburg wondering why I tipped on five dollar beers and thinking I had witnessed some out-of-the-ordinary and special music. Here’s a taste:

Oh yeah — we all had the spicey asshole the next day from the Taco Bus and it was so worth it!

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