On Thursday night, D.C. got its first live look at indie rock’s latest “supergroup,” as Wild Flag made an impressive local debut in front of a capacity crowd at the Black Cat. Although the band has yet to issue a proper release (a 7-inch was available at the show, and a full LP is expected later this year), anticipation and curiosity ran high due largely to the pedigree of its highly-accomplished line-up, which features former Sleater-Kinney guitarist (and current Portlandia star) Carrie Brownstein, D.C. resident Mary Timony (Helium, Soft Power), Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks), and Rebecca Cole (The Minders). Fervent fans of the musicians’ previous bands were out in force, and Wild Flag did not disappoint, delivering a scorching, hour-long performance that at times threatened to blow the doors off the club.

“Here comes the electric band,” Timony aptly sang during the opening number, as her bandmates harmonized over dueling guitars and Weiss’s pulsing drumbeats. Brownstein took over lead vocals on the rollicking “Short Version” with Timony adding a nifty two-hand-tapped melody on her Fender Jazzmaster, while on “Future Crimes” the guitarists traded biting, angular riffs that set up Cole’s jaunty keyboard hook. Later in the set came “Glass Tambourine,” a cadent, catchy piece of psychedelic-rock that gradually intensified into a dynamic freeform rave-up, stretching the song several minutes longer than the studio version that premiered on NPR last week.